Morimoto (Philadelphia)

[dagordon]

where do you get your togarashi?  i only found it at dibruno's and it's not great.

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Tokyo

But you should be able to find Yagenbori togarashi in Asian markets in the US. You can definitely get it online.

[dagordon]

Forgot to add: the ramen is $10, and filling enough to make a meal out of for lunch.

[philadining]

Wow, and I thought the Maldon salt grinders were pretty out of control.

Although, nothing improves movie theater popcorn like a dose of Maldon. I highly recommend going to the movies with David...

(oh, and do you think we can use your egg carrier thing for melted butter?)

Edited July 16, 2008 by philadining (log)

[dagordon]

Wow, and I thought the Maldon salt grinders were pretty out of control.  

Although, nothing improves movie theater popcorn like a dose of Maldon. I highly recommend going to the movies with David...

(oh, and do you think we can use your egg carrier thing for melted butter?)

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Hell yeah, the carrier could be used for melted butter... I think it would probably melt pretty quickly by itself. But I could vacuum pack some butter, fill the carrier with very hot water, and then put the pouch in the carrier. That would totally work.

Edited July 16, 2008 by dagordon (log)

[Tim Dolan]

Continuing my sushi education, I'll be stopping by tomorrow night. The consensus on this thread and this thread seems to be that there is better sushi to be had in the area, but Morimoto is still overall a fairly good/borderline great place. That being said, I'm thinking about going with an omakase featuring half sushi/half whatever else. I'll report back, and if anyone has any suggestions before tomorrow, I'd be happy to hear them.

[Buckethead]

Continuing my sushi education, I'll be stopping by tomorrow night.  The consensus on this thread and this thread seems to be that there is better sushi to be had in the area, but Morimoto is still overall a fairly good/borderline great place.  That being said, I'm thinking about going with an omakase featuring half sushi/half whatever else. I'll report back, and if anyone has any suggestions before tomorrow, I'd be happy to hear them.

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If you're set on Morimoto, I'd do omakase, no sushi. I've never had the omakase there but their sushi is just good, not great. My one non-sushi meal there was also good, but not great.

If you're set on sushi, I'd go to Zento instead.

[philadining]

It's been quite a while since I had sushi at Morimoto, but I think it could be worth it for Tim to experience, if only for the rice. If we're actually talking about Sushi, as opposed to Japanese food in general, or raw fish, at its core, Sushi is about the rice, and Morimoto's is really good.

When I did Omakase there, there were several sashimi-ish courses, but only one Sushi course. That was very simple, straight ahead nigiri, and very good. Morimoto happened to be in the house that night, but I have no reason to believe that he actually made my sushi.

You might consider just ordering some sushi by the piece, rather than committing to the elaborate meal, but the omakase is sure to be varied, so you'll likely enjoy most of it, even if you're still not sold on the raw fish. But don't be afraid to ask to tweak the omakase to your liking, with more or less fish, cooked fish, raw fish, whatever... But if you're there, you might as well try the range of what they do.

[rae]

I go to Morimoto almost weekly for lunch. Overall I think the food is pretty mediocre except for a few things, which are great. The Morimoto ramen is great. The house green salad, is really good. And the tempura rock shrimp, yummy. Sometimes I get the cha-soba, which is also good, but not great. The sushi is not very good. Most times that I stray from what I listed above I am disappointed. I have not gotten the sushi in probably a year, but my dining companion got about 10 pieces of straight up nigiri a couple of weeks ago. Oddly enough he thought that every piece had been rubbed with garlic; needless to say he did not enjoy it. I think if you are looking for an overall meal, cooked food and sushi, I would go to Zento and do an omakase there.

[Tim Dolan]

I have been to Zento and very much enjoyed it. I look forward to going back. When I went it was only the 2nd time I had sushi (after a bad initial experience) and it gave me a very "so wait, this stuff IS good" moment. I was at Raw a few weeks ago and thought it was perfectly fine, but at the same time I hardly know what I'm talking about. So this is more or less all in the interests of expanding my horizons. I'm shooting for Fuji next, then returning to Zento.

[Tim Dolan]

Also, there's no way for me to pose this question without sounding like a smartass so please don't think I mean it that way, but why keep going back if the food is mostly mediocre? Is the ramen really that great? Or do you have some lingering hope that something new will knock your socks off? Anyway, thanks for the advice.

[Tim Dolan]

So I went on Friday night, and in a nutshell I thought everything was great. My dining partner and I each got the $100 omakase, we didn't have any special requests or restrictions. It was my first time there so it was all new to me anyway. We sat at the sushi bar and had a very enjoyable meal.

First course was a tuna tartare with caviar in a light soy broth. I thought this tasted very fresh and it had some dry seaweed mixed in to offset the smooth texture of the tuna. It was a nice start.

Up next was a few thin slices of some type of whitefish (I forget exactly which kind) with hot oil and yuzu. There was also a piece of sea urchin in the middle of the plate. This seemed simple as could get but was very delicious. It was nice and light, and the yuzu seemed to highlight everything on the plate.

3rd course was some type of micro green salad with a few slices of yellowtail. Again, very simple and very tasty. After this dish we had a small shot glass of some type of ginger soda that served as a palate cleanser.

4th dish was Atlantic halibut wrapped in seaweed. This is where my dining partner and I disagreed in that I didn't care for it very much but she thought it was the best course of the night. There was nothing wrong with it, it was not at all dry and tasted fresh, I just don't think that it was to my liking. This didn't stop me from eating the whole thing anyway.

For the next dish, which were lamb chops, I'll echo some comments above in that I was confused about why they were there. They just seemed out of place with the rest of the meal which was comprised of, you know, all fish. As for how they tasted, I thought they were as good as lamb chops can be. They were cooked perfectly medium rare and were off my plate in about 30 seconds.

