Morimoto, Napa CA

Japanese food isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Napa Valley, but even I need a break from “California cuisine” and wine sometimes.  So we headed to Morimoto for dinner after a day of winery touring.


Along with Nobu, Morimoto is one of the best-known Japanese names in the US these days – an Iron Chef (both versions of the show) and pretty prolific restauranteur.  His Napa restaurant is located downtown right along the river.

To start, we had the tuna tartare (the menu notes that Morimoto serves only sustainable bluefin tuna, which is nice).  It’s a unique presentation, with very finely chopped fish in a shallow rectangular plate (it’s more like a spread, really, than the usual diced fish) alongside a series of garnishes, all on a big platter of ice.  Organized in graphic stripes, we had: nori paste, wasabi paste, sour cream, chives, avocado, and tiny crisp rice spheres.


We used small metal spatulas to scrape up the tuna and mix and match the garnishes.  All of them were great with the tuna – it was interesting to play with the different flavors and textures (creamy, crispy, spicy, umami).

We had a nice chat with one of the managers, who recommended a sake that’s become my new favorite – Ginga Shizuku, or “Divine Droplets”.  It’s elegant and clean and lives up to its name in more ways than one – the sake is made by dripping out of canvas bags suspended in igloos in Hokkaido!  (If you want to feel instantly cool, take a look at the photo on the brewer’s website showing how it’s done.)


I was tempted by the sea urchin carbonara – how can you go wrong with that combination?  It was good, but the least interesting of the dishes we tried – the uni was limited to a couple of pieces, rather than being incorporated into the sauce as I’d hoped.

To round things out, we had the ishi yaki buri bop, a Korean-inspired dish of rice, vegetables, and sliced hamachi served in a hot stone bowl.  Our waiter carefully placed each slice of fish against the side of the bowl to cook them, then mixed together the other ingredients with sesame oil until hot and fragrant.

Before

After

For dessert, we had the s’more: a graham cracker base with smoked soy chocolate mousse and toasted marshmallow.  I was a bit skeptical of the smoked soy-chocolate combination, but it worked well – subtle and sophisticated, it kept the sweetness of the marshmallow in check.

All in all, I really enjoyed Morimoto.  It was fun to try a range of his well-known dishes, and the setting is lovely (we sat outside by the river).  After dinner, we walked back to our B&B and felt altogether satisfied.