Citroën, Brooklyn

This summer, I had the opportunity to live in Brooklyn for a month.  I enjoyed many elements of the experience; the weather was certainly a high point for me, but so was the food.  New York has no shortage of restaurants to pick from, all cuisines, all styles, all price points, obviously, but I also enjoyed checking out local places near where I was staying in Greenpoint too.  Which lead me to Citroën.

"We are a neighborhood French Bistro created and run by Hospitality Veterans. We are driven by fresh, seasonal market ingredients and a passion for Hospitality."

Citroën isn't a big flashy place helmed by a famous chef, but it is clearly a local darling, and I see why.  I really enjoyed both my food and drinks, and would return again in a heartbeat.

Setting

Citroën is located on a fairly lively section of Manhattan Ave in Brooklyn.  They have both indoor and abundant outdoor seating.  I didn't actually dine in, but I did walk by to check it out later.  It looked adorable. 

Outdoor Seating.

Unlike most simple parklets, Citroën really went all out with their outside seating.  Elaborate wooden structures, abundant plants, real furniture.  It looks incredibly welcoming.

Private Tents!

For a more rustic setting, you can opt for a private tent.

I think I love the idea of the little tents.  Presumably nice in the evening to shut the screens and prevent mosquitoes, while still allowing air flow?  Seems potentially very annoying for servers however if they need to zip/unzip while carrying food and plates ...

Drinks

Citroën has an impressive cocktail lineup, choices with all types of spirits, some trendy like the "Disco Nap" with butterfly pea tea-infused gin, or the kinda fun sounding "Moral Standing is Lying Down" with brulee banana-infused bourbon, rum, salted maple, and tiki bitters, with spins on classics, slushy drinks, and more.  They also have interesting sounding mocktails, and a decent size wine by the glass menu.  And, best of all, all are available for takeout.

I had both wine and a cocktail, and was quite pleased wtih the quality, and packaging, of both.

Glass of Les Jamelles Malbec, $11.

First up, I tried the cheapest red wine on the menu, a malbec.

This was a nice wine.  Not too much acid nor tanin.  Generous pour for the price, well packaged in a sealed bottle, and bonus points for including a plastic cup to drink it from. ***+.

I could also opt for a 2 person serving for $10 more.

Rye, Rye My Darlin. $14.

"Our spin on an old fashioned served on draft rye, Montenegro, demerara, and orange."

I also ordered a cocktail, and was even more impressed with the takeout experience.  Again, well packaged, and they included a cup on the side, with large ice cubes, and all the garnishes, even the skull topped skewer.  Bonus points for this.

The cocktail was very good - strongly boozy, which I was looking for.  A nice old fashioned.  The $14 price was completely reasonable for a quality cocktail.  ****.

Food

Citroën is a relatively classic French restaurant, with some local and seasonal elements.  The menu is broken down into Starters & Salads, Entrees (which all come with specific sides), a la carte sides, and of course dessert.  I went only for a starter and side, although the entrees did sound good, as I had some proteins left to finish up at home. If I had been dining in, I certainly would have opted for dessert. 

Starters

The starters lineup at Citroën contains all the French classics you'd expect: french onion soup, escargot, steak tartare, foie gras, etc, along with local items like East coast oysters, and some basics like crudite, charcuterie, a cheese plate.  I zeroed in on the foie gras, as we see it rarely in California these days.  I was also drawn by the grilled octopus, having had excellent grilled octopus from The Rusty Face (also in Brooklyn) a few days prior.  Salads, baked artichokes, and risotto round out the lineup.

Foie Gras Mousse. $21.

"Blackberry Jam, Crostini."

Ah, foie gras.  In mousse form.  Swoon.

Well, this was very good.  The mousse was full of flavor, lots of liver flavor but no funk.  It was perfectly creamy, so smooth, not a grainy bit to be found.  Really, about as good of a foie gras mousse as I've 'ever had.  ****+.

The blackberry compote on top was a nice pairing.  Lightly sweet and fruity, a touch more sophisticated than more standard pairings.  Deep rich flavor that complimented the mousse well, and balanced it out beautifully.  ****+.

It came with a very generous serving of crostini (only a handful are pictured here, it was a fairly full bag).  They too were above average - nicely toasted, but not so crisp it hurt the inside of your mouth to bite into them.  Notable for me, NOT sourdough.  Sure, I'd prefer something a touch more interesting than plain crostini, but, these were executed well  ***+,

Overall, this dish delivered in every element, and went together quite well.  I added some fresh blackberries to a few bites since I had some in my fridge, and that was lovely too.  The portion was quite generous (great to share as an appetizer really), and solid value at $21.  I'd get this again in a heartbeat.

Sides

All of the entrees include 1-2 specific sides each, but you can also order from a selection a la carte.  Sides include your usual carby suspects: mashed potatoes/potato puree, fries/pomme frites, mac and cheese (with or without shrimp), and some vegetables: sauteed spinach or mushrooms, "spring vegetables", ratatouille, or their very well regarded cauliflower gratin (that normally comes with the grilled branzino entree). 

After reading so many raving reviews of the cauliflower gratin, I had to get it.

Cauliflower Gratin. $14.

