The most physically striking Japanese restaurant in town, the Sake Cafe on Magazine Street shares its origins with the other Sake Cafes, but is now a separate business and incomparably better. Its kitchen has a much greater variety of food not only than the other Sake Cafes, but also than just about any other Japanese restaurant here. Its selection is strong both at the sushi bar and in its kitchen, and its presentations are lovely. Here also is a first-class bar and wine operation. And a parking lot--a rarity in that restaurant-jammed stretch of Magazine.
Sake Cafe II (its official name) is a spinoff of the original Sake Cafe in Metairie, opening in 2003 in an expansive building that once housed a K&B Drug Store (hence the parking lot). Uptown had few sushi bars at the time, and it caught on quickly. After the hurricane, Magazine Street was a magnet for diners, because few of the restaurants were flooded. The Sake Cafe was in particularly good shape.
Modern in style but decorated with enough sleek, shiny Japanese wall displays, Sake Cafe is spacious even when packed. The sushi bar has an unusually engaging staff of chefs, who will make an impression right away by serving a marvelous little amuse-bouche--the first New Orleans sushi place to do that. The staff is almost infamous for aloofness, but I haven't found that to be the case.
Ask as many questions of the sushi chef as you can. They won't tell you about all they really have otherwise. The mackerel is especially fine, and served in two courses: sashimi, then the rest of the fish fried.
| Attitude | 0 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 2 |
| Hipness | 0 |
| Local Color | 1 |
| Service | 1 |
| Value | 1 |
| Wine | 2 |