Up next was the sushi course, which was good because we were starting to hit the wall. We each had five pieces of sushi that consisted of chu-toro, kanpachi, and three types of snapper. Each piece was described to us by the sushi chef who had just carved everything up in front of us. I guess now is a good time to mention that although we did have a server, we were talking to the sushi chefs on the other side of the bar for most of our meal. It was hard not to. They seemed to be having a good time and were very enthusiastic about answering any questions we had about what they were preparing, whether it was for us or for another table.

My favorite pieces were the chu-toro, which was melt-in-your-mouth good, and a piece of big eye snapper which the chef said was flown in earlier that day and he said was his favorite cut. I thought it was awesome. I thought the chu-toro here was better than the oh-toro that I have had at both Zento and Raw. Not by much, but enough to notice. I regretted not getting asking for an additional piece of oh-toro just for the sake of comparison. The big eye snapper was really killer as well.

Dessert was a layered chocolate raspberry cake of some sort. It was more of a fudgy, mousse type of thing. Good stuff. I was more focused on the rest of the meal however.

We had a very nice waitress who had no trouble answering any questions that we had and actually seemed happy that we were there without putting on an act. Between her and the interaction with the sushi chefs we had an excellent time. I'm sure that going to another place and ordering directly from the sushi chef is a whole different experience entirely, but we had a good time chatting with the guys on the other side of the bar all the same. All in all I would say that it was slightly pricey but worth it, and I would recommend gong there to anyone.

[rae]

Sorry for the delay. The ramen is really that great. We go for the ramen. We sit down order a house salad to split and a ramen each. Occasionally I get convinced that if the ramen is so great something else will be that great too, but I'm always wrong...

[arazi]

looks like i'm headed to morimoto this weekend with some friends. it's been a few years since i've been here and just wondering if anyone had any opinions on the omakase?

i've read on here to order with restrictions. nothing on the menu, etc. is that the way to go? any other restrictions?

[GordonCooks]

Anyone been lately, I'll be in the vicinity Labor Day weekend.

[philadining]

Wow, there seem to be about 15 Morimoto topics scattered around, and I can't find the ones that I recall seeing with recent reports, but there have been more current updates than in this thread!!

I know a few folks have reported being weirded-out by not being able to order sushi directly from the sushi chefs, even when seated at the sushi bar (you have to place your order with a server, not the guy right in front of you...) But I think the sushi itself is still at least decent, if not spectacular, but I'm basing that on second-hand reports, i haven't been there in quite a while.

If it's a place you'd been to and liked, and wanted to revisit, it's probably pretty much the same, I get the impression that the menu hasn't changed much. If you were just in the mood for their particular style of Asian fusion, they still do that pretty well. ... and I know several people still swoon over their chicken ramen.

If you were just jonesing for sushi, and have a car, you might want to check out Fuji, it's not that far over the bridge into New Jersey. Why were you thinking of Morimoto in particular?

[jmbrightman]

If you were just jonesing for sushi, and have a car, you might want to check out Fuji, it's not that far over the bridge into New Jersey.  Why were you thinking of Morimoto in particular?

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we sat at Fuji's sushi bar Friday night for the $50 omakase , and it was one of the best meals I have had. ever.

[GordonCooks]

Wow, there seem to be about 15 Morimoto topics scattered around, and I can't find the ones that I recall seeing with recent reports, but there have been more current updates than in this thread!! 

I know a few folks have reported being weirded-out by not being able to order sushi directly from the sushi chefs, even when seated at the sushi bar (you have to place your order with a server, not the guy right in front of you...)  But I think the sushi itself is still at least decent, if not spectacular, but I'm basing that on second-hand reports, i haven't been there in quite a while. 

If it's a place you'd been to and liked, and wanted to revisit, it's probably pretty much the same, I get the impression that the menu hasn't changed much. If you were just in the mood for their particular style of Asian fusion, they still do that pretty well.  ... and I know several people still swoon over their chicken ramen.

If you were just jonesing for sushi, and have a car, you might want to check out Fuji, it's not that far over the bridge into New Jersey.  Why were you thinking of Morimoto in particular?

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Ciao Philly guru,

My new girlfriend is a Pescetarian (sp?) We both like Asian food and she was quite interested in my cookbook. She's a bit of a dining novice so we'd be more about the hot dishes and not so much about sushi. I'm just putting together options for Sat night eats.

[GordonCooks]

I like Morimoto, I get consistent food, and the service is always exemplary. Sunday night, I was mulling over dinner choices and remembered that Morimoto was open. My girl loves edgy style and is an adventurous eater, never having been there, it was an obvious choice. The tuna pizza was excellent for the quality of the tuna and balance of red onion, to crust, and amount of aioli. Lobster Ceviche salad was a nice portion of ceviche in addition to a poached claw, citrus supremes, pickled onions, and mizuna. Next, Yosedofu – Tofu made tableside and Cha Soba. Anything made tableside is cool in an old school way. This was no exception. The Cha Soba was very good in flavor and texture. A dish I could eat all day long in an 80 degree summer sun. The miso was excellent and I had it there with the clams for the first time. It was different but I may prefer the traditional version my girl enjoyed. Fish, it’s always where the restaurant shines. The Sea Bass was exemplary – salty beans and unctuous meat. The Black Cod was equally as tasty with the crisp skin, and the sweetness of the miso, mustard and sake mirin marinade. We drank a bottle Pine Ridge Chenic Blanc/Viognier and assorted martinis and for dessert – Morimoto Brownies with Suntory Carmel and walnuts along with the sorbets that included coconut, peach, and chocolate raisin. A nice meal from start to finish. When asked by staff how the experience was for her – my girl replied “exquisite” A word she uses sparingly.