When you read reviews of Citroën, nearly every person who ordered the branzino mentions how glorious the cauliflower gratin is.  They like the fish of course, but, they rave about the gratin that is served alongside.  It was hard to ignore the accolades, literally, not a single mention of it being "meh".  I was already thinking of it, when a few days after I had started researching Citroën, my office served cauliflower gratin as part of a French themed menu.  It was not particularly good.  It left me craving a good version.   And thus, I ordered from Citroën.

Well, this was very good too.  It did not necessarily look great: a big block, and looked a bit greasy from being takeout and having sorta cooled, but it was still delicious.  It was delicious lukewarm, it was delicious once I heated it back up in the toaster oven to make it crispy again on top, and it was even delicious cold as leftovers the next day.  The cauliflower was a mix of pieces sliced like potatoes would be in a gratin, and chopped bits, rather than big hunks as I had expected.  The cauliflower was layered with plenty of cream and cheese, making it delightfully rich and decadent, but the fact that it was actually cauliflower kept it from being way too heavy (although, clearly not a light dish!).  The cauliflower was well cooked, not too soggy, not too firm.  It was incredibly flavorful with the cheese, and well seasoned.  Very very good, probably the best cauliflower gratin I've ever had, not that I've had all that many.  ****+.

The portion looked a bit small at first but, it could easily be shared with two people, or, as I had it, have one portion warm with dinner, and one cold the next day sorta like potato salad, but, cauliflower.  I'd gladly get it again if craving this.

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Brasserie du Parc, Houston

Foie gras. Crème brulée. Both dishes I adore, and thus have dedicated labels for on my blog.  And both dishes that most certainly don't come to mind as something you'd get for delivery.  And yet, I did.

Ok, interesting choices, yes.  Was I in Paris?  Or at least somewhere known for French food?  Nope.  I was in Houston, TX of all places, and after a couple nights of excellent fusion Creole food (think: cajun crab cakes, creole shrimp empanadas, blackened grilled catfish, epic slices of pecan pie, etc from Goode Company Seafood), I was ready for something different.  I had bbq planned for the next day, so, I had my Texas bases covered.  I could get whatever I wanted, and, I decided that foie gras was what I wanted, when I saw it pop up on a few local menus.  We don't really have foie gras in San Francisco anymore, so this was a real treat for me (and actually, it had been several *years* since I last had any!).

I found a well rated French brasserie just two blocks from my hotel that sounded great.  Nearly every review raved about the foie gras - either recommending it as a starter, or as an add-on to any dish (which they offer).  Even those who just go for drinks and bar snacks mention the foie gras sliders.  Incredible foie gras, just down the street?  Yes!  And when I saw crème brulée also on the menu, I was sold.  While I'd had crème brulée more recently than foie gras, it still isn't something I get all that often, even though I love it.  

So why delivery? No, I wasn't too lazy to stroll down the street.  I was stuck at my hotel because I had evening work meetings, and thus, delivery it was (I had entirely ruled out the hotel restaurant, Zutro, as the breakfast and lunch and dessert items I had the previous days were all pretty awful).  I knew this brasserie, or at least the items I wanted, was a very risky choice for delivery, and really did second guess it, but, the restaurant was so close I had some hope.  I also had leftover blackened catfish and asparagus from Goode Co Seafood to finish up, so, I literally just ordered the foie gras starter and crème brulée dessert to go with my meal.  I knew that if it was a complete fail, I still had a main dinner (and of course I had backup dessert on hand too).

I can't tell you much more about the restaurant, since I didn't visit in person, but what I can say is that this worked out better than I could have imagined.  I was so, so pleased with my hotel room meal, and yes, I was video conferencing with work meetings, with a glass of wine and seared foie gras, and no one even thought it was odd.  

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I ordered easily on Door Dash, and my food arrived fairly quickly, and well packaged.  That said, the foie gras was a bit cold when it arrived, so I put it into my HotLogic portable oven for a few minutes (it was already warm heating up my fish) while I poured my glass of wine, and that made it even better.  I was shocked how well that portable oven worked to lightly warm it!  I can't believe I'm saying this, but, yes, I recommend getting takeout foie gras ... and if I was in Houston any longer, I would have gladly ordered from Brasserie du Parc again (and for more of the menu too, as it all sounded great).

Seared Foie Gras. $20.

This was my first time having foie gras in several years.  Yes, really.  I know, I kinda couldn't believe it when I realized it.  After an epic few months years ago when the foie gras ban was coming to California of eating foie gras tasting menus multiple times a week, and a few years after that of eating it anytime I ventured out of state, I think I just moved on a bit from that obsession.  And then I stopped eating out at nicer restaurants much, then there was a pandemic, etc, etc, so, somehow, I just didn't have foie gras in several years.

The menu just said "foie gras" with no further description, and I know reviewers say it changes out frequently with different garnishes and seasonality, so I had no idea really what I'd get.  I just knew there would be seared foie gras involved.

I was quite pleased when it arrived nicely packaged, a practical size slice of foie gras, perched on a butter soaked toasted brioche bun, with two sauces on the side.  I appreciated that the sauces were separate, so they wouldn't make everything soggy.  I couldn't wait to dive in, and turned my video conference camera off for a few minutes, so my co-workers wouldn't see me feasting on foie gras while they were in the office.

