Masa - View this location on map Masa joins the thinly populated pantheon of New York's most stellar restaurants according to the New York Times for one reason above all others: with the superior seafood it serves you, it engineers discrete moments of pure elation that few if any other restaurants can match. Those moments mostly have to do with sushi, which Masa does to perfection, its chefs carving and molding and anointing each piece with painstaking, ritualistic care. The restaurant is less extravagant theater than hushed, minimalist temple, but that suits the simple, pristine fish, much of which has a silky, melting quality that, in my experience, cannot be found in New York at a lower price. The pitiless price here is more than $400 a person once tax and tip are factored in and quite possibly more than $500 with sake or wine. You pay to be putty, eating only what the chefs give you but knowing, as you sigh and even begin to feel flushed, that you are experiencing something divine. Frank Bruni for the NYT 10 Columbus Circle, New York, New York Restaurant

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