I had dinner at Komi with my friend and colleague Ketzirah on 8-17-17. While the food was really good I gotta be honest, I wasn’t feelin’ the vibe. There are no pictures of the food and the chef wouldn’t say hello let alone sign my Michelin Guide. Honestly that would all be fine but there was something about the service style that made me ill at ease the entire time. It’s hard to put my finger on but it was like a very scripted casualness that was just odd.
The food is Greek-inspired and you can definitely see that influence in the decor. The space is small and intimate; it’s supposed to feel like you’re at someone’s house for dinner.
They only serve one tasting menu per night, which I love. Below is the wine list with the adorable cork screw; they had great beers as well.
Since I don’t have pictures here are all of the descriptions!
Trout roe (steamed brioche, smoked trout roe, sweet corn crema). This was delicious, salty, and perfect.
Lavraki. This fish was amazing with just the right amount of olive oil and salt.
Mackerel (tomato, plum). This was really well done with a nice crunch from the salt. The tomato tasted either sundried or wood fired, which was great.
Caviar + Corn (corn custard, osetra caviar). This was a new dish they were trying out so they sent it along with a wine from Santorini. I couldn’t really taste the caviar and it needed a little more acid or salt to offset the sweetness of the corn custard.
Cucumber (housemade yogurt, dashi, finger lime). The cucumber was slightly pickled and the texture was amazing.
Razor clam (crushed peas). This was made with sunchoke for Ketzirah, who doesn’t eat shellfish. The flavor overall was very fresh and green.
Sourdough (shitake, pickled beech, green harissa). This was perfectly crisp. The pickled beech was great and the harissa was fabulous.
Foie gras (cherries, oat puff pastry, flowers). This was fantastic. The foie gras mousse had a cheese-like flavor almost like parmesan. The cherries were a combo of sweet and pickled, and the oat puff pastry was great as well.
Dates (mascarpone, sea salt). These tasted great and the consistency was almost like pureed potatoes.
Tonnarelli (anchovies, pinenut, jalapeno). This was flat, square pasta (also known as spaghetti alla chitarra) made from red fife wheat. It was rich, decadent, and amazing.
Ravioli (carrot, Calabrian chili, winter truffles). I didn’t love this. It was a little funky: sweet, rich, and tasted like raw onion.
Katsikaki (goat shoulder, oregano salt, lemon, pita, tzatziki, hot sauce, carrot mustard). This was fantastic. The goat was perfectly crisp outside and tender inside. It was came with the oregano salt and lemon on the side as well the three sauces. I could not stop with the oregano salt and lemon; they were absolute perfection on the meat. My notes literally say “praise Jesus” and I’m Jewish. The tzatziki was good and really thick while the hot sauce was spicy, sweet, and vinegary just like I like it. The pita was fluffy perfection.
Popcorn (popcorn gelato, blueberry honey, sunflower seed toffee). This was good: rich, sweet, and salty.
Yogurt (green chili frozen yogurt, pistachio powder, coconut meringue, peach apricot jam). This was fun a mix because it was rich and sweet but also spicy due to chili and tangy due to the jam.
Honeycomb (cashew honeycomb brittle). This was great.
Chocolate (red miso chocolate). This inside was like caramel and delicious.
Lollipop (cinnamon cayenne lollipop). They sent this home so I was actually able to picture it. It was DELICIOUS and not that spicy. Even my kids loved it!
Overall the food was delicious, well paced, and not overly abundant like some tasting menus. That being said the vibe was somewhat off-putting.