Torigo sushi reopens in Floral Park

On the surface, Torigo’s move from 196 to 200 Jericho Tpke. was practically seamless. The top sushi spot closed its old doors for only one week to transition this spring. But, said chef-owner Tony San, "it took us two years to make it happen." Still, he considers himself fortunate that, once his lease was up, he managed to stay on the same block. While the new space is no larger than the old one (it seats about 50 guests), it is cleaner, brighter and more stylish, with earth-toned masonry and accents of yakisugi, the traditional Japanese technique of preserving wood by charring it.

Torigo debuted in 2006 and, in 2015, San took over from the original owner, Aki Hirahata. Wedged into a line of storefronts, Torigo looks like a hundred other Long Island sushi bars. But look closer. The neon blackboard lists two dozen daily specials and, aside from the four grades of bluefin tuna that fly in direct from Spain, there might be bai gai (Japanese ivory sea snails), kanpachi (amberjack), madai (sea bream) and uni (sea urchin) from Maine, California and Japan. San, a traditionalist who likes to play with flavors, serves yellowtail with a little jalapeño or scallion, and kanpachi is topped with a chili yuzu paste.

My usual order at a sushi bar is chirashi, a bowl of rice topped with raw fish. Sometimes I try to talk the server into an upgrade — the same idea, but with the daily specials instead of the usual salmon-tuna-yellowtail-boiled shrimp-crabstick. "I’ll pay anything," I always make clear, but my request pans out maybe 20% of the time.

At Torigo, the chirashi is $38 but, for $54, you can order the kaisendon, "the day’s best fish carefully selected ... and served over a bowl of sushi rice." Hey, that’s exactly what I want!

On a recent evening, my bowl contained Scottish salmon, salmon roe, bluefin akami (tuna loin) and o-toro (belly), yellowtail, raw scallops from Hokkaido, sea urchin from Hokkaido and the tail of a raw sweet shrimp (ama-ebi); the head had been deep fried and offered as an appetizer.

There are only five seats at the sushi bar at Torigo but they are the best seats in the house because you can watch San and his team whip through the fish with speed and skill while they explain the finer points of sushi. At $168 for 16 courses, the omakase menu can only be described as a bargain.

Torigo, 200 Jericho Tpke., Floral Park, 516-352-1116, torigorestaurant.com. Open: Tuesday to Thursday noon to 10 p.m., Friday noon to 10:30 p.m., Saturday 5 to 10:30 p.m., Sunday 5 to 9:30 p.m.