Last November (yes, November) my wife and I visited Philadelphia for a wedding. While there, I couldn’t resist visiting Morimoto.
For those who may not know, Morimoto is Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s restaurant in Philly, which was his first in the United States. In addition to being an accomplished chef, Morimoto was also on Iron Chef, and even though he wasn’t my favorite Iron Chef (go Sakai!) he’s still pretty damn good.
I had the pleasure of meeting Morimoto when he was here in Chicago at Fox & Obel for a book signing and tasting. At the Fox & Obel event, he made a daikon linguine which was pretty good (although most impressive were his knife skills, wow!!) and a tuna sashimi “pizza” that rocked.
My wife and I stopped by Morimoto for lunch, thinking it would be less expensive than dinner. It probably was, but we still spent an obscene amount of money for lunch–and it was worth every penny. We both had the chef’s degustation menu, and I had the wine pairing as well. And now, here’s the rundown:
*1. Toro tartare*, with shallots, caviar and fresh wasabi, in a dashi-shoyu-miran broth. Served with a mountain peach as a pallate cleanser.
*Pairing*: Brut Champagne, Veuve Clicquot, Reims France
The tuna tartare was amazing. Simply amazing. The fresh wasabi was delicate and