Earlier this month Peter & I headed out to NYC & Jersey for a wedding of a college friend. We decided to use this as an opportunity to go to a nice restaurant for a true culinary experience. We've been fans of the Iron Chef & Iron Chef America for years, so what better restaurant to visit than Mosaharu Morimoto's! He is by far our favorite chef in a veritable pantheon of culinary giants.
We decided to document our experience....
We each started out dinner with a drink. I had an unadventurous glass of riesling, while Peter went for a "White Lily." We don't remember what was in it except for yuzu (japanese citrus). Peter describes this as "the best cocktail I've ever had." He says that it tasted like a combination of citrus & lily scent. He raved about it all night long. In case you're wondering, my glass of reisling was pretty standard.
First Course: Toro (Fatty Tuna) Tartare
The pink area on top is the tuna & below are 6 accouterments. We're not sure what they all were, but there was definitely wasabi, some crispy little balls of a bread-like substance, & a soy-like paste.
The berry looking thing on the side is a japanese mountain peach called Yamamomo. It tasted okay.
Second Course: Scallop Carpaccio w/hot oil & herbs
I really enjoyed this. I liked all the flavors.
Peter thought the scallop was very tender & had a wonderful texture. It was a relatively mild dish, but still tasted good.
Third Course: Salad w/soy dashi foam
Peter says, "Do not underestimate the foam!" We often watch Iron Chef & wonder, "how much flavor is really in that foam?" Well, my friends, the aswer is "alot!" While this salad was not one of our favorite courses, we were happy that we got some foam to experience. Not much else to say about this dish. Peter had been hoping for a lobster foam, but alas (sigh!) we had to settle for soy dashi.
At this point in our meal Peter & I tried different courses. I was had no desire to eat oyster, while he wanted to stay true to the Morimoto experience & ate the omakase as intended.
Jaime's Fourth Course: Smoked Salmon Ravioli w/Salmon Roe & Yuzu Foam
I was not impressed. The waitress told me this was one of the most popular dishes, so I was quite disappointed when I had no desire to finish the single ravioli on my plate.
Peter's Fourth Dish: Oysters w/Foie Gras & Uni (Sea Urchin Gonads)
Peter was not too excited about this dish. The oyster was okay. The foie gras tasted kinda like butter. Peter's comment on the uni, "It tasted like concentrated, rotting seaweed."
Fifth Course: Sushi
One was shrimp, a salmon, a sardine, a toro & two other things.
I liked them all. I don't know if there was anything really special about them, but I enjoyed them & thought the taste & texture were both excellent. Peter agrees.
Palette Cleanser: Homemade Ginger Ale
Peter sampled this first & the face he made was enough to scare me out of trying it. Before sampling it I smelled it & the scent almost knocked me over! The taste was like a a flavor explosion! I have to imagine that if you drank the juice that picked ginger comes in it would be quite similar to what our homemade ginger ale tasted like. Peter thought there was also a pretty strong citrus flavor in it as well. Our lips were burning before we finished off the tiny glass. Lucky for us our waitress warned us that it was a "sipping drink" & not a shot as the glass it is served in may have you believe!
Despite what the above may lead you to believe, we both really enjoyed it.
Sixth (Main) Course: Half a Lobster w/Lemon Creme Fraiche & Wagyu Beef w/Sweet Potoatoes
The lobster was coated in garam masala. Peter doesn't really like lobster, but he enjoyed eating this. He thought the creme fraiche seemed like a good idea at first, but it quickly became overwhelming. He thought the beef tasted like good beef & was tender, buthe didn't think anything made it particularly special.
I really enjoyed the wagyu beef. The lobster was okay. I was excited about creme fraiche, but lemon is not a favorite flavor of mine, so I was a bit disappointed.
Seventh (Dessert) Course: Chocolaty Goodness (for lack of a better name)
This dish consisted of a cannel of chocolate ice cream, a toffee chip & a dark chocolate ganache layered on some type of graham cracker. This was awesome! Peter says the toffee & ganache were extremely good.
Eighth Course: The Bill
It was pricey & we knew that going in. We don't frequent expensive restaurants, so a big bill once in our 6 years together is acceptable!
A few other notes of Morimotos:
The Bathroom was pretty sweet.
The toilet had a control panel for ..... heated seat, vibrating, oscillating, etc.
And now for the "piece de resistance"
We had hoped to possibly see him around, but we never thought we'd have the oppourtunity to have our picture taken with our favorite Iron Chef! The looks on our faces definitely convey the excitement/enjoyment we got out of this experience!
