When you think of fusion cuisine, hand-carved turnips, venison with charred sesame seeds, and black truffles don't jump to mind. Not unless you're Tadashi Ono, chef at the unusual and much underappreciated French-Japanese restaurant Sono. This tranquil spot on East 57th Street is a place of carefully orchestrated leisure. Two serene, minimalist rooms contain blond wood furniture, patterned red banquettes, and light-filled recesses in the ceiling. Chef Ono emphasizes sequences of flavors and careful arrangements of seemingly hodgepodge ingredients.
Service is attentive and thorough.
The carousel of sharp, fresh flavors sometimes thrilled and at least intrigued us. Ono seems to organize, rather than blend, flavors. Crab cakes in tomato essence are a good example. First you see a pool of orange broth, like a NASA image of the sun. To be frank, I was a truffle virgin.