The foie was well prepared - good sear on it, nicely cleaned, still with froth on top.  It was a touch cold, so after my first glorious bite, I did put it in my travel oven to heat it up, and that honestly made it good as fresh.  I couldn't believe how well it worked.  So the foie gras itself, expertly done, no issues at all.  ****.

The brioche bun was a little more butter soaked than I'd like - given that brioche is already rich, and the foie gras was plenty fatty, the extra buttery grease was just a bit more than I'd like.  It was lightly toasted, and buttery brioche is always a nice pairing with foie gras.  ***.

The two sauces tied it all together well.  One was blueberries, seemingly in a light reduction.  I'm not sure I've actually had blueberries with foie gras before, but it worked much like any other fruity pairing, with a bit of sweetness and freshness to offset the offal.  The other I think may have been a red wine reduction?  Or some kind of foie gras emulsion?  It was a thin sauce, and I ended up dunking the bread into that first, and then topping the dunked bread with some foie and berries.  Neither sauce was mind blowing, but both paired well with the rest of the dish.  ***+.  I had a little of the sauces left over, and drizzled them over my burrata and proschuitto snack the next day, and that was a fantastic pairing as well.

Overall, a well composed, nicely executed dish.  I appreciated the portion size as a proper individual portion - I wouldn't have wanted to share, but it also was appropriate as an appetizer, and wasn't too much.  And, wow, who knew, delivery foie gras could work out?  I truly enjoyed this, and would get it again if I ever happened to be in Houston staying down the street ...  ****.  The $20 price was entirely reasonable.

Vanilla Bean Crème Brulée. $9.

"Classic vanilla bean crème brulée, orange madeleines, strawberries."

I nearly gasped when I opened my takeout bag and saw the crème brulée.  I had my hesitations with ordering crème brulée for delivery too, but, wow, they made it look good!  It is hard to tell from the photo, but this is actually a much wider container than a standard ramekin.

While I obviously missed out from the experience of having this freshly bruleed to order, with a cool base and lightly warm top, I was still impressed.  Interestingly, it didn't excel at one of my standard evaluation points for crème brulée: the "tap test", as the top was only lightly caramelized.  But it didn't really matter.  The pudding itself was so glorious I did not mind.  The consistency was perfect, thick and rich, and the vanilla bean was evident.  It really was flawless in the pudding department.  I savored every drop of it.  And although the caramelization layer on top was a touch thin, it imparted a stronger caramel flavor than I would have expected, and that accented it well too.  The sugared berries were a nice garnish, and I did add some of my own fresh blueberries as well.  So, the crème brulée, not a perfect ***** since the tap test was only a low pass, but still, ****+ and the best I've had in many years.

The only element of the dessert I wasn't into was the madeleine, but that was pretty much expected, as I don't ever really care for madeleines, and I don't really care for citrus desserts most of the time, and, it did seem a bit odd with my crème brulée.  I didn't mind that it was there, but it didn't add anything to the dish for me.  ***.

Overall, definitely far above average, incredible for delivery, and the $9 price was amazingly reasonable.  I'd get this again too.

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Sushi @ Kabuto Sushi

Update Review, September 2022

10 years ago, I went to Kabuto sushi.  I was drawn in by the creative menu, but, didn't really love it, as you read in my original review.  And yet, here I am, 10 years later, getting the sushi again, and this time. delivery of all things.  You see, I was on a quest for good uni.  This was the 3rd sushi restaurant I had ordered from in a week, seeking out uni everywhere.  I also wanted to give one of their signature items, the baby lobster, anther chance.

I easily ordered on Door Dash, as Kabuto fully embraced delivery offerings during the pandemic.  That said, the Door Dash delivery wasn't great, as my Dasher batched up a bunch of orders, and thus picked up my sushi 1 hour before actually heading my way.  It made me question ordering sushi delivery in the future, as it was 84* out (yes, really, in SF), and that was a long time for uni to be out in that heat ...

Packaging.

My order came in a generic cardboard takeout box, with a very small amount of ginger (not nearly enough!), a tiny bit of wasabi, and a packet of soy sauce.  The uni was in its own little cupcake wrapper, which was a unique way of packaging that did work to isolate the pieces.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Signature Sushi

The "Signature Sushi" is what likely drew me to Kabuto years ago, and much of that menu remained unchanged.  10 years, and still signature!  And I was again drawn by so many of the options.

Baby Maine Lobster. $18.

"Seared lobster with spicy sauce."

Ok, so I have a thing for baby lobster sushi.  It started at Sushi Sam's, where they serve it with a spicy mayo and slivered almonds on top, and it used to be one of my favorite pieces of their omakase.  I knew from my previous visit that the baby lobster at Kabuto was an entirely different style, but, I still went for it.  I wanted to give it another try.

