Otoro: The Hinoki Counter That Landed on Arthur Godfrey Road

A block of bluefin belly comes out of the cold drawer, and the chef sets it on a dark board and reaches for a yanagiba long enough to look theatrical. The slices come off one pull at a time, the blade drawn rather than pushed, and the cut faces run from deep rose at the loin end to a pale marbled pink where the fat takes over. Behind him the wall is pale fluted timber with a strip of concealed light washing down it, and a column carries a backlit sign in Japanese characters spelling the word otoro. Outside the door, 41st Street is doing what 41st Street does on a weeknight in Miami Beach: a queue at the pizza counter, cars double parked beside it, the whole kosher commerce of the barrier island compressed into a few blocks.

Otoro brands itself as a kosher omakase, and the counter does take bookings for the chef's choice. What it publishes, though, is an a la carte card of thirteen sections, and the card is where the kitchen argues its case.