shaken not stirred: bond street

I venture out at night as often as Will Smith in 'I am Legend' so you may want to take my word with a grain of fleur de sel but I submit the rooftop bar at Bond Street is pretty super fantastic. It feels a world away from the dirty boulevard but access is limited to guests at the Thompson Hotel and people who know people or maybe people with boobs. The guardian of the door is pretty vigilent so en garde you rooftop social climbers.

Despite my aversion to the nightlife, I was out because Brian Redzikowski, the chef of Bond Street, had created a tasting menu for FoodDigger.com.

Thanks to Bond Street and Will of FoodDigger FoodDigger Blog and and Marshal of FoodDigger for inviting me to eat off the fat of the land and sea free of charge. (And thanks kevinEats for not being available for dinner so I could swoop in. Mwah hahah).

I got to Bond Street like 10 minutes early and had a drink at the bar and fell into conversation with a guy, an obvious regular all clued into the love lives and goings on with the staff, who told me "I got psychic genes, because my mom's psychic and it's genetic". So I said alright, if that's true, tell me what sign I am because you have a 1 in 12 chance, so it should be pretty easy for a genetic psychic. He guessed Virgo. And then he guessed Capricorn. Then he gave up. And then he pretended he knew all along I was Aquarius. High five you charlatan you.

Then the Fooddigger pimps arrived and we got down to the difficult bizness of eating and drinking.

Tuna Tarts with micro shiso and white truffle oil. These had thin water biscuity wafers underneath that called to mind holy communion and a cracker with tuna salad. The truffle oil and the smell of shiso tied the ribbon on this here package and the crunchy wafer was quasi pizza like. Look how pretty my pizza is.

Sashimi of hamachi belly and king crab. The hamachi was dense and richer than buttah. The thin jelly on top was a soy reduction I believe. The king crab was encased in a gelatin box like a miniature bite sized aspic. I love shit like this. They were sushi candy bars.

Skeena river salmon nigiri with soy caviar. What can I say? You could wrap a dungbeetle in shiso and it'll taste good. I felt minty fresh after eating this.

Santa Barbara spot prawn, corn flan, carrot marshmallow, sweet pea foam. This was like a chawanmushi and the pea foam was uber-pea like and there were crunchy croutons. I love all manner of egg custards and egg stew so this was nice.

Jidori with baby root veggies, potato puree, teriyaki sauce. This chicken came correct and the puree was fantastic. Comfort food without growing a new ass is what I might rename this. One of my favorites of the night.

My personal favorite of the favorites was the Japanese bouillabaisse. The fennelly saltiness graciously gave way to the rich uni that melted in the stew like a golden cloud of sea smell. Just magnificent. The Korean in me longed for some rice or even noodles to sop up this lusciousness. Strangely this dish reminded me of the thai lobster soup at Grace - even though they're so different, there's some secret kinship like that between Obama and Dick Cheney. The only reservation I have about this dish is the sand and shells ringed round the plate for decor. It's a little bit tacky maybe, but that's just my opinion.

Snake River Farms pork belly, artichoke, hoji blanca olive oil powder. The chef explained how he rendered olive oil into powder, but sorry folks, it involved science so I immediately tuned out. This was nice. The powder liquified on contact with the foam and it brought a nice taste to the pork.

Foie gras strawberry cone. Fun and tasty.

Foie Gras lollipop. Fun and tasty just like her sister.

Australian wagyu ribeye, cippolini onion puree, mini veggies, soy garlic glaze. This was great. The bacon was delicious and the wagyu perfectly juicy and clean.

With its little veggie friends, the meats were even happier. The carrot balloon was filled with a sac of carroty juices. Good times.

Vosne romanee. Wine in them silicone hills.

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Mochi Fire. Fried mochi with a crisp shell that gives way to molten mochi flesh? You are so mochi and you don't even know it. The rhubarb and the coconut ice cream was nice but really, the mochi are a masterpiece in and of themselves. Lucky for the fooddigger developer, Chris, he chose to permit me to eat the 3rd mochi. That's why he's still alive today instead of dead from fork stabbing wounds. Choose life people.

Caramel popcorn kaffir lime. This was neato Toledo.

Chocolate liquid vanilla bean ice cream. Like a toffee-ish powder. Chewy and reminiscent of whatever is in the middle of the crispety crunchety butterfingery buttahfinger. Good times.

Chocolates truffles wrapped in origami. These were some great truffles.

Ah, to be young and ambitious. And surrounded by food. Can't see the downside to this gig. The chef is a really nice, down to earth and modest chap. He took us on a tour of the kitchen and then led us to the rooftop. Our group was kind of like the family that comes to the beach at the end of that Hughie Lewis and the News music video. Don't know what I'm talkin' about young blood? Well, let's just say business casual and snapping pictures is kind of wrong. But I did it for Argentina so don't cry for me damnit.

Hands on your hips my friend. It's time to pahhhtay.

Hit the bottle my friend. You deserve it.

Speaking of hitting the bottle, we had some really great wine pairings none of which I noted. I know, Kevin would have noted them. Well, I'm not Kevin damnit. I'm Mochi. That's right. I'm changing my name to fried Mochi.

So, Bond Street. Hmmmm.... I like it. It was pretty sparsely populated in the dining room. The chef said it was pretty slow in the beginning but he's trying to turn that baby around. The staff are beautiful and the service was really attentive to our table obviously but even before the Fooddigger guys came, the bartender and the hostess were cool. The crowd is not as heavily douchey. I'd say 1 in 10 exhibit signs of being a music producer aka owns a computer with a CD burning capacity whereas the other 9 seem like normal, well-groomed civilians. You have a fighting chance at having a good time here with a dark, relaxing loungey feel and the desserts are seriously stand up and take note cuz here comes genius-like. I'd definitely come back for a nibble of some jidori chicken, some bouillabaisse, some wine and three balls of my namesake, mochi.

We didn't tour the rooms or anything but there are a lot of nooks and crannies in the restaurant and lounge and the rooftop. It could be romantical here but it's more of a friend vibe than that. It's not decorated in that hotel boutiquey way like Maison 140 and it's not super mirrored and fleur de lised and wallpapered like the Viceroy but it's got a good dark wood dim inviting look all around. It's maybe like a mini W but without the Persians. (And yes, we love the Persians. Just sayin'). All in all, a nice space to gather for drinks and giggles.