Michael Mina and Katsuya Uechi got together for a special East Meets West menu at Mina's XIV last night, drawing a crowd for the 7-course tasting menu that featured a dish from both chefs at each course. 
A geisha (she gets a lot of work from Katsuya, it seems), and Louis XIV roamed the room to amp up the Japan vs. the West theme. Katsuya shone on the fish preparations, of course, including sliced tai snapper sashimi (above), big eye tuna nigiri sushi, and a fried scallop lollipop with truffle shavings (below).
I also loved the braised egg and savory chicken meatball of the Jidori chicken course. But Mina 
also pulled off some winners. If I were to find myself at XIV again, I would order tapioca-crusted tai snapper with broccoli rabe and white soy vinaigrette, which is on the XIV menu. Mina's scallops were tender and full of flavor in a light, buttery sauce. Dessert was an assortment of petit fours, with Mina's burfi-like cashew ball (left) rising above the rest. Watch out for more special pairings and events at Katsuya and XIV.(This was a hosted dinner.)
1 comment:
Good approach with the recap. To try to cover all of those different dishes would be pretty close to impossible. Each pairing featured so many facets. The scallop course was really incredible, and there were definitely some other highlights. Good calls on Mina's snapper and cashew dessert. Mina finished with a slight edge over Katsuya on my imaginary score sheet.
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