While I like to watch food tv and used to read food magazines, my issue with all of it is that you can’t taste the food. But sometimes the visual presentation is so spectacular, it’s almost as impressive as the aromatic and savory elements of the dining experience.
Dinner at Moto falls into that category: it’s a true adventure, and even though my phone pictures are pretty crappy [still haven’t upgraded to the iPhone 4, so my camera lacks a flash], they’re worth sharing.
Although there were fifteen courses, I guess I was so wrapped up in the experience I somehow missed taking photos of two.
Starting out, a make your own maki. The menu for the evening was printed on the edible wrapper, visible at left.
Next, “Black and White” : a seared scallop with squid ink and poached sea bass on a white sauce which i can’t identify right now. Both are arrayed with fried leek shavings
“Nose to Tail”: five different preparations of pork. Again, with edible menu
Absent: “Summer Breeze”: a salty chowder that was the only course we didn’t love
We did, however, flip for the CO2 orange and foie: a slice of foie on a spot of toasted brioche with a carbonated half clementine
Kentucky Fried Pasta: the chicken course. Chicken in the noodle itself, a chip made of crispy chicken skin, a sprig of oregano wrapped in the fork
Absent: the Quail & smoked apple course
Present — and really, the most creative presentation of the evening [and maybe the most creative food presentation i’ve ever seen], Philly Monte Cristo Cuban cigars: three classic sandwiches in the form of cigars. The “ashes” are something frozen in liquid nitrogen
The final savory course was Forest Foraging: with the exception of the braised short rib, all the greens and fungi arrayed on the stick [not edible] were collected in the forests of Oregon by someone our server identified as Running Squirrel
Six [6!] dessert courses followed
An “Egg Drop Soup” in which the yolk was actually a mango puree and the white was coconut foam.
A Marshmallow Harvest:
Hot Tea [actually a warm apple cider with a nitro-frozen “packing peanut” garnish
Cajeta: a caramelized pumpkin [?] custard with nuts and seeds
a dessert tribute to 1991, featuring a dollop of chocolate mousse and a shortbread cookie imprinted with the image of Michael Bolton
and finally, what they call an Acme Bomb [it does explode in your mouth]
All in all an extraordinary experience.
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