January 14, 2009

komi

one of my buddies is back in town for two weeks after several months abroad, and to celebrate, we went out to one of the best and most interesting restaurants in the city, komi. i'd been there once before a few years ago and adored it, and had been itching for a reason to go back ever since. the chef there, jonny monis, is a local celebrity - he opened the restaurant at the age of 24, to instant and continued critical acclaim - and is physically in the kitchen every night, actually making the food, not just overseeing a crew. and the food is SPECTACULAR.

we figured if we were there, we may as well go big... so we ordered the full degustazione menu, accompanied by the flight of 5 wines. the meal took a full four hours. it cost more than my upcoming trip to atlanta. it was well worth it.

komi doesn't offer specific appetizers; instead they bring you a procession of "small plate" type bites - we counted 10 of them with our meal, although one plate might include as many as 5 different things: an exquisite mascarpone-stuffed roasted date topped with sea salt; a foie gras "cream puff" with ginger compote; a parmesan-chive animal cracker; a sweet/hot pepper gelee; and a goat cheese smore. some of the other mezzes that came out last night were hangar steak tartare with black truffle gelato (!), a fried ceasar salad bite, and black grouper sashimi-style with meyer lemon and fennel.

the rest of the meal was equally as awesome. the degustazione is "chef's choice" so it's a surprise what pasta and meat courses you get; last night's meat course was young goat with a salt and herb crust (OMG AMAZING. the meat fell right off the bones) and charcoal grilled beef (OMG AMAZING. perfectly rare, melted in your mouth). despite the 10 (or 16, depending on how you were counting) small plates, a pasta course, a meat course, a cheese course, a palate cleanser (meyer lemon pink lemonade sorbet), and a dessert course - not to mention 5 glasses of wine - everything is perfectly sized, and perfectly spaced out, so you never feel overly full.

not sure if you can tell from this or not? but, um, if you're local... i highly recommend this place :-)

15 comments:

  1. That meal sounds out of this world. I used to go out for meals like that every once in a while. Haven't done that in a long time... maybe it's time?

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  2. That sounds AWESOME! I have never in my life been to a restaurant like that. Sounds incredible.

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  3. Too bad we're on a budget right now! This one will have to wait.

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  4. YUM!!! that sorbet sounds soooo good! not a big fan of goat, but i think i would eat all of that!

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  5. OMG that all sounds so tasty! Maybe one day when I have enough money...oh hell, I'll just start saving up from now so I can go check it out!

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  6. oh my word that meal sounds divine

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  7. We so desperately want to be "foodies" but I am not sure I would be brave enough to try the goat. All I can think is the petting zoo, and my next door neighbor who used to only cook outside and it was usually curried goat and it did.not.smell.good.

    Your fancy dinner made mine look like McDonald's. Guess that is what happens when you live in a one horse town.

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  8. Man just the words "palette cleanser" make me want to go there. lol.

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  9. That kind of dinner is SO out of the realm of my imagination (and reality for that matter) that I can't even imagine what that would be like.
    It sounds fabulous. Maybe someday...

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  10. Wow. That sounds unbelievable.

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  11. I love awesome food. What a great description!

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  12. If I ever went to a fancy restaurant I'd have to fake being vegetarian because all the unusual meats weird me out. (I am a baby)

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  13. You don't even have to be local. Twice I have driven to DC from upstate NY just to visit Komi.

    Johnny Monis is a true chefs chef!
    You won't see him on the Food
    Network or often in the media. Yet he is one of the best chefs in the country.

    Robert

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  14. so. jealous.

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  15. A long meal with a close friend = a perfect night! I love meals like that!

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