Restaurant Review: Morimoto Napa

It is gorgeous outside this week, upper 60s and lots of sun.  I am loving the blue skies.  I am not loving the cold that I caught from Mr. J who caught it from someone on the plane.  Arg!  I always seem to end up a bit under the weather after vacation.  I think it might be my body rejecting going back to work.  

Mr J and I decided that our meals should mimic the eclectic area.  After enjoying our lovely French meal we headed to Morimoto for some crazy Japanese food.  Mr. J started with his fancy cocktail.  I think he was running away from the wine at this point.

I had great brown rice tea in order to soothe my stomach for the craziness to come.  We ended up opted for our custom-built tasting menu.  It was a tough decision but I think the best one.  Both tables around us got the 7 course tasting menu and only about 1/2 of them looked appetizer.  Japanese to be does not scream tasting menu even if it is from an Iron chef.

We started with a cold appetizer toro tartare.  It was great!  The tuna just kind of melted in you mouth and check out the presentation. I think the presentation of all of the dishes was so neat.  You got little shovels to scope out the tuna and then dip into one or all of the toppings!

Our hot appetizer was kakuni, 10 hour pork belly with rice congee and soy-scallion jus.  It was really, really good.  I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite dish of this meal but this was super good.  The pork just disappeared in your mouth and the jus was flavored just right, not too overwhelming. Yum!

Our entree was duck duck goose, which was duck confit fried rice and frozen foie gras.  It was served with duck meatball soup, a duck leg, and roasted duck breast with goose berries on top.  This was so much fun but very difficult to share divide between two people.  Mr. J and I are big duck fans and this was a decadent sampling of duck multiple ways.  I was so happy for this. The prices here are fairly high but the food is well worth the extra costs. 

Our last savory course was a sample of sushi and sashimi.  There were 3 different sizes and we ordered the smallest one.  Apparently the larger the sample the more exotic the pieces.  Clearly, ours wasn't so special.  Each one was really good, with very clear and unique fish tastes.  I would have to say this was the biggest disappointment of the meal.  Next time I would have asked for something more out-there in the sushi world or just ordered a few crazy rolls to try.

Although full, Mr. J and I didn't want to leave without dessert. There was no Morimoto bakery next door to come back too.  We got the fried ice cream.  It was banana ice cream dipped in chocolate and then covered in rice cereal, it was served on carmelized bananas.  There was a mound of chocalate fudge sauce and a pool of carmel for dipping.  I really like this but there was a lot of rich flavors all at once.  I wanted to eat it piecemeal more so than all at once. 

Morimoto Napa

610 Main Street

Napa, CA 94559

707.252.1600