Unauthorized

This is the second time I have eaten at what is considered to be one of Western Europe’s finest sushi restaurants. It merits one Michelin star, but in my opinion, it deserves two. The chef, Ricardo Sanz, adds a Spanish flavor to the sushi and sashimi dishes, and the restaurant has a fabulous wine list that offers an incredible selection of Spanish, French and Italian wines as well as wines from elsewhere. The food is very creative with lots of innovations, but it never loses sight of the objective of wonderfully fresh, pure fish and seafood complemented by minimal accessories. The wine staff is terrific and makes every effort to satisfy diners, offering a wonderful selection of top crystal glassware for each type of wine. This restaurant is not inexpensive, but who wants to eat discounted sushi or sashimi?

The 2005 Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs Champagne Les Chétilles is spectacular. Sadly, while it can be found in the United States, it is not available in the Maryland marketplace. It is crisp and authoritatively flavored with exceptional purity, texture and vibrancy. Drink this gorgeous, first-growth quality Champagne over the next 5-10 years. The 2011 Ordonez & Co. Botani Dry Muscat is one of my favorite go-to white wines. A brilliant, dry Muscat from Malaga, a region better known for its sweet wines, it may be the only dry, stainless steel fermented and aged offering from Malaga. It is incredibly dry, sexy and delicious, especially with sushi and sashimi. We then moved to some red wines that worked surprisingly well with the more flavorful, fatty fish we had. 2009 is one of the all-time great vintages for the Clape family, and their “young” vine (35 to 40 years of age) cuvée, the 2009 Cornas Renaissance, is a blockbuster effort filled with cassis, blackberry, truffle, crushed rock and charcoal notes. Full-bodied, opulent and fleshy with atypically sweet tannins for such a young Cornas, this is a sumptuous wine. The 2005 Guigal Cote Rotie was decanted by our charming young sommelier (a smart decision), and the result was a wine filled with floral and black raspberry notes as well as subtle hints of espresso roast and new oak, stunning richness, full-bodied power and a velvety texture.

Altogether it was another brilliant meal from this great Madrid restaurant that I believe deserves at least two Michelin stars. Kudos to the chef and his staff, the wine list and the young sommelier.