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Upstairs at Bouley seems to be a jumble of all of David Bouley's grandiose notions, in miniature form. There’s a bakery on the ground floor and a meat-and-fish market in the basement. A tattered carpet leads to the small dining space upstairs, where a sushi bar is jammed into one corner of the room, the open kitchen in another. The menu is a schizophrenic mingling of sushi, salads, Japanese hors d’oeuvres, and various specialties, including a new “Bouley Burger.” There’s a decent selection of Continental salads—order the one made with wild mushrooms and a spritzing of truffle dressing, or the asparagus set over pieces of blue crab and a rich parsley sauce. The larger entrées at Upstairs are mostly small, restrained versions of the kind of dishes Bouley is famous for. End your meal the way many people seem to do at this haphazardly endearing little restaurant: with a taste of palate-cleansing sushi. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

The sushi is professionally done, and includes Kobe beef "sushi" gently seared and topped with a crunchy nickel of garlic.

Brunch

Sat.–Sun., 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Japanese nanzenji tofu, $8.50; wild-mushroom salad, $7.95; Wellfleet line-caught halibut, $15

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New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (10/10/05)

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