Morimoto. Napa.
First time for my better half and I to try a set menu, chef's choice, 7-course. I'll describe what I remember what was what but for the most part I'll just post pictures and say what I think at the end, except for one thing I must mention first. I did not expect too much but I thought that a place like this would be a little more quiet ... romantic .... upscale? Upscale indeed it is but the place reminds me of an upgraded Yardhouse. Little to no noise dampening, people everywhere talking loud and others talking louder to be able to talk over the ones talking talk. Then there's the ones yelling to be heard over the ones talking louder and loudest. Anyway, it's loud. I had a hard time conversing with my significant one.
Morimoto's characters. They're pretty much on everything.
Soy sauce, looked pretty neat. Not in a Kikkoman bottle. Haha.
My drink and her's. The lychee drink she ordered appears creamy but it did not taste anything close to how it was presented. I ordered a plum drink, and it did not really hit my taste buds all that well. Plum wine flavor was a bit there but regardless the lychee drink was better.
First course, a toro paste thing with five different pastes and a light shoyu "broth" thing and a small mountain berry to cleanse the palate afterwards. This dish was wonderfully wonderful. My better half and I enjoyed the nori (seaweed) paste, besides that one all I remember is the chives near the middle and the miniature rice cracker balls near the top. After trying all these pastes one by one I said screw it and just started putting all the flavors in and it was superb. We both loved this dish. You eat it with that little shovel you see in the back. Very fun. The berry at the end ... I don't know where they get it from but I want to harvest it and eat it every single day. Its appearance resembles a raspberry but the seed is in the middle. The taste reminds me of raspberry + plum + strawberry. Has the texture of raspberry (minus the seeds), juiciness of a plum and strawberry. Oh man, this berry was just spectacular. If I go back I'll ask if I'm able to just order these berries.
Not a second course but it came out second. I ordered a salmon skin roll. The salmon skin was toasted to a perfect crisp with a bit of salmon meat on the skin bits. Was good but not amazing. My better half and I concluded there is a particular taste to the rice ... I'd assume it's from the vinegar they add to the rice, but it overpowered a lot of the taste from the salmon skin and sushi in general, but we'll talk about the sushi later.
Second course: Hamachi of some sort lightly fried with a citrus shoyu sauce from what I remember. Iunno, it was good. Enjoyed it.
Third course: Anchovy & Garlic paste in miso oil. Vegetables, croutons, and some fried fish cubes for dipping. Salty because of the anchovies but wow this dish was very fun to eat, very tastey. One of the most memorable of the night that's for sure.
Here's an attempted closer shot of the paste getting heated up with the candle. Yum.
Fourth dish: Foie Gras Chawan Mushi. Duck breast, wasabi and a sweet soy sauce. This dish wasn't too bad. The duck breast was very tender, as for the foie gras custard thing all I can comment is it was rich and pretty salty. The strange thing is when I added a bit of the wasabi with the foie gras the taste of the wasabi turned to sweet. VERY weird, my better half wasn't able to distinguish this taste so many my taste buds are crazy?
(Fifth) Dish: Seaweed tea. Warm to touch, refreshingly smooth to the palate. Nice to have before the next course.
Fifth Dish: The sushi. I don't know what all of them are. I just know hamachi and toro. Fresh but with the aftertaste of the rice (that we didn't seem to fond of) this was, unfortunately, the least liked of our dishes.
Sixth Dish: Lobster tail, beef wagyu, pork medallions. I'll have to say this was just a little better than the fifth dish. The reason for it? Well it was tender but nothing that says "Wow, the flavor from this meat makes me want to slap myself across the face to force a smile on my face." It was just meat with some seasoning on it.
Seventh Dish: Pistachio ice cream with roasted pistachios and cognac marinated/soaked peaches. Peaches had a very overpowering cognac taste. Probably soaking a little too long... the champagne syrup you see that was added ... well the people next to us got to add it themselves whereas a hostess thought to pour the whole thing into our bowls. Overpowering sweetness. Not too impressed with this one.
Oh yes, one thing I wanted to add before ending this. When we arrived our reservation was lost in the system somewhere. I made the reservation through telephone a month in advance and they called me the day before arriving to confirm my reservation. When we got there, I wasn't in the system. Very strange but the hostess at the time was accommodating and put us on the list for the next table and it ended up being a 10 minute wait. Overall, it was a new, fun, worthwhile experience. Would I come back? Sure try something else. Definitely would like to get a picture with the Iron Chef next time when he's in. That would be cool. Now, for everything else. The environment I mentioned earlier, not too impressed but it definitely draws in quite the crowd. Good luck trying to get a seat at the bar. Service. Our server was nice when he was around but there's an army of people at Morimoto's. I don't know how many different people ended up serving our food and telling us about the dishes but there's too many people roaming around there. Cost, bring a days pay check, it'll cost you to try this place. If you're up for it, have some spare cash to burn, and maybe even want to try and see the Iron Chef stop by this place in Downtown Napa.
Morimoto Napa
610 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559
707-252-1600
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