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This is a small palate-cleanser of a place devoted to the growing cult of crudo—which, in case you missed it, is the precious, Italianate version of sashimi. The entire restaurant consists of a single long, glimmering bar hidden behind a discreet, smoked-glass doorway on a small street on the eastern fringes of Soho. The bar runs the length of the room and is made of a strip of shiny, laminated wood that looks like it’s been ripped from the side of some newly minted luxury yacht in the waters off Capri. There are mini backlit towers of wine bottles stacked behind the bar, and each place is set with a spotless wineglass and crisp, white linens. Flutes of champagne are offered before each meal, and little stacks of focaccia for clearing the palate. There are only ten or twelve items on the daily changing menu. All of them are fish, most of them are raw, and if you order the entire menu in one sitting, you’ll probably still have room left over for a proper dinner. But then Bar Tonno is less about regular dining per se than about the mannered, highly stylized pleasures of tasting. And if you taste just one thing, make it the lobster “Susci,” a decadent dish made with mounds of plump, buttery lobster touched with a rich Sicilian tomato sauce mixed with olive oil, capers, and a sprinkling of sea salt. — Adam Platt

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New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (12/13/04)