Momofuku Ko Review

Overall rating: 93

Food rating: 94

Momofuku Ko: Great, tiny restaurant in New York City's East Village

If you're reading this and considering going to Momofuku Ko, you are likely well aware of the difficulty in making reservations (just has 12 seats at a bar around the kitchen; you use their online system to sign up and reservations open at 10am ten days before dinner seatings [or 14 days before lunch seatings]), that it has held two Michelin stars for years, and is considered one of the best restaurants in NYC.

I knew we'd be in NY this past weekend, and at 10am ten days earlier, having previously registered on their system, I went online and had no problems quickly making a reservation for Saturday evening.

Before I started down that path, I'd had to learn which Momofuku restaurant was the one with the Michelin stars, since there are something like five Momofukus in NYC, all considered excellent. We had never been to a restaurant with a Michelin star and wanted to see what it was like. As restaurants like this go in NYC, Momofuku Ko isn't insanely expensive. Also, Tim Maslow, chef behind Strip T's and Ribelle, had been chef de cuisine at Momofuku Ssäm bar before returning to Boston, and those are two of our favorite Boston restaurants.

Momofuku Ko is tiny and they don't let you take pictures. There is almost nothing on the door to indicate the existence of the restaurant, save a small two letters reading "Ko". We entered and were greeted immediately by a friendly hostess who confirmed that we had a reservation and seated us. There are only stools at a bar. Ten of the seats run deep from the doorway along the length of the bar; we were at the two just in from the doorway that make an L from the bar.

There were four chefs working in the kitchen, plus at least two or three other support staff clearing, taking drink orders, etc., and the service was impeccable. Ko is casual with no dress code. I was wearing pants with shoes and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and was the most formally dressed man in the restaurant. Women were dressed similarly informally.

As soon as we sat down we were offered a drink menu, and we selected a half bottle of a Gruner Veltliner that was very good. There is no menu at Ko, they just start bringing food, though do ask if you have any allergies/intolerances.

One of the chefs came over early on and explained that we would be getting a few items before the start of the meal. A few turned out to be five or six items including pork rinds, a sesame cracker, and a delicious soup shooter.

The meal then began with small item after small item showing up. The meal was very heavily fish based with raw or nearly raw fish items that were delicious, a wonderful smoky broth with a poached egg, and a very rare piece of duck as the main non-fish protein. About midway through the meal, with the broth, there was some very light sourdough bread served that was great. There was a course with foie gras that was frozen and then shaved and this was remarkably good. There were two desserts including a chocolate "cake" that was millimeters high but really did taste cake like, and a meringue that was wonderful.

The food was fresh and tasty, with appropriate but not overwhelming flavorings and the preparations were excellent and interesting. The music level in the restaurant was loud enough to make conversations private, and the selection seemed right for people of our age and (outdated) tastes.

My wife talked a lot with the chefs asking various questions about preparation of the food. One of the chefs we dealt with was very new there (three weeks) and was friendly and fun to talk to (and was originally from the South Shore in Massachusetts). The other, who is listed on the website as the sous chef at Ko and seemed to be in charge of the service, was more knowledgeable but less friendly and was from Chicago. It actually made the evening less fun that he was less engaged, since if you are going to be right up at the kitchen with all the chefs you'd like to be able to interact in a fun meal.

The prix fixe before tax and tip is $125 per person for dinner (more for lunch, which has more courses), and the half bottle of wine was $32. That made this a very expensive dinner for Boston, but seemed pretty reasonable for this level of quality in NYC.

We've now been to a restaurant with Michelin stars and it was really wonderfully good. We now also have a better comparator for our favorite restaurant in Boston, T.W. Food. For me, at least, I'd wondered if going to a restaurant like this in NY would explain why you see occasional reviews of TW suggesting that real foodies wouldn't want to go there. I can now confirm that those reviews/opinions are snooty, inane, or both. The food at Ko was much more fish based than TW, but the overall quality was quite similar to what you would get at TW from a tasting menu. I slightly prefer the food at TW, though some of that is just the kind of food I like (less fish, more other proteins). I also somewhat prefer the ambiance at TW, though the setup at Ko is a lot of fun as well.

Overall, we had a great time and a great meal at Momofuku Ko, but while I have the sense that there are many more spectacular restaurants in NYC than in Boston, I have no sense that we should be jealous for having an easy time getting to TW and a long, long ride to a place like Ko. I wouldn't trade, though would be quite happy to have Ko available in Boston.

Sweet Basil review

Overall rating: 75

Food rating: 75

Sweet Basil: Good Italian food in Needham

I've heard of Sweet Basil as a great option for food in Needham Center, but had missed that it serves Italian food and not Thai. I was feeling foolish about this until mentioning the restaurant to several colleagues at lunch, all of whom thought Sweet Basil served Thai food. I think there's a marketing opportunity there for the restaurant.

Sweet Basil doesn't take reservations and is known to have long waits, but we were headed to do some shopping in Needham Center early evening on a weeknight, so we decided to give it a try. The online reviews are mostly incredibly favorable.

The restaurant was empty and so we were quickly seated. The staff were friendly and helpful. There were two nice breads served with a pesto sauce that was excellent. For an appetizer we got the mussels. The portion was very large and the mussels themselves were fresh and delicious, and the preparation was good, though not particularly special. The broth was wonderful to dip the bread in, but the mussels didn't pick up the flavors from the broth all that much.

For a main, I ordered the lamb shank, which was enormous and was served with a soft polenta and some vegetables. The polenta and vegetables were very good. The lamb was fine, but nothing special. My wife got a vegetable risotto that was nicely prepared and good but not great. Sweet Basil doesn't serve desserts.

Overall, this is a decent Italian restaurant, particularly for a place that serves such large portions (often a marker of less good Italian food). However, the online reviews make it seem much better than we experienced. I would be happy to eat at Sweet Basil again, but would not wait on line to do so, and there are many Italian restaurants at a similar distance from us that we prefer. As a neighborhood restaurant for those living in Needham Center, it seems like a nice place to go for a meal.