While chefs require razor-sharp carbon steel knives in their kitchens, restaurant owners need nerves of steel. Just ask Steve Ma, who just opened his Japanese restaurant Fogama at 92 Purchase Street, the former site of Café Livorno and Umberto’s before that.

By Tom McDermott

 

While chefs require razor-sharp carbon steel knives in their kitchens, restaurant owners need nerves of steel. Just ask Steve Ma, who just opened his Japanese restaurant Fogama at 92 Purchase Street, the former site of Café Livorno and Umberto’s before that.

 

After arriving in this country from his native Hong Kong and successfully operating Asian fusion restaurants in midtown Manhattan, he signed a long-term lease for a new one in Penn Plaza – in the summer of 2001. But, even that serving of bad timing did not deter Ma from his chosen profession.

 

Eventually, he arrived at another Rye restaurant, Koo, where he watched over sushi-lovers’ needs for several years.

 

Fogama’s customers can sample the specialty — sushi and sashimi — at the first-floor bar. There is ample seating and a bar serving liquor upstairs in an understated, attractive setting.

 

For those not in a mood for sushi, Fogama fuses numerous alternative appetizers and entrees into its in-house and take-out menus, such as black pepper grilled salmon, poussin with Japanese curry sauce, or Seafood Pad Thai.

 

Fogama is open seven days a week, Monday-Thursday: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; and Sunday: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. For more information, call 921-6888 or visit fogamarye.com.