So it was time again for another round of Sample circuit goodness. A new location, a new chef, and a new selection of things to sample. This adventure was at Moto-i in Uptown. I frequent this area (in fact I was literally across the street and two buildings down just two nights earlier), just like restaurantMax, this is my first visit to this spot.I’ve heard the hype. Like its sister pub next door, Moto-i is a brew pub. Where Herkimer is known for its beer, Moto-i is all about sake. And though I really can’t prove it, I’ve heard that Moto-I is the only sake brewery in the United States. YEAH sake!!
OK, just to get this out of the way, I was a little mad at the weather. We’ve had such a nice spring so far but for the past few days we’ve had this crazy wind. Moto-i has one of the most well known rooftop decks… which was closed, thus moving the party into a section of the bar. It was maybe less than ideal, but it meant we were closer to the sake taps! (NOTE TO SELF: go back to experience the patio. Soon.)
We walked in and right away were greeted and led to the party. Fortunately enough for us we were literally feet from a section of available bar front (like desirable beach front, but sometimes harder to come by) conveniently located an arm’s length away from a large tray of sake. The home brew of choice for the evening was the ‘junmai nigori nama’. Please don’t ask me to pronounce that, just know that it was good. Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’m a sake expert or that my palate is as refined as others, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the stuff that is made in Japan (whose name I also can’t pronounce), or the stuff made in the back of Moto-i (that I can’t pronounce). But I enjoyed it nonetheless. If you venture into the long hallway in the rear of the bar you can actually see the brew kitchen where the sake is made. Nobody was working back there at the time but I was neat to see a bit of ‘how it is done’.While settling into the evening and enjoying our first sips, our first sample for the evening arrived via smiling server with tray in hand. Although it was our first bite of the evening, it was also one of the best. The Thai Basil Meatballs were small explosions of great flavor. There was a bunch going on in these little guys that made them both savory and smoky, and that gave them a bit of extra pop. In that moment I already knew it was going to be a good night.
Behind the bar was a series of TVs setup similar to what you might see at many bars. Moto-i had a unique spin on their setup though. One of the TVs was streaming NHK (or Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai a.k.a. Japan Broadcasting Corporation). For the duration of evening we enjoyed a traditional sumo wrestling match directly from Hong Kong (JACK – do you know this was in Hong Kong…that’s not actually in Japan, so I’m just wondering). Again, not being the expert on such things, I needed to learn a bit more about such things. Here’s a little video for good karma.
Due to the indoor location, I found it wasn’t quite so easy to intermingle with larger groups, and instead the people standing nearest you in line become a friend for a short time. That is one thing I’m beginning to see as a pleasantly reoccurring theme of the Sample Circuit; everyone is personable and chatty…about the food or the last round of sumo.
There were a few high-top tables on the side of the room set up as a serving station housing a few of the trickier-to-eat dishes. There were several different types of lettuce wraps and the best presented dish of the evening: the mushroom ramen. A pair of chopsticks stuck with a generous serving of noodles spun around them, dunked into a full cup of warm flavorful broth. It was such great presentation and it allowed everyone to spend some time playing with their food. Bonus points!After we had our share of sake (though, we wished we could have sampled more than just one of their house sakes), we had to go visit our old friend Kevin from MVP Wines. OK, I have only met Kevin once before, but you will understand if you have the pleasure of meeting him that you too are his friend. He didn’t disappoint us; he brought with him a delicious mix of vino to match playfully with the dishes served.
The service was again impeccable. It seemed like every time you turned around there was another smiling face with another new dish to try. And speaking of new dishes, I’m compelled to tell you about the tartar. There seemed to be three or four different tartars floating around but there are two that were just amazing. The first was an hamachi (yellowtail tuna) and bacon tartar served on a vegetable chip. It seems like such a simple paring, but it was a perfect blend of light and heavy meat. Albeit I may be biased because it had bacon on it, but I absolutely loved it. The second was salmon with tobiko (those very small fish eggs sometimes used in sushi). This really had the flavor and texture of a piece of sushi roll, minus the rice.And then there was dessert. Moto-i really out did themselves here. There were three delectable desserts to try. The first was a doughnut, or rather an oversized doughnut hole, deep fried and covered in sugar and Chinese five-spice seasoning. Being a fan of both five-spice and doughnuts individually, this was a sweet fusion of State Fair meets sushi. Next was a little chocolate cake. At first I thought it was a chocolate covered double stuff Oreo because of its shape, but this was a moist little piece of heaven. Think the chocolate-chocolate cake from Café Latte with more chocolate…seriously, yum! Finally was an Orange Blossom Panna Cotta .
The whole experienced stacked together; I can say that once again I am thrilled again with another fun night out. To say that I just left full and happy would be an understatement. Next time you’re in the mood for a new sake experience make sure to give Moto-i a try. Next time you want to be a little spoiled and try a whole bunch of amazing nummies and have it catered for you, try out the Sample Circuit. You won’t be disappointed. Tell them Jack sent you! (hehe)
Jack Fischer is a self proclaimed life blogger, a real life geek, and an all round 'nice guy'. He's a businessman and a photographer by trade. In his spare time he loves to tell stories. Visit his blog: finickyfish.blogspot.com
Posts
