Went Wednesday with a friend who had not been there before. Perfect evening to sit on the patio, which is as comfortable as the dining room.
2015 Bini Serraghia Fanino Catarrato e Pignatello
Fried Oxtail salsa seca, chili, peanuts 21
Still great, but I miss the messy interactivity of the peanuts in the shell. I’d love to see Chang break down this dish. I suspect Cracker Jack was one of the inspirations.
BING
Chickpea Hozon 8
Could totally pass for Middle Eastern. Bing was perfectly cooked.
Bounty Bowl koji mascarpone, Domojang 15
It’s always nice to have this on the table as a foil to the rich dishes. My astute dining companion pointed out that every item on the plate was seasoned, including the lettuce and kale, and that that the koji mascarpone is ranch dressing. The prik khing (“Domojang”) can make even raw kale edible, though not (for me, anyway) Dragon Tongue pods.
Marinated Black Cod Hozon, yu choy, plum 35
Totally different dish than the one I had before, Japanese-style rather than Korean. As perfect a piece of black cod as I’ve had. Makes sense for summer. I presume they marinated it in hozon in place of kasuzuke.
Crispy Rice shrimp, bacon, corn 44
The tahding was one of the highlights of the meal.
Boiled Whole Chicken black truffle, morels, hand torn noodles 88
Best chicken rice I’ve had. Fantastic broth. If I had seen that Worth It video I’d have asked (and happily paid) for more truffles.
Horchata kakigori ($17): was that maple cream on top? Horchata rice pudding at the bottom. Pretty sure there was some coffee. So much fun how different bites had different flavors and textures. We were stuffed but this was light and refreshing.
That would have been a perfectly reasonable amount of food for four people! but there’s not really a dish I would have dropped. Maybe the cod, but it made the Bini shine.
Service was as always exceptional. They comped us some Montbourgeau Macvin as a digestif.
Majordomo not getting a Michelin star is straight-up French chauvinism.