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March 06, 2002
NOBU is down in Tribeca.
NOBU is down in Tribeca. They seated us immediately for our 6pm reservation in the back of the restaurant behind this makeshift wall made out of spaced apart twigs. It sounds weird I know...it looked really neat. But we were in a more secluded area of the restaurant. At first Felicia was a little miffed about being in a section she thought was not as cool as being in the open. It turns out we were in the section where there is always an empty table reserved for Robert DeNiro. Felicia wasn't so disappointed in our table after the waiter mentioned that. Let me stop here....we did NOT meet Robert DeNiro. It is a true sign of celebrity when you expect your restaurant to waste a table all night everynight on the off chance you'll be hungry. True Decadence. Aside from not eating with Bobby D. NOBU didn't disappoint us in any way,. shape, or form. We started off w/ cocktails. I had a "lichee Martini" which included as a garnish a peeled lichee that, as I discovered in my research for this entry, has some Feng Shui purposes of which I had no idea. Maybe that is why I dreamed I was pregnant. When peeled the lichee looks like a tiny pear. It tastes a bit like a pear too only with a smoother texture. The cocktail was yummy!
And so the decadence began. Our waiter Aaron was really great! He even gave us the heads up on a Ben Stiller reservation at about 8:30 in the main dining area. YEEHAW! We were determined to keep eating until Ben arrived. My aunts were gonna get to see somebody famous!!! That was a load off of my mind. In the interim we ate and ate and ate and ate. We split each dish we ordered; opting to order from dish to dish instead of getting a traditional appetizer, entree, etc etc. We had Nobu's famous "squid pasta". It's actually squid shaped like pasta. We had sushi, sashimi with ginger dressing salad, the squid, chilean sea bass w/ black bean salsa, wild hamachi (yellowtail), abalone, sea urchin, a special ceviche, kobe beef and probably more. Everything we ate was so enticing and so tasty, it became a sort of delectable prison with each dish sending us further and further down the spiral; each dish unbelievably tasting better than the next. Late that night after the experience I was a little concerned when I thought of all the little fishies swimming around my stomach. If it were a viable environment, I could have started my own little conservancy right there in my tummy. Or a small scale production of the "The Little Mermaid". Finally, our waiter suggested the kobe beef and that was what sent us over the edge. We had indulged too much already. It was time for dessert and coffee. We ordered this rich chocolate mousse that had candied pansies and trouffles(I think). It wasn't even on the menu; the waiter suggested it. I also ordered a side of green tea ice cream. The mousse was exquisite and the candied pansies added a really delicate flavor. The green tea ice cream was so good I was concerned Margaret was going to lick the bowl. Truth to tell, Felicia, Margaret, and I all wanted to lick that bowl. It was sooooo good. You know you wanted to, Felicia!!! So we had our coffee. Felicia and Margaret got to surreptitiously watch Ben Stiller dinind with friends as the went to "check" something with the coat check girl. I was concerned for a moment that Margaret would break the "I just want to see someone in 3D, I don't want to bother them" promise but we managed to talk her out of it. We decided one more quick cup of coffee after we paid the check and we would be off. Aaron said the pot was brewing. Odd.
Then the hostess came and dropped the bomb. She asked who made the reservation (I did) and proceeded to tell us that the reservation was for 6:00, we had been at the table for over 3 hours, they have tried to be understanding, and they have to seat the table now. Shocking! Not that the hostess did that. I actually thought she did a very good job handling a rather sticky situation. Shocking was that she was right. The restaurant opens at 6pm every night. It closes at 10:15pm. At that moment, it was 9:20pm. We had basically sat at that table the entire evening. So much for my being pissy about Robert DeNiro. So we put our tail between our legs and staggered toward the door. We were being kicked out of NOBU, currently the trendiest restaurant in NYC with Ben Stiller just two tables and a few twigs away. At first, I admit, I was a little embarassed. I embraced that feeling for a moment; let it wash over me. Then got over it. What a gas!!! We partied like rock stars at NOBU and would live to tell the tale.
The next day Margaret and Felicia got back on a plane toward Houston and I was left to go back to looking for work, catching up on my journals and things, and reminiscing about this magical weekend I shared with my aunts. To Margaret and Felicia: thank you so much for coming to town and sharing my city with me. I will remember this weekend for a long time to come. And I haven't given up on Zena. If she is alive, I will find her. One day. And maybe you can come back and we will see her. And maybe go back to NOBU for seconds...
Posted by mermu at March 6, 2002 01:30 AM
Comments
I think Robert Deniro is part owner of Nobu. That might explain why he has got a table.
Posted by: Chip Duford at April 7, 2002 01:32 AM
Oh, ok. I was just making sure.
Posted by: Carl at March 12, 2002 07:43 PM
I have just stopped trying to hide it. I did go on a 3.5 mile jog two days ago though. According to my HR Monitor I burned 700 calories.
Posted by: Mermu at March 8, 2002 11:57 AM
Have you just recently gone crazy or have you just stopped trying to hide it?
Posted by: Carl at March 8, 2002 07:40 AM
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