Let's just say, it didn't please me.  At some level, this was due to the long delivery time, I'm sure.  This is seared lobster, so it was presumably hot when originally served, but, an hour had elapsed, and it was cold.  Cold lobster is fine, some styles of lobster rolls are made that way after all, but this was just oddly chewy and really not very good.  After kinda chocking down the first piece, I took the second piece and threw it on my indoor grill for a minute or two, and it actually was much better that way.  That said, grilling it basically lost all the sauce, and the sauce really as quite tasty.  Not spicy as described, more sweet actually, but it was creamy and unique, and it did go well with the lobster.

The sushi rice was also a let down.  Again, perhaps something that suffered in transit, but it broke apart and was rather mushy.  It didn't seem particularly seasoned.

So, overall, besides the tasty sauce, this was not good, and I wouldn't get it again. *+.

Nigiri

The regular nigiri are priced per piece.

Uni - Japan. $17.

As part of my uni quest, of course I had to get the uni.  They had both local and Japanese on their online menu, but Door Dash only had the Japanese, so, Japanese it was.  This was a very pricey piece, $17 for the single piece, but, I hoped that meant it would be great quality.

This piece definitely suffered from my Dasher driving all around for an hour before bringing me my sushi.  I almost didn't eat it, as I really was worried about it being out in the heat for so long but ... uni!  The portion was my biggest disappointment.  This piece was majority rice, there was just a very, very little bit of uni on top as you see here.  There was no uni under it.  I ordered uni from several other sushi restaurants that week, and this one had remarkably less uni.

So, portion size aside, how was it?  The rice was again not very good - mushy, falling apart, not seasoned.  And the uni ... was fine.  It had a slightly odd taste to it, that I hoped was just my brain warning about warm uni, but, I couldn't quite ignore it.  It didn't taste bad exactly, just, slightly off.

This piece was definitely not worth the $17, particularly with such a small amount of actual uni. **.

Original Review, February 2012

We went to another new sushi restaurant tonight, as part of my quest to try out new sushi places. This one we knew was going to be an "interesting" experience, as the sushi menu was full of things like foie gras, lamb, duck, and fruits. I read through a bunch of the Yelp reviews and knew that the lamb and duck weren't supposed to be great, but reviews for all of the other unique sushi were good, so I had high hopes.

Protip: don't trust the Yelpers!

In all seriousness, I'm glad we tried this place, as it really was a unique experience. The presentation of the dishes was generally quite nice. They were trying very interesting things. And they take reservations!

Unfortunately, the quality of the fish was just not there, and all the creamy sauce just couldn't mask that fact. It was mostly mediocre quality, with one piece being actually good (the live scallop) and a few pieces being really awful (hamachi, oyster). The fruit was even lower quality than the fish. I know I'm spoiled by eating pretty much exclusively farmer's market fruit, but this stuff was pretty flavorless, and it just didn't go with the fish well at all. I also have no problem with fruit in my sushi, as I love a lot of the rolls at Sushi Zone that include mango and papaya, and one of my favorite pieces at Sushi Sam's has kiwi on it. So, it isn't just that I don't like fruit + fish. There were a number of execution issues as well, such as the fruit being sliced too thick and the ratio of rice to other ingredients being off in a few of the pieces.

The pacing of the meal was also off. The first 6 or so dishes arrived rapid fire, faster than we could finish the ones before it. Since some of them were hot/seared, this was overwhelming. The waitress recommended things to us that were really not good and did so unsolicited, definitely trying to upsell and get us to order more. And the price certainly was high for the poor quality, $70 per head for 12 pieces of sushi each. I don't mind paying a lot for good quality fish, but this was very high for what we got.

I most likely will not return here. See photos for individual reviews.

Hamachi jalapeno.

We ordered our sushi, and then the waitress talked us into ordering this. She said it would be a great appetizer.

It was the worst dish of the night. The quality of this hamachi was horrible, some of the worst fish I've had in recent memory. The little slice of jalapeno on it was nice, as was the dot of hot sauce, but this was pretty bad.

I sorta wonder if she was just trying to upsell us, I forgot to look on the bill to see how much this item was.

Gross.

Ceviche: Halibut and salsa wrapped with deep fried seaweed and served with lime and sea salt.

This was a cute idea, a play on ceviche. To eat it, you wrapped it in the seaweed and ate it taco style.

The halibut itself was decent, but I didn't really get any flavor from the salsa and definitely didn't get any lime or salt flavors. The strangest part was that the seaweed was dripping wet. I think it must have been with oil from being deep fried.

Cute idea, but was lacking in the promised flavors.

Hamachi Pear - Yellowtail sushi topped with sliced pear and kabuto fruity mustard sauce.

The "fruity mustard sauce" was pretty tasty and it worked surprisingly well with the pear and with the yellowtail. The hamachi was fairly decent, far, far, better than the hamachi used in the appetizer. The pear didn't work though - sliced too thick, and lacking any flavor, it just made it hard to eat and weird.

Foie Gras Sushi - Seared marinated goose liver served with balsamic raspberry sauce, raspberry, chives, roe.

The piece of foie gras was pretty tiny, particularly given the quantity of rice, so the flavor was drowned out by the rice. This is too bad, as it was decent foie gras and did go quite well with the raspberry and the raspberry balsamic sauce.

This either needed more foie or less rice. I guess there is a reason why you don't normally have foie gras sushi ... Still, it was interesting and I'm glad I got to try this one.

