Bohemian

Every once in a while, I’ll find out about a really great restaurant from reading blogs, through word of mouth, or from an email list (like Urbandaddy or Thrillist). I heard about Bohemian through a friend a while back but it totally slipped my mind until I went on a date at the restaurant last weekend. The restaurant is located in Noho behind a Japanese butcher shop and you have to know the unlisted number to make a reservation (I’ve actually been to the butcher shop but did not see the entrance to Bohemian when I stopped by). We rang the doorbell and were greeted by a Japanese woman that let us into the open space – an intimate setting with only enough seating for 24 people; I felt like we were literally in someone’s living room enjoying a meal.

My date had been there a couple times before and knew exactly what to order – since it was my first time at the restaurant, we decided to order the tasting menu. We started off with a really great appetizer of vegetable fondue (the fondue sauce was made with anchovies, butter, and cream cheese). I didn’t take any pictures of our appetizer because 1. it was a first date and 2. I wasn’t sure if he’d be embarrassed, but he said he didn’t mind so I ended up bringing out my camera for the rest of the tasting. The vegetables were presented like a beautiful flower arrangement: tomatoes, radicchio, radishes, carrots, and other beautiful vegetables arranged in a bed of ice. The fondue was mild and very creamy – I didn’t even know there were anchovies in it but it was really quite delicious.

For our first course, we ordered the short rib sashimi (based off our waitresses recommendation):

I’ve never had short rib sashimi and the waitress said they were really special because it’s not available anywhere else (side note: the waitress was probably the cutest waitress ever – she gave us her personal recommendations and told us her favorite dishes for every course). The short ribs were tender and we ate them with a little wasabi and freshly squeezed lime.

Next came Hervé Katz’s assorted smoked meats:

Top to bottom: duck breast, chorizo, and salami – they were all really delicious and had the perfect combination of salt and fat.

Our main course was the pan roasted branzini with vegetables:

I actually haven’t had such amazing fish at a restaurant in quite a while; the brazini had a very crispy skin, the meat was very creamy and tender, and the combination of vegetables was really rustic and delicious. The presentation of the entire fish was also really beautiful and the accompanying vegetables (asparagus, fingerling potatoes, zucchini, squash, a entire roasted garlic, brussel sprouts, and green olives) were all perfectly roasted.

Next, we had the fried chicken and truffled mashed potatoes (this wasn’t on the tasting menu but they didn’t have any uni that night and we substituted this for the croquette that came with uni):

The waitress explained that the fried chicken was really special and tasted like turkey or it was an endangered species and said it was her favorite dish so we decided to order it. The chicken wasn’t anything that special but I liked the crispy skin and the truffled mashed potatoes. It’s interesting because after eating out so much, I usually feel that foods are too salty but nothing was over salted or under salted; it was really quite perfect!

For dessert, we had the sake panna cotta with Okinawa brown sugar sauce:

Oh.My.God this was absolutely amazing; delicate sake flavor, and very subtly sweet. It was a perfect way to end a wonderful night! My date had the hostess give me the restaurant’s business card at the end of the evening so now I can return – I think I might make a reservation for me and my college roommates when they visit in November!