KAI Restaurant   

822 Madison Ave # A
New York, NY 10065
212-988-7277
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The SceneThis tiny sliver of a restaurant, perched above a gallery-like Madison Avenue Japanese tea shop, specializes in kaiseki, a meal of tiny courses traditionally served with tea. The layout is spare, with deep-brown wood floors, straw-colored clay walls and big street-facing windows. A reliable team of servers circulates through the room pouring tea from iron kettles. The FoodThe kitchen cranks out artfully plated, salubrious fare, with an emphasis on vegetables and seafood. The lightest courses include quarter-sized rolls of tea-smoked duck and featherweight tastes of black soybeans, bamboo shoots and burdock. More elaborate courses include a lovely purplish-red sashimi of bonito over jasmine rice and roasted salt-encrusted striped bass with tea leaves. For dessert, ask a waiter to select an appropriate tea and unwind to sesame mouse, chocolate cake, or an eye-opening granite topped with shiso.