Two Thirty Six Omakase opens in Syosset

A sleek, new omakase bar and lounge has opened in Syosset, giving Long Islanders another spot to try this adventurous style of dining, in which the chef decides what you'll eat. Two Thirty Six (named after its Jericho Turnpike address) is in the former Mara’s Southern Kitchen, mere steps away from Syosset Lanes.

Reservations are essential, as is prepayment for the $231 all-inclusive, multicourse dinner experience at the sushi counter that involves an assigned seat and a menu inscribed with your name.

But first: You can start at the lush, exclusive-feeling lounge up front that's full of blue-velvet chairs, moody table lighting and clubby wood paneling. It serves curated selections of imported sake and Japanese whiskey, plus cocktails like Yuzu Verde ($18) featuring tequila, basil syrup, pineapple and yuzu, described as "a garden party gone rogue," or the Midnight Doctrine ($18), "a velvet echo of old jazz and candlelight" that riffs on a Manhattan, with bourbon, vermouth and buttered cacao. Its a la carte bar menu includes cold plates such as sea bream crudo with shaved uni and lemon zest ($20); and a four-piece Toyosu nigiri selection ($35) that give a glimpse of what’s happening in back. Hot dishes feature batter-fried chicken thigh ($16), lobster udon pasta ($32), and an 8-ounce A5 Wagyu strip with polenta fries ($145).

"We wanted people to be able to go out on a Thursday night and have a Manhattan-level experience," said Steven Tsang, whose WH Group also owns other Long Island omakase spots Sora in Stony Brook and Huntington’s House of Yoshin. 

While the lounge is impressive, you'll pass through a speakeasy door hidden in walnut bookshelves full of spines bearing names from the art, fashion and music worlds — Rolex, Chanel, Eminem, Matisse, Picasso — for the main affair. Sexy and seductive, it has black tiling and lotus flower accents. Chef Isaac Kek guides diners through the world of Japanese raw fish (menus can be tailored to allergies and aversions). You start with five otsumami, or small bites. Standouts are the kanpachi, or amberjack, with a sambal kick, and the Jidori egg, soft and gooey, topped with a generous shaving of bottarga, an cured mullet fish roe, for texture. The A5 Miyazaki wagyu topped with foie gras and Burgundy truffle is the cherry on top.

Next comes eight pieces of meticulously prepared nigiri. There’s mild madai and ruby red akami (lean) tuna, uni served in seaweed, like a tiny taco from Hokkaido, and ishidai, or Japanese knifejaw, a tougher but no less tasty imported whitefish. From otoro topped with gold leaf to scallops dusted with Meyer lemon zest, one slick and shiny bite trumped the last. The coda, or closing, section of the menu, includes a fatty tuna handroll (toro taku temaki) with pickled radish and shisho and a sansho pepper and chive-laced red miso dashi. Toasted coconut panna cotta was the day’s dessert.

Every detail has been considered at Two Thirty Six, not just the high-quality fish, most of which, Tsang said, is air-shipped from Tokyo's Toyosu Fish Market.

Two Thirty Six, 236 W. Jericho Tpke., Syosset 646-352-0051, 236syosset.com; On Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, the lounge is open from 5 to 10 p.m. with three omakase seatings at 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, lounge hours are from 5 to 11 p.m.; there is an additional omakase seating at 8:30 p.m.