Gluttony is not MY sin!

Today food was used as law school therapy. Two of my friends and I made a break for it and went on a quest for the ultimate in the "excellent ingredients simply prepared" philosophy: sushi. The restaurant chosen for this adventure was recommended by another friend of mine, Faust, and I must thank him with every fiber of my food obsessed being. Minado is a reportedly excellent sushi buffet that boasts a number of locations.

The location we visited was adorable. It was cleanly lit with subtle wooden furniture and gleaming buffet settings. A minor nitpick is that the four-seater tables are a little small and result in a slight limiting of movement.

I have to admit that we didn't bother to inquire the price, so impressed we were by our first sight of the place. We caught the beginning of the lunch rush, before the crowds descended, and so were quickly seated and brought our drinks. One friend, Mr. Future Supreme Court Justice (henceforth referred to as Justice =D ), ordered sake, which he intended to share with the third member of our party, Islip Girl (who needs a better cute and snarky nickname). The sake, which I didn't have due to my designation as DD, was approved by Justice but not a huge hit with Islip Girl, a first time sake consumer.

Then, like a wild pack of hungry hyenas, we descended on the sushi side of the buffet. There was a wide variety of sushi and sashimi: tuna, crab, mackerel, shrimp, etc. There weren't a lot of the standard (read: old, tired, boring) rolls, but there were plenty of other delicious options like spicy shrimp rolls. The fish was all fresh, firm and smooth. The only downside is leaving the rice from your sushi in your plate creates a 30% surcharge. So come hungry!

There was also a hot entry buffet. My favorite were the small crab cake balls and the flat corn-crab cakes. Real crab and really delicious, especially with the sauces generously provided on the side. The veggie gyozas were so-so but the BBQ beef more than made up for them.

We passed on the salad and soup options - I don't believe in wasting stomach space at buffets.

What we didn't pass was the dessert table. A rainbow of cakes cut into small rectangles so we could glut on all of them. I can personally vouch for the banana, carrot, lemon and strawberry cakes. They were light and fluffy, delicately flavored and simply scrumptious. The little profiteroles, of which I think I had a dozen, were simple and sweet, made all the more wonderful by a smearing of strawberry yogurt, which was somewhat random in the line-up of tasty treats.

Oh and the kicker? $14.50 per person. Yes. You read that right. Damn I love lunch specials. We WILL be returning.

-Vixen

Minado Sushi Buffet
219 Glen Cove Rd,
Carle Place, NY 11514
516-294-9541
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