Baby Main Lobster - Seared lobster with spicy sauce

Very nice presentation!

I liked this - decent quality lobster, seared in a way that gave it a grilled smokey flavor. It was nothing like Sushi Sam's baby lobster though, which totally sets my standard for baby lobster dishes (at Sushi Sam's, it is not seared, a much smaller baby served almost whole, and covered with amazingly delicious mayo sauce).

I have no idea why there was a random piece of seared fruit on the plate. Or more dried cranberries. They so did not go with it.

Ono grape - Wahoo sushi topped with grapefruit and basal basil cream sauce.

I didn't like this one. The flavors just did not come together at all. Why was there grapefruit on my sushi? Why the cream? The grapefruit was pretty flavorless, poor quality. And the fish wasn't particularly good. Meh.

Shrimp & Crab Tartar sushi - Chopped shrimp and crab mixed with Kabuto tartar sauce served with egg yolk, capers, anchovy, cilantro, and grape.

This was probably my favorite dish of the night. Basically, a shrimp and crab salad, on top of some seaweed, on top of rice. It was kinda impossible to eat though. You can't see it in the picture, but there was nigiri rice under the nori, I'm still not sure how on earth you were supposed to do this.

Although I thought the flavors were great and really enjoyed the crab/shrimp salad, it didn't really make sense as a piece of sushi, and I'd just prefer to have the tasty salad on its own.

Live scallop - scallop nigiri, scallop chowder.

The scallop was just standard nigiri but very good, tender and fresh. My second favorite piece of the night.

The scallop chowder wasn't good. I couldn't really determine what anything was, just that it was probably some sort of chowder base and the somewhat chewy stuff in it must have been scallop, perhaps cooked?

1849 Oyster: Oyster, quail egg, 3 types of roe, uni, gold leaf. 

Close up of 1849 Oyster: Oyster, quail egg, 3 types of roe, uni, gold leaf. 

This is one of their special famed dishes. It reminded me of the "Spoonful of Happiness" we got at Koo a couple weeks ago (that was uni, quail egg, roe, ponzu), except the spoonful of happiness was MUCH better.

The name comes from the gold leaf, cute idea, but pretty gimmicky ...

There was a lot going on here. The uni was decent, but the quantity was so small you didn't get to taste it that much. I'm not a huge roe fan, so all this roe didn't thrill me, but it did add to the experience to have it popping in your mouth as you took this all in. The quail egg added a richness. I can't say I tasted or noticed the gold flake :) But ... my oyster was pretty nasty. Very fishy and not in a nice briny way. If the oyster had been better, I could see this being pretty ok, but as it was, it left a horrible taste in my mouth.

Hot Apple - Seared Scallop served with apple and fruity mustard sauce (says the description ... this was a creamy sauce instead).

This was similar to the baby lobster, seared with a nice smokey flavor. But the quality of the scallop was poor, and it was tough and way overcooked. It didn't go with apple at all.

The description said it had a "fruity mustard sauce", which the hamachi pear piece also said, but the sauce on these was not even remotely the same. The hamachi pear one did have a fruity mustard sauce ... this one had a fruity sauce and a cream sauce. I definitely did not taste any mustard. And like the hamachi pear piece, the apple was sliced too thick and was poor quality. You can't see it, and the description didn't mention it, but there was a piece of shiso leaf under the apple, that was actually really nice and crisp and refreshing, and went really well with the apple.

We had one of these left over at the end since no one wanted to eat it, and I deconstructed it to have just an apple-fruit sauce-shiso nigiri, which was kinda ok, and made for sorta a dessert ...

Wild buri

At the end, we wanted to give them one more chance, and decided to order nigiri off the fresh fish of the day menu. This SHOULD be the best stuff they have, and we were sick of the "special" sushi with its cream sauce and bad fruit. We ordered the butterfish, but the waitress told us this was the freshest thing of the day and the best.  So we got it instead.

Again, she led us astray. This was the second worst thing of the night for me (after the hamachi jalapeno she recommended).  Seriously, do not take her recommendations!

I didn't even bother trying the tamago.

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Lao Table

Update Review, 2021 Visits

After several years of not visiting Lao Table, despite walking by regularly, I finally decided to give it another try when they reopened mid-pandemic.  While I got takeout, I was drawn in by the outdoor seating they set up on the sidewalk to accommodate diners while indoor dining was still closed.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I just got some simple items, but, everything was fresh and well packaged, and I'd definitely consider going back again.

Fresh Vegetables. $5.

I had no idea what this would be, but, I had a free $5 credit on Seamless, so decided to get some "fresh vegetables" and see what happened.

Fresh Vegetables. $5.

The fresh vegetables was ... a big pile of green leaf lettuce, herbs (basil, parsley, dill, mint), and carrot sticks.  So random.  Mostly herbs, not vegetables ...

But this was actually great.  

The green leaf lettuce was super fresh and crisp.

The herbs I used in all sorts of ways - the Thai purple basil I used in my own Thai red curry (I had a can of red curry sauce in my pantry, score!), the mint went great chopped on top the Mendocino Farms  Marinated Red Beets & Quinoa salad I had just picked up (review coming soon!), the dill I threw on top of some potato salad.  All really fresh and it was fun to randomly have herbs to use.

