Morimoto Asia Napa is more than Japanese

May 03, 2024

Where: 790 Main St., Napa

When: 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Contact: 707-699-1737, morimotoasianapa.com

Cuisine: Pan-Asian

Price: Expensive, entrees $16-$98

At the new Morimoto Asia Napa the other night, I ran into a friend who already had been in five times for dinner. Pretty impressive, considering the restaurant has only been open since November.

Yet I understand. If it were easier for me to get from my Sebastopol home to downtown Napa, I’d be dining here a lot, too. The concept, from global restaurateur “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto, expands past his popular Japanese cuisine (you can get that at his nearby Morimoto restaurant) into eclectic Asian cuisines including Chinese, Thai, American fusion and dim sum. It’s a delicious journey through a lengthy menu that bounces from fragrant chicken-pork-mushroom soup cleverly served in a teapot ($15) to Szechuan oysters with macadamia nuts and spicy black bean sauce presented in a hot stone bowl ($38).

Over the past decade, Napa has blossomed into an important culinary destination, and this venture just gilds the lily. I love our California cuisine, but honestly, I get tired of so many places offering the same stripped-down simple fare like roast chicken and vegetables. Bring on the spices, I say, and sauces and layered recipes with explosive flavors. Napa restaurants are doing that more and more — delivering bold, internationally driven dining that still celebrates the tenets of California cuisine: local, sustainable, seasonal and always pristine ingredients.

Here, that means whole bronze-roasted Peking ducks hanging in the open kitchen — a la a Chinatown market — come from Liberty Ducks in Petaluma. Staple ingredients, like tofu drizzled in ginger syrup and scallion ginger sauce, are housemade.

Morimoto, who opened a flagship Morimoto restaurant in Napa in 2010, personally toured the town before opening the third Morimoto Asia location (the first opened in 2015 at Disney Springs in Florida, followed by one in Waikiki, Hawaii, in 2018). Many of the new Napa restaurant dishes overlap with those two spots, but there are nods to Wine Country, such as a crisp, pickled veggie sampler of daikon radish, cucumber and Napa cabbage ($15).

Though I prefer intimate, relaxed dining spaces, this 170-seat spot is Big City sparkly, with accents like golden dragons wrapped around columns and a Food Network-worthy entrance flanked by two huge sculptures of Morimoto in samurai garb. The drama is somehow appropriate for the increasingly fancy Napa Riverfront development.

The place was packed on my visits, with locals and plenty of tourists (tourists in winter!).

Note that there’s no sushi here. You’ll find that at the chef’s original Morimoto restaurant just a two-minute walk south along Main Street. But Executive Chef Jave Duque has a handle on all kinds of other food, like an appetizer that gets no justice from its bare menu description of “spicy wonton, spicy sesame chile sauce” ($16). Six glistening dumplings bulge with broth-soaked chicken on a fiery pond of rainbow spices, and I wanted to lick the plate clean.

The dim sum sampler is less interesting by comparison ($19), with a typical steamed pork dumpling, a pork-shrimp-mushroom shumai, a pork bao, a chicken soup dumpling and shrimp har gow. That said, I want to return for the dim sum brunch introduced on weekends, complete with carts and an expanded selection of nibbles.

The kitchen was testing a new dish on my last visit — basil fried rice. Now it’s become a permanent offering. It packs punch after punch of brilliant flavors, laced with chiles, ground beef, fried egg, bell pepper, crisp bean sprouts, oyster sauce and tons of delightful spice ($24), plus the excellent addition of grilled prawns ($12). Order it.

Another must-try is the signature hot pot ($34). It’s a performance, as your server brings out a butane burner, a large lidded steamer pot and huge plates brimming with raw meats, vegetables, clear noodles and herbs. The pot has a center divider for a rich chicken broth on one side and creamy laksa Malaysian/Singapore coconut broth on the other.

Into the bubbling boil goes tender bok choy, tofu, scallion strips, carrots cut into flowers, cilantro and your choice of protein (chicken, pork, shrimp, scallops, oysters, fish or beef). It all cooks for a minute or so, then you ladle each soup into your bowl and slurp away. Watch out for the Thai chiles bobbing about in both broths — they pack serious heat for a wonderful back-of-throat burn.

Do come here for drinks, such as the sake flight ($40) or a cocktail like the caramel-flavored Oji of Morimoto brand single-malt whiskey, demerara syrup and bitters ($20).

Don’t come for dessert, though, unless you want to explore curiosities like egg toast spread with green tea powder and milk honey ice cream ($15) or iced coffee jelly and fry bread sticks sprinkled in five spice sugar ($15). They’re interesting bites that I enjoy, but they aren’t for everyone.

Whatever your taste, we can all agree on this — you’ll likely want to come back often.

Carey Sweet is a Sebastopol-based food and restaurant writer. Read her restaurant reviews every other week in Sonoma Life. Contact her at [email protected].

Where: 790 Main St., Napa

When: 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Contact: 707-699-1737, morimotoasianapa.com

Cuisine: Pan-Asian

Price: Expensive, entrees $16-$98