# Morimoto...



## heirkb (Oct 5, 2011)

I got to see him speak and cook tonight. Pretty awesome guy...and he even finished off the demonstration with a fisherman's song.

I asked him for advice for someone interested in working in restaurants. After tangents and some stories, he said to eat well and to pay attention to what makes food we enjoy tasty. Oh and I asked what his favorite knives were. He said his custom Nenox Yanagi and Yo-Deba with deer antler handles.

I only had my iPhone, so I mostly took pictures of him and the big screen. I tried to get some knife shots, but it was tough. He had really nice silk bags like the ones Jon sells.


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## James (Oct 5, 2011)

This seems like casa italiana at Columbia; am I right? I think he was supposed to be here this week.


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## sachem allison (Oct 5, 2011)

:thumbsup:years ago, my sous chef and I had the pleasure of having an 18 course meal prepared by Morimoto himself. He delivered each course and chit chatted with us and had a few drinks. He had the bartender custom make one of a kind drinks for each course. we ate for like 3 hours, nice relaxing pace. He then had the pastry chef make us an eight course tasting menu, just little bites of perfection. When it was all done and we were ready to drive back to Syracuse from Philly, his General Manager said that Morimoto didn't feel right about us driving all that way, especially since we had been drinking, so he put us up in a pretty ritzy hotel and comped all the drinks. That is a man who is a class act.
One of the top three meals of my life.:hungry3:


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## heirkb (Oct 5, 2011)

Damn, I wish I had that opportunity. I'd love to talk with him some more. I did ask his head sushi chef for any advice, too, and he told me to drop in and check out the kitchen to see how I like it.

And to James, did you guess just purely based on the pictures? That'd be pretty crazy. It is Casa Italiana indeed. For the building's elite vibe, it had some of the most uncomfortable chairs I've sat in at an event.


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## sachem allison (Oct 5, 2011)

He had just come back from filming an Iron chef episode in Japan and really didn't feel like dealing with tourists and whining customers, so when he found out we were chefs and were willing to spend three times what the tasting menu price was no questions asked, he was happier than a pig in slop. He understood that we understood that sometimes a chef wants to make something exactly the way he wants too. We let him and it was the right decision. keep in mind this is back in the days when I made a little more money and didn't have too worry about, well anything. Now I'm lucky if I go out to a diner once a month.lol


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## sw2geeks (Oct 5, 2011)

Met Morimoto at a book signing when his book came out. Don't know what it said but it was pretty elaborate. must have took him 5 minutes to sign it.


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## James (Oct 5, 2011)

haha I'm an undergrad at the liberal arts college of the university, but I've never been to casa italiana. I'm a deutsches haus man. The architecture looks pretty similar to some of the other buildings on that block and they posted a notice about his visit a few days ago on the school blog.


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## mr drinky (Oct 7, 2011)

That's cool. Only Iron Chef to cook for me was Batali at some fund raiser dinner in Chicago. He also played guitar with a Grammy Award winning chamber ensemble, but he definitely is a better cook than guitar player. My only encounter with Morimoto was during a cooking demonstration, but I never got the chance to talk to him. I would love to have though.

What knives was he using that night?

k.


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## heirkb (Oct 7, 2011)

The same ones that he said were his favorites: custom Nenox Yanagi (honyaki?) and Yo-Deba with deer antler. Apparently the yanagi cost a couple grand.


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