The carrot sticks made for a nice snack with ranch dip (from The Melt, love their ranch!)

Entirely random, yes, but worth it. ***+

Fresh Vegetables. $5.

I had so much fun with the random fresh vegetables that I got them another time, when I was actually planning to make more Thai curry, and pick up more of the beet salad.  I knew my dishes would be much better with the Lao Table fresh herbs!  

I was thrilled to see the consistent batch of fresh veggies and herbs, exactly what I had the previous time, and just as fresh and crisp.

***+.

Steamed Vegetables. $5.

I had really liked the steamed veggies when I dined at the restaurant before, so I couldn't resist ordering them for takeout during Covid too.

Again, not the most exciting mix, just carrots, broccoli (American), and cabbage, but I appreciated the juicy cabbage in particular (I had it alongside some spicy Korean food).  (The broccoli paired nicely with my favorite Trader Joe's Butternut Squash & Sage Mac and Cheese (Seasonal), and the carrots I threw into my own Thai red curry).

Simple, but fine, not too mushy.

***.

Original Review, April 2018

I've somehow never reviewed Osha Thai before, a fairly well known mini chain of Thai restaurants in SF, besides, uh, the dessert my co-workers brought me one day.  Osha is a reliable, easy choice for slightly upscale modern thai food, has a location near our office, and generally is easy to get a last minute reservation at for groups.  So, we go fairly often.  It is always good, but, nothing like the much better Thai food in Sydney!

They recently converted one location to a new concept called Lao Table, more focused on Northeastern Thailand and Laos, where the head Osha chef is actually from.  I was excited to check it out, and see if the focus on more personal cuisine pushed Lao Table a step above the still disappointing SF Thai scene.

It didn't.  It was worse.  Far worse.

Lackluster Meal.

I'll sum this one up easily.  Underwhelming.  Lackluster.  Forgettable.  Most dishes weren't bad exactly, but weren't very good.  One was awful.  I will not be returning.

Service was also not good.  In the first 20 minutes, our water glasses were aggressively refilled.  But after that?  Totally ignored.  We had no water while actually eating our food.

Everything is intended to be shared, yet we were not provided serving utensils for most dishes.

And our server spent more time trying to upsell us and make us add on more dishes than I've ever experienced anywhere before.

Revenswood Zinfandel 2015. $13.

I was really, really craving a nice glass of red wine.  Something not too tannic.  I went for the Zin, and I appreciated that they offered a sample first when I hesitated in selecting a wine.

It wasn't great, but I didn't have the energy to try something else.  A drinkable table wine, with a price tag that didn't match the quality.

Appetizer: Grilled Calamari. $14.95.

"Chargrilled whole calamari and sweet chili-lime topping."

There is one dish on the menu that Yelpers all rave about.  The whole grilled calamari.  It was *why* I bookmarked Lao Table in the first place.  I love really well grilled calamari/octopus.  I insisted we get this.

When it arrived, I smiled.  Presentation was stunning.  Laid out on a wooden board.  It looked well grilled.  We were provided with a real sharp knife to cut it (but no serving utensils).

That knife ... wasn't even enough to cut through it.  The cook on this was horrible.  It was incredibly chewy.  Rubbery.  Impossible to cut.  It had no char, no smoke, nothing redeeming.  Really, really, really not good.

Strangely, it was served on top of a few chunks of celery.  Underneath it.  No idea why.

The spicy sauce on the side however was good, it had some real heat to it.  I enjoyed the sauce, just not with the calamari, at all.

We all tried a few bites, trying different parts, but, there just was literally nothing good about the calamari itself, and we threw it out.

Side: Papaya Salad. $10.

Our server and her upselling worked.  At last minute, another diner asked to add on a side of papaya salad.  It came right after the first appetizer, also with no serving utensil.

It was ... fine.  Standard Thai style papaya salad with a base of shredded green papaya, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and peanuts.  Decently spicy sauce.  The cherry tomatoes were entirely flavorless.

The menu has a papaya salad as a regular salad, for a whopping $21.95 as well.  Which seemed a bit crazy.  Sure, it has pork sausage, pork crackling, and prawns but ... wow.  The $10 price on this seemed a bit high for the small side dish size.

Side: Steamed Vegetables. $5.

After we ordered, our server kept insisting on more things, so I said that maybe we needed vegetables.  Of course she wanted us to get more entrees, but I just went for the simple side of steamed veggies, even though the others were like, "eh".  I guess I was craving veggies.

I didn't really know what the mix would be, but it was carrots, broccoli, and green cabbage.  Simple and steamed.  It arrived with the papaya salad right after the first appetizer, before the second appetizer, and long before the main.   Not quite what I intended, flow-wise.  It came with a spoon on the side to serve it with, I guess?  A single spoon, which, as you can imagine, didn't exactly work.

It was, literally, the only savory dish I liked.  And I didn't like the broccoli or too mushy carrots.  Really, the only savory element, of the entire meal, that I thought was good was a bite of plain steamed cabbage slathered in the hot sauce from the calamari.  I guess I'm glad we got it.

Appetizer: Miang Foie Gras. $23.95.

