Showing posts with label NYC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYC. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The Morimoto Experience

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!

Friday, February 22, 2008

I'm Going Back to NYC!

Working a Friday night 'til 11 pm....not a fun time! Tomorrow's my high school pseudo-reunion. That's what I really want to write about, but I'll wait until after it's over. I have a lot of reservations about going to this thing... but I'm going. Hopefully all of my apprehensions will be unfounded (That sounded like a really intelligent sentence....). So, I've decided to stop thinking bad thoughts and blog about something else...NYC.

Last weekend I went to NYC and had so much fun... until I got sick (which is something that always seems to happen when I go out of town). I think I could live in NYC if it wasn't so damn cold! I mean, sure Buffalo and Rochester are cold, but I don't have to walk blocks and blocks to get somewhere! I do like city life though. It seems like there's always something to do. Fun!

My weekend in short: I got to see Krisha and go out on the town in Manhattan. I did some sightseeing and saw wonderful views of the city. I got to hang out in a sort of VIP lounge for the wedding party thing we went to.



I had fun in the city. Unfortunately, I was unable to do everything I set out to do. When you're visiting NYC with three guys, a girl's priorities are not #1. While I got to walk down 5th Avenue, I was unable to do ANY shopping whatsoever! WTF!? I had to walk right past Sephora! Oh, the humanity! I didn't even get to go to the MAC store (which is my idea of heaven). I had to walk past the two story JCrew that housed the bathing suit I've been wanting to purchase for Key West! Not fair at all! I did not buy a single thing! Craziness! Thus, I must begin planning my return to NYC. Who wants to come along? You're only allowed if you will accompany me to 5th Avenue, let me shop and not complain once! Oh, and you also have to head over to Time Square with me to find Krisha's billboard. That was the other thing on my to-do list. I was supposed to get my picture taken with Krisha's billboard. Sadly, I did not. Hopefully I'll get back there before it disappears! Love u Krish!