"Peace out, New Times."
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto's new restaurant in the Boca Raton Resort is exclusive. So exclusive, in fact, that New Times can't get in.
Last week we made a call down to the resort to see if we could snag a table at the month-old sushi bar and restaurant, Morimoto.
Normally, one would have to be either a member of the Boca Resort or a
guest of the hotel to dine there. But we were hoping with a drop of a
business card here and a wink of the eye there we'd be able to leverage
our supreme press status into a couple seats at the bar. Turns out that
we're not so special. A representative of the resort informed us that
Morimoto doesn't need to be reviewed, nor should it be, because it's
essentially not open to the public.
Naturally, our desire to dine at Morimoto and tell you all about it just shot through the roof.
It's
no secret that the more exclusive some place is, the more people want
to get in. And the Morimoto is indeed exclusive. One resort insider we
spoke to told us there are "only 3 to 4 tables and it's booked until
the next millenium." (According to the official release, there are
actually 32 seats.) But we'd argue that there's still a great service
to both the community and tourists in reviewing it. Since paying guests
of the hotel can dine at the restaurant, a positive or negative review
could definitely impact someone's decision to stay there. And while the
place is expensive, the resort's website advertises room rates starting
at $259 a night -- hardly a dealbreaker for a SoFla couple looking for
a nice dinner date night and a room to follow.
Rest
assured, readers, we will redouble our efforts to get into the resort
and review Morimoto. The representative we spoke with (who was very
friendly and helpful, despite the ill news) sent us over a menu for our
troubles, which you can take a look at by clicking the picture to the right.
A quick glance suggests nothing extraordinary except the prices: most
of the items are of the ubiquitous sushi-bar ilk, and you can get toro
and uni just about anywhere nowadays. My guess is that the big
difference is in the quality of the ingredients, most of which are
flown in from Japan (though what that means, exactly, is a little
fuzzy.) Until that tuna pizza hits our lips, we'll just have to wonder.
-- John Linn