"Seared duck foie gras, coconut-tamarind reduction, fresh berries with lemongrass smoke."

Ok, foie gras might not be a normal thing to order at a Thai or Laotian restaurant, but, seriously, how do you resist foie gras, particularly seared foie gras?

We should have resisted.  This too came with no serving implements.

"How did they manage to make foie gras so ... boring," is what I uttered after trying this dish.  I literally don't understand how they made it so entirely lackluster, mediocre, and forgettable.

Was there anything *wrong* with the foie gras?  No.  But was it good?  No, not at all.

Backing up.  The presentation, that you can't see here, was the only memorable part, as it came under a dome, that was ceremoniously removed in front of us, and smoke came out.  Ok.

But then we had this.

Not very hot, not very well seared foie gras, two slices.  Assorted not ripe fruit.  A big pile of random salad greens.  Shredded coconut on top.  Perhaps a drizzle of the coconut-tamarind reduction.  Nothing really paired here at all.  No brioche or other carbs, perhaps we were supposed to ... roll it in the lettuce?  And the mediocre raw fruit didn't provide a nice sweet pairing either.  The only texture came from the shredded coconut.

Seriously, the most boring, not well composed foie gras I've ever had.

Entree: Panang Lamb Curry. $23.95.

"Thick coconut milk curry, lamb stew with cucumber salad. Served with jasmine rice."

I was not very hungry, and happy with a meal of foie gras, octopus, and the side veggies/salad, so I told the others to pick whatever curry they wanted.  They selected lamb, which, I'd never pick, since I don't like lamb.  I didn't care though, as it wasn't for me.

Like the other dishes, presentation was nice.  The portion of jasmine rice it was served with however was laughable.  Not enough for one person, let alone two people to share.  Our server, who tried to upsell us on sooo many things, didn't mention this, which was surprising.

The cucumber salad I did try, and it was pretty boring, not much flavor.

The curry sauce I also tried, it was fine, pretty standard panang curry.  The portion of lamb was ok for a single person to have as an entree, but a bit meager for a sharing dish, particularly for the price.  The others who ate it both agreed it was the best dish they had though.

Side: Sticky Rice. $4.

Since the rice quantity was entirely insufficient, we also ordered more rice, and went for sticky rice just to compare.

It was fine.  Warm.  Served in a plastic bag, inside a wooden basket cup.

Dessert: Khao Tom Mudd. $13.

"Sweet coconut sticky rice + red bean in a banana leaf W/ coconut ice cream in a whole young coconut."

For dessert, we had to rule out 3 of the 5 items immediately, as they all had caffeine (thai ice tea, chocolate, or espresso).  Which left two sticky rice based options: mango sticky rice or this.  Since you can get mango sticky rice at any Thai restaurant, we decided to go with the khao tom mudd, even though we had no idea what to expect.

And even once we got it, we had no idea what was going on.  Breaking it down ...

The coconut ice cream really was just served in a young coconut, exactly as the menu said.  No frills.

But it also turned out to be the highlight of the meal for me.  I wonder if they make it in house, or purchase from somewhere.  It had some texture from coconut bits in it, was rich, creamy, and just really enjoyable.  Perfectly melty too.

Serving it in a coconut was a bit strange perhaps, but I liked that too, as I was able to scoop out all the young coconut flesh, and add it to my ice cream.

While the cabbage with spicy sauce was the best savory item, I didn't really *enjoy it*, whereas the ice cream, I did truly enjoy.  That said ... $13 for a scoop of ice cream with a little sticky rice seemed high, like everything else.

Khao Tom Mudd: Inside the Banana Leaf.

But what about the rest of the dish?  That was the unique part.

It was two banana leaves, each with steamed sticky rice inside, as we expected.  Very hot, lots of steam escaped as we opened them.  The sticky rice was ... fine?  A bit boring.  But nice to have the warm sweet rice with the cold ice cream.

The red bean turned out to just be a few red beans scattered inside.  They were cooked fine, but didn't really add much.

Khao Tom Mudd: Inside the Sticky Rice.

But ... there was more.  Inside the sticky rice was ... something else.

We literally had no idea what we were eating.  The menu description didn't say that there was anything but beans and sticky rice inside the banana leaf.  The substance was a strange pink color.  I thought it must be mashed red bean, but ... it clearly wasn't.

After repeating, over, and over, "I have no idea what I'm eating", I figured it out.  I think.  Banana.  But, red banana?  I don't understand.

I ate a full one of these just trying to figure it out, but it wasn't actually good.  The warm sticky rice was nice with the coconut ice cream, but, the red beans were just eh, and that banana was pretty awful.

Next time ... I'd just get a side of coconut ice cream!

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Morimoto, NYC

Remember a few weeks ago, when I published basically a photo-only view of our experience at Mira, in Toronto, because I lost my review notes, and the visit was in the midst of a business trip and I didn't have time to write it up right away?  Yeah, it turns out, this, uh, happens too me a bit too frequently.  I take the photos, I take copious notes, I'm far too busy with the actual reason I'm on the business trip to write it up then, I plan to write it up immediately once I get home and life calms down, then, life happens, and by the time I go to write it up ... those lovely notes are no where to be found.

