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“Morimoto”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Asian	MeatPacking	Break the Bank	Don't Bother

MY DINNER AT MORIMOTO

I thought it might be fitting to begin this review of Morimoto with a quote from its owner, the Philadelphia restaurateur, Stephen Starr. “Morimoto is going to be far more interesting than any restaurant New York has seen,” Mr. Starr told Florence Fabricant, in an article that ran in the New York Times on January 25th.

First of all, making this sort of magnanimous declaration is just asking for trouble. Secondly, if Starr actually thinks Morimoto is more interesting than any restaurant New York has seen, clearly Mr. Starr has either (a) never eaten in New York City, or (b) is suffering from a rare and little known ailment I call Chronic Culinary Delusion (hereinafter, “CCD”), and needs a major dose of restaurant therapy. My prescription for a CCD cure would be visits to several restaurants that are far more interesting than Morimoto: WD-50, 71 Clinton (while it’s still with us), Annisa, Fatty Crab, Momofuku, Gilt, Tia Pol, and yes, how about Nobu? After my meal at Morimoto, Mr. Starr, I respectfully submit that you will need to start eating your words.

Designed by Tadao Ando, the Pritzker Prize winning architect, Morimoto cost $12 million to build. That would be one million dollars for each of its precious, bright white and concrete 12,000 square feet. Um, are you kidding me? Where are people getting the money to shovel into these places? And how exactly do they plan on making it back?

Now, to be sure, Morimoto is impressive. You enter through a cherry red noren, a sort of cloak that smocks the silver-shingled façade. It's a cool touch, but it feels a bit like Christos’ Gates. The initial effect of the size and ceremony of the space is compelling, but that soon evaporates, and you realize the place is actually sort of cold and sterile, and kind of ugly. The room feels like it was transported from a suburb, like a fancy PF Chang’s fed a steady diet of white paint, concrete, clear Lucite, and Ty Nant glass water bottles. Hey, if you are going to design a restaurant for $12 million, I might chose a material other than Ty Nant water bottles, which by the way, the restaurant is given for free, but charges guests $8 a pop.

The Ty Nant water bottles are stacked into a sheet of glass that does the room a majo ... [more, click below]

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Posted: February 20, 2006

Other restaurants in MeatPacking :
+ Paradou   + Florent   + One   + Bivio   + Spice Market   + Ono   + 5 Ninth   + Fatty Crab   + Del Posto   + Morimoto   + Los Dados   + 5 Ninth   + Merkato 55   + Scarpetta   + The John Dory   + The Standard Grill   + Bill's Bar & Burger   

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