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“Morimoto”

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

r disservice, slicing it down the center and precluding the all-important see and be seen factor. I don’t know about you all, but when I go out to eat (which is every day, and sometimes twice a day), I like to look around and see other people. I like to feel the energy of the room, and this wall of water just cuts into the room, dividing and conquering.

In terms of the menu, I found the main theme to be way to much glitz, showmanship, and over-the-top, heavy handed presentation and not enough substance: flavors were muddy and flat, seasoning was off, and meats were overcooked. Was no one paying attention?

An example of the kitchen’s inattention to detail is the crispy rock shrimp tempura ($16), served with a pair of spicy dipping sauces, one sort of like a spicy ketchup and the other more like the one Nobu serves, a creamy wasabi mayo. This dish was as good as something from Houston’s. It tasted as though it had been sitting under heat lamps for a few hours. The shrimp were chewy and the batter was thin and soggy.

The Morimoto sashimi ($28), a signature, was nice actually, though it was ice cold, like it had been prepped and left in a walk-in and just removed and served. For $28, it should be prepared a la minute. But I loved the idea of it: seared toro, smoked salmon, barbecued eel, tuna and hamachi layered in a sort of raw fish Napoleon. But the dipping sauces—five of them—were presented in slim plastic test tube-things that made little fart-like noises when you squeezed them. Not pretty. People stared. I told them it wasn’t me. And do we need five dipping sauces? I think three would be enough, and please, lose the farting test tubes. Less is more.

The toro tartare ($28) was absolutely ridiculous. It arrives in a massive clay tub filled with ice. Shoved into the ice you’ll find five tongue depressors (utensils), a rectangular wooden washboard smoothed with a thin layer of mushy minced toro, and a second washboard layered with stripes of condiments: wasabi, seaweed sauce, avocado, crème fraiche, crumbled bits of rice cracker, and a little bowl of dashi soy. You are to take a tongue depressor, scrape off some toro, and then scrape off a condiment of your choice, then dip it into the dashi. Not only is it is difficult to eat, but the toro was minced way too fine, so the flavor of the fish seemed to be mashed out of it. I felt sorry for the toro. What a beautiful ... [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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