Our collabroation dinner with BOTANICA on Sunday, November 16, was truly memorable. This one-night-only event was titled, "Dinner with Naoko Takei Moore" and featured dishes out of her recipes (using many of the ingredients available at TOIRO!). The dinner was sold out within 24 hours of its announcement, and everyone showed up despite the uncharacteristic cold and rainy weather to fill the space with such beautiful energy.
Naoko and Botanica's Chef Sergio worked together to make the menu, did test kitchen together prior to the event date. The chef brought her recipes to life and gave them his own touch with so much care.
Here's the Menu:
*MISO-MARINATED CREAM CHEESE & BAGUETTE - cream cheese marinated for 3 days in brown rice miso & mirin, with shiso, wasabi & baguette
*BROCCOLINI & PERSIMMON SHIRA-AE - a salad of fuyu persimmon, broccolini, walnuts & tofu, with saikyo miso, white tamari, rice vinegar & sesame
*KANPACHI & UMEBOSHI - kanpachi crudo with umeboshi puree, marigold honey, dried shiso flakes
*SOMEN - hand-stretched somen noodles with sesame oil, shirodashi, grated daikon, sansho pepper & maitake mushroom
*STEELHEAD IN GARLIC BUTTER MISO SAUCE - California steelhead trout, daikon, enoki mushroom & carrot in garlic-butter miso dashi, with fresh yuzu zest & yuzu shichimi togarashi
A huge thank you to owner Heather Sperling, chef Sergio Ortega and the entire team at Botanica for welcoming me and making everything possible. It was such an honor to work with this exceptional group of individuals.
The event also celebrated Naoko's two books...and many guests said they were so excited for her upcoming cookbook, Simply Donabe.
To more successful collaborations in the future... Happy Donabe Life!