vogelap

I'm sorry that you felt that the description of the experience at Morimoto was underdeveloped. I will try to go back and add additional details! I was worried as I was writing it that it was getting long in the tooth, but since I know there is interest, I'll flesh it out some! Once that's done, I'll post in this topic to let everyone know.

Now THAT is TV I'd watch!

Morimoto's food was amazing. Very restrained and controlled, and exceptionally fresh and well-prepared. Wendy and I got engaged at restaurant Morimoto in June 2002. Read about it in a four-part series starting here. The discussion of the meal at the restaurant is in part 4, along with the menu.

As a tried & true Iron Chef fan myself (we even got engaged at restaurant Morimoto (read all about it here)), I have seen the Natto Battle several times. My sister-in-law is Japanese, and happened to have some Natto on hand when we were at her house one night. It is truly an aquired taste, reminding me in some ways of strong bleu cheese, but with a nutty flavor. And the threads. Phew. Those threads are EVERYWHERE! It's an interesting flavor. I'm glad I tasted it, but I will report that I have not had any since then!

When I worked at a culinary school, we were approached and forged a relationship with a non-profit organization called (I think) "Second Helping". They were a middle-man organization between the school and the hungry. This organization would come to the school at appointed times to pick up the food that wasn't going to be used at the school. Sometimes it was lobster bisque, sometimes it was 30 pounds of diced potato. Second Helping would distribute it (and assume the risk of distributing it) to the homeless & hungry, who were eating out of the school's dumpsters anyway.

I can certainly validate that MORIMOTO was an awesome experience! I enjoyed it so well, I wrote up a four-installment travelogue of our trip to Philly. Complete with lots of pictures. Check out part 1 here. All the sections are linked.