Which brings us to this "review", of Morimoto in New York.

I was in town for a manager training week long extravaganza, and one night, they set us all up with curated groups for dining about at reasonably nice places.  The event had several hundred people, so to avoid doing massive group dining, they picked a variety of places, catering to all different cuisines and styles, within reasonable walking distance from the event venue, and let us sign up for our 1st/2nd/3rd picks.  Then, someone worked magic, and mostly managed to get us all our first or second choices.

One of my top picks was Morimoto, not just drawn in by Iron Chef fame, but, by the menu of the restaurant, and the fact that for this venue, they were not having us do a fixed menu, rather, we could just order what we wanted (within reason).

Awkward conversations with strangers aside, it was a great visit.  They handled our fairly large group astonishingly well given the free format of the ordering (I think we were nearly 30 people?), and I have fond memories of the food and drink, and the space, wow, the space was impressive.

And that, that is all I have.  Notes?  Nope, sorry, no more.

Setting

Even if you don't care about Morimoto the chef, the restaurant itself was a sight to behold.

Glass Entrance.

It looked fairly average from the street, but once you got inside ... it was massive.

Loooong Table.

Our group was all seated at one massively long table, in a semi-private area.  It worked better than I expected, except for when I did need to get up to use the bathroom, and was rather boxed in ...

Open Kitchen.

The space was huge, with high ceilings, including an open kitchen.  We were seated on this level, the middle of 3.

Upper Floor.

Another level above was quite open as well.

Glass Stairway.

Even the stairwell was interesting.

Lower Floor Bar.

The very bottom floor had a fairly stunning bar.

Bathrooms.

Bathrooms were down on that lowest level.

Bling.

Even that bathroom was interesting!

Drinks

Cocktail.

I remember liking the cocktails.  And the wine.

Dinner

Fantastic Meal.

My many course meal managed to hit basically all my favorites: uni, crab, foie gras ... fried stuff, excellent sauces, oh my.

Cold Appetizers

Most of us started with cold appetizers from the sushi bar.  All set the stage for the extraordinary meal that was to follow.

Sashimi.

Sashimi was fresh and clearly high quality.

Toro Tartar.

The presentation of the signature toro tartar (I think on the menu at all his establishments) was certainly a sight to behold, and I remember enjoying getting a perfect bite with all the elements.

"Yo-burrata" with black truffles 

"Dashi soy, fresh wasabi, grilled sourdough."

Mixed Greens Salad.

Yeah, someone got this ... not me.

Perfect little bites of oyster, foie gras, and uni ...

Hot Appetizers

The cold apps showed the clear high quality seafood, but the hot apps are where I focused.  I wanted nearly ALL of them.  Luckily, I had neighbors who felt the same, so we shared a pile of things.

Spicy King Crab.

"Roasted Alaskan king crab with tobiko, tobanjan aioli."

I love crab, and king crab is such a treat.  Paired with delicious spicy aioli ... yes!

Sauted foie gras & grilled eel.

 "Sake meyer lemon, asian pear, sansho pepper."

Oh be still my heart.  Foie gras and grilled eel in the same dish?  Always a fantastic combo, and this was all for me.

Rock Shrimp Tempura.

"Crispy rock shrimp tempura with gochujang, wasabi mayo and house made ranch."

A kinda fun dish, I wasn't expecting the two versions of tempura, one tossed with wasabi mayo and one with gochujang.  Both packed some heat, and the ranch was good to cool them down.

Pork Gyoza.

"Garlic chives, tomato, creme fraiche."

Even simple gyoza were impressive to see, with a perfect crust to break though.

Sushi

Uni.

High quality uni.  How could I resist?

Mains

Broiled Black Cod.

"Ginger soy reduction." 

A classic, done well.

Duck, Duck, Goose.

"Roasted & confit duck, tokyo scallion pancakes, gooseberry compote, pineapple hoisin, ginger scallion."

Not mine, but a rather cute dish.

Beef Sukiyaki.

"Wagyu beef, napa cabbage, tofu, shungiku, honshimeji, jidori egg."

Definitely not mine :)

Surf & Turf.

"Wagyu skirt steak, hamachi ribbons, okonomiyaki, crushed avocado, yuzu soy."

Such a fun play on a surf & turf!  I loved the inclusion of okonomiyaki.

Dessert

After such a feast, even I, dessert girl, was tempted to skip dessert. But ... others somehow still had space, so, dessert time it was.

More Noms.

Our table got a pile of things, I of course tried ... uh ... all of them?

Dessert Wine.

To get the dessert show started, I opted for a dessert wine, I think sauternes?

Shiro Choko. 

"Kinako dacquoise, white chocolate cream, passion fruit yuzu sorbet, marble meringue, sesame."

Kumo Beni.

"Okiniawa purple yam cheesecake, pineapple yuzu foam, coffee, kuromitsu powder, macadamia, coconut sorbet."

Hanabi Dama: after.

"Seasonal sorbet, dark chocolate, mascarpone cream, salted caramel ganache tart, rum."

This one was quite the show.  It arrived as a chocolate dome, but was set on fire at the table, so the shell melted and revealed the contents.

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