Hokkaido ~ New Paltz, NY

Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant

18 Church Street
New Paltz, NY 12561

845 256 0732

Dinner 7 days
Lunch on Weekdays

Hokkaido Website

There is a reason for the line out the door.  Do not let the line dissuade you from choosing Hokkaido for dinner, despite the fact that there are two other sushi restaurants nearby. This is the place.

Every now and again our Wednesday night dining crew gets a hankering for sushi. It is not our typical bistro fare, but seafood cravings strike on occasion, and we have a few sushi restaurants that we visit a few times a year. When dining in Ulster County, that destination is always Hokkaido. Judging by the comments on my Rambler Facebook Page, we are not alone in that assessment. Hokkaido has a large following, and for very good reason.

The restaurant menu offers a broad array of Japanese standards, in addition to a very good sushi selection. Stir-fries, dumplings (Yasai Gyoza) , meat skewers (Yakitori), fried rice or spicy noodles with miso soup, tempura selections and grilled terryaki choices complement the offerings from the sushi bar. But we come here for the sushi. We have standard instructions for the server: Ask the chef to put together a platter of whatever looks good, and if he has any baby octopus, we’ll have some for an appetizer.  This “combo platter” comes with a bowl of steaming miso soup, and a cucumber salad.

The photo at the top of the page is what showed up at our table last Wednesday, which was more than enough for our group of four diners. The platter included a half dozen choices of sushi and sashimi (no rice), along with chunks of a wonderful tuna roll and the requisite wasabi.  The chef’s spread included a splay of shrimp, yellow tail, salmon slices, and red snapper. Standards all, nothing fancy or exotic, but all fresh, delicious, and beautifully prepared. Japanese cooking is, without question, the most artistic in the culinary arts.

The restaurant does not have a bar, but offers diners beer and wine (and sake). A most appropriate order would be a bottle of Sapporo beer ($4). Trivia ~ Impress your tablemates~ Sapporo is the capital of the Japanese island of Hokkaido.