Morimoto

One of the best rewards for working hard is a great meal – it’s even better when the people you work for tell you to order anything you want and to not worry about the bill. After working on a project for six weeks (which seemed like six months), the manager of the project offered to take me and two others to dinner to show his appreciation for our hard work. SCORE! Since Morimoto is a pretty nice place to bring out of town guests, we decided to go there.

We started off with a small appetizer -a new take on fried rice:

Crispy and barely fried, it was very cute but not memorable (good thing it was free!).

I ordered for the table (since I’m the one that writes the reviews!) and we decided to go with a couple appetizers, sushi and sashimi, and some cooked dishes. The first appetizer to come out was the tuna pizza:

The tuna pizza comes on a flatbread that resembles a saltine (sans salt), cilantro, tuna, and a spicy wasabi mayo. I liked the different textures of the pizza and the table agreed that it was a good order.

Our next appetizer was the foie gras on a cooked oyster:

The thick cut of foie gras came on an oyster that was barely cooked and a healthy dose of teriyaki sauce. Another shot:

The foie gras was rich and decadent, but a little overkill with the teriyaki. Too much sauce is never a good thing.

I also ordered a couple pieces of sashimi in case our appetizers weren’t enough for everyone:

I’m a huge fan of tamago (but it’s very hard to mess up tamago – it’s an egg custard omelet that’s very rich and very easy to recreate). The fatty tuna was very meaty and the yellowtail was also a big hit.

An order of sushi before our main dishes arrived:

The spicy tuna roll was my favorite (especially since their spicy mayo is great)…but I don’t think the rolls/sashimi at Morimoto si that much better than any other sushi joint in NY. Onto the main dishes!! (although most of us were already full after all of the appetizers and sushi).

Our first dish was a braised black cod in a ginger reduction:

The cod was a little plain, but had enough sauce to make up for the taste of the fish. Everyone at the table enjoyed the dish, but I wouldn’t order it again.

Our next main course was Duck duck duck, a specialty of Morimoto’s:

The duck duck duck comes on a flaky croissant that’s brushed with foie gras (how rich!) and has duck and green onion inside. Duck duck duck was my favorite dish of the night; an abundance of greasy duck, flaky dough, and fresh flavor from the green onion. I wasn’t a fan of the dipping sauces (too pungent) but there was enough flavor from the duck grease that you didn’t even NEED to dip the sandwich in red miso.

Our third entree was the angry chicken:

My least favorite dish of the night. The dish tasted like it was out of a PF Chang’s; the chicken was dry, there was too much Styrofoam all around it, and there was too much sauce on the chicken and vegetables. Definitely not a dish to EVER order again.

After filling up on so many delicious appetizers and main courses, we had to indulge in some desserts. We started with a Chocolate Pecan Brownie with espresso ice cream:

The brownie tasted like it just came out of the oven and when eaten with a scoop of ice cream, tasted like a party in my mouth. Very delicious!

We also ordered Earl grey creme brulee:

This was my favorite dessert of the night. The earl grey tea was a very subtle flavor (moreso in the after taste) but the creme brulee was really well done and very delicious.

Overall, it was a solid meal at Morimoto (although my dining companion, Ryan, disagreed). Next time, I’ll order more sushi/sashimi and less cooked dishes (I don’t think they’re THAT great) and definitely MORE dessert!