by Nicole C. on I was pleasantly surprised by The Edison. I've been hearing about it for a while but had never ventured in. I was even more pleased when there was no cover and the flapper chick at the front door handed us gold coins for our 35 cent cocktail. 35 cents? Whatch talkin bout Willis? And it was damn good! After this the drinks were between $5-$10. Still not too bad. Their Happy Hour features $5 appetizers. I had the Kobe beef slider. My friend had the calamari. Both came with a choice of regular fries or sweet potato fries. Yum! Their house drinks have fancy little names that you will never remember but if you're the adventurous type give them a try. The vibe is cool, no sleazy guys trying to hit on us. Bartenders were friendly. Although one guy was a complete ass, but I think he thought he was being cool. All in all their Happy Hour is on point. I'll definitely be back!
by Viv C. on As my final dining experience on my Philadelphia vacation/trip, boy, did I go out with a bang. (So to speak.) I found a DEAD MOTH in my entree but I still walked away with a smile! Why? Because by finding a dead bug in my entree, I had scored the fine dining jackpot. I'm a Food Network nerd who's caught up in the world of celebrity chefs so to be given an opportunity to eat at an Iron Chef's restaurant was more than just a thrill. I knew my experience at this fancy schmancy restaurant would be worth the $$$. (As these are my hard earn dollars being splurged away for edibles!) The restaurant's atmosphere is that of some 1960's/70's Hollywood idea of a futuristic submarine. The light wood wall curves and the ever changing glowing lights are calming beautiful. I wish that the electric candles could be repositioned on the tables however, but that's small potatoes compared to the overall the aesthetic. Lovely! We started our evening with appetizers of edamame and rock shrimp tempura while sipping on some Sho Chiku Bai Organic Nama sake. The edamame was typical but they did sprinkle a lot of fleur de sal on top so they could charge $7 for a large plate. The rock shrimp, served with endives, was well seasoned with a tangy sweet sauce. Once could make a meal of just the appetizers as the portions are plenty to go around. The sake was sweet and light without any sort of harsh bite to it. I could have drank more of it like juice! Luckily, this particular brand of sake is produced at Takara Sake brewery which is located in Berkeley, CA, so I'll be going there soon! Since we were at a sushi restaurant, we ordered a simple $9 spicy tuna roll. You know you're eating good sushi when you don't even dip it in soy sauce and wasabi. Good fish can stand alone. The meat was creamy and clean in flavor. Wow. So this is what sushi's supposed to taste like. Not that I can eat like this all the time, but it's a good frame of reference whenever I get sushi at Whole Foods for lunch. So not the same thing! As for the main dishes, after much consideration, I ordered the seafood toban yaki which comes with king crab, shrimps, scallops, New Zealand mussels, baby bok choy and Yuzu butter. Kay ordered the whole fish salad dish (I can't seem to find it on the website's menu) and Ken ordered the Ishi Yaki Buri Bop which was yellowtail on rice prepared at your table in a stone bowl (basically Morimoto's version of bibimbap). My toban yaki came with a banana leaf wrap of jasmine rice that was a nice touch to my meal had I been able to finish it. The scallops were well cooked and the mussels were delicious, but once I got to the baby bok choy, that's where I found my surprise critter. At first it didn't register that I had found a bug in my dish. I'm at a super nice restaurant, this kind faux pas NEVER happens. At least not to me. Yeah, it was gross but I'm not that squeamish about bugs (at least it wasn't a cockroach!) but still, I don't want to eat bugs. After the shock, came the guilt, gloating and glee. Guilt because I knew that they were going to pay big time for this slip up. Gloating because I knew that they were going to pay big time for this slip up. Glee because I knew that they were going to pay big time for this slip up. I'm at a nice restaurant, they are going to take care of ME. What followed was an admirable show of grace and excellent service. I immediately alerted the server that there was a bug and my dish was whisked away without another word. The manager of the night came to my table and apologized profusely, stating that the boy choy was freshly purchased today (hence bugs still crawling around) and that the dish would be removed from my bill. He then gave me a menu and stated that I could order another entree on the house. Cha-ching. Schadefreude! But it still took some convincing from Ken that I was deserving of ordering something expensive. "It's okay," he said, "You found a bug in your dinner! Other people would be totally making a scene a flipping out right now. They shouldn't serve you bugs. Order whatever you want!" And so Morimoto Surf and Turf it was! Kobe beef, Maine lobster and Morimoto's signature beer reduction. ... Wow. That and complimentary house sake made for the rest of our main courses quite lovely. And when it came time for dessert, they also threw in Chestnut Trio (chestnut-brandy ice cream, mont blanc and chestnut truffles) on the house. We also order the Citrus Mille Feuille (Mmm...crispy, tangy and creamy contrast!) and the Kabocha Creme Brulee (pumpkin custard, yogurt whipped cream and currants). Sigh. Damn good service. Damn good food. And that moth saved me over $100! I was very happy.
