Morimoto

Saturday AM I decided to call Morimoto and see if they could take a table for 2 at 9pm. Of course I got the usual NY response - only at 6pm or 10:30pm so we decided to just show up and wing it. Later that day though, around 6pm, I decided to call and see if there were any cancellations to which I was told "I can give you sushi bar at 9pm" - DONE and DONE!

We arrived at 9pm and were promptly shown to our seats at the sushi bar and lo and behold I was ECSTATIC to discover that they had given us the 2 seats right in front of the iron chef himself, Chef Morimoto! That being said we knew we were in for a MAJOR treat!

Being that this was my first time here we decided to try a little bit over everything. This included the tuna pizza (a flat bread with tuna sashimi on top drizzled with a spicy sauce - OUTSTANDING!), the spicy king crab legs (2 legs cracked open and cut into pieces with a spicy sauce on top - THIS WAS THE BEST - I'M STILL DREAMING ABOUT IT), the lobster fritters (decent, but nothing special), the rock shrimp tempura (half in a spicy sauce, half in a sweet sauce - neither compared to Nobu's) and 2 rolls - soft shell crab (great) and spicy tuna (again, definitely not as good as Nobu). To compliment it all I had the Pinot Noir by the glass which was surprisingly one of the best I've tasted!

All in all this was a transporting experience and one of the best dining experiences I've had in NY in quite a while. Even the items that weren't the best were great. PLUS the space is GORGEOUS and the service was very friendly and knowledgeable. Also, the lounge there seemed great - just the right amount of people (all seats filled but no one really standing - and no apparent MePa feeling). I can't wait to go back!