Zama - Fancy Japanese Drunk Munchies
A while back, A's aunt, who lives in SF, contacted me to arrange a surprise evening out for A as a belated congratulations for business school graduation (thanks Aunt P!). After the crush of the holidays, I was finally able to put something together. A and I, along with his best friend and his wife, went to an Escape the Room and then out to dinner at one of A's favorite restaurants in the city - Zama. Located in the middle of Rittenhouse by 18th and Rittenhouse Square, Zama is a neighborhood staple serving high end Japanese and Japanese fusion cuisine.
When we got there, I think the combination of Zama's extensive menu and the multiple drinks consumed at Locust-Rendezvous beforehand overwhelmed us a bit. To simplify things, we all decided to go with a tasting menu. There are three different chef tasting menu's at 3 different price points. All of us chose the lowest cost option, which was 7 savory courses for $55 (I think... it was either $55 or $65).
Meal started off with mushroom seaweed salad with bonito flakes. The salad was pretty good; the tanginess of the mushrooms went well with the seaweed salad. Nothing I was blown away by though. The flavors were pretty standard for a seaweed salad. It was a good first course, and anyway, I think it’s better when the food improves as the meal goes on. So sad when the appetizers are amazing but the mains are meh.
Next up was a tuna carpaccio which was one piece of tuna pounded flat with a ponzu/soy sauce and tangy aioli. Overall a great dish. The tuna was pounded super thin and it was melt in your mouth tender. The sauce was delicious too. Only thing stopping me from eating the rest of the sauce was that I didn’t have a spoon and I wasn’t ready to look like an absolute savage by lifting the plate up to drink the sauce. The dish in itself was also very visually arresting and aesthetically pleasing with a giant perfect square of tuna with colorful garnishes.
After that came a make your own "taco" dish with endives, bass, and pickled cucumbers, with the endives serving as taco shells. No idea what the pink garnish on the bass was, but it tasted like ginger. I really liked this dish; the bass was very tender and flakey on it’s own but actually tasted better when made into a taco, so points for creating a dish that was more than the sum of it's parts. I also love pretty much all things pickled so was a big fan of the cucumber.
Fourth course was a rice-less maki roll consisting of tuna and salmon wrapped in a radish or daikon wrapper. I thought the astringency of the wrapper would overwhelm the fish, but it actually complimented the richness of the fatty salmon really well. I could have definitely gone for a couple more of these.
Fifth course was fried avocado maki with fish on top. Sorry, the night gets a little blurry at this point and I don’t remember what kind of fish. I wasn't sure if the two components were meant to be eaten together or separately, but I tried both ways and thought each thing was better on its own. The avocado maki was warm, creamy, and had a little crunch due to the deep fried exterior. Really good, but don't think I could have eaten more than the few pieces I got given how rich it tasted.
Sixth course was a 5-piece nigiri plate which had chu toro, salmon, 3 other cuts I don't remember. I love nigiri. It's probably my favorite way to eat raw fish, so I really enjoyed this course. All the fish was delicious with no off flavors.
Last course was a handroll that had shrimp tempura and eel. The dominant flavor was the shrimp tempura and it felt like the eel sort of got lost in the mix, which was disappointing to me because I love eel. Wasn't the best course of the night, but the bar had been set pretty high by the dishes before it.
Though I wouldn't say I was hungry after the tasting menu was done, I also definitely had room for 1-2 shared supplements, especially since I was maybe a little drunk at that point and had the munchies. A shared my sentiment, so to finish out dinner, we ordered the brussels sprouts, the fried soft shelled shrimp, and the chicken teriyaki main.
The fried soft shell shrimp, which was my pick, was probably the weakest dish of the night. They weren’t fried enough to justify leaving the shell on — lacking that satisfying crunch when you bit into the body or tried to eat the tail. They came with fried shisito peppers which were fine, but also nothing special. The brussels sprouts were good. Cooked well and tasty with the tangy sauce they were tossed in.
The chicken teriyaki was the surprise dark horse dish of the night. Zama used the thigh/drumstick cut, which already wins them points (dark meat is better - fact), and it paid off. The chicken had soaked up a lot of the savory teriyaki flavors and was incredibly moist and flavorful. The bok choy were well cooked, and the brown rice had a great bite and was super delicious soaked in the leftover sauce. This is the only dish of the night where I forgot to take a picture, but it looked pretty standard with a classic protein + greens + carb set-up.
Dessert was 2 half pieces of ice cream mochi. There were four flavors, and we each got a half piece of two flavors. To be honest, I was a little annoyed -- given how cheap mochi are, they really couldn't have given us each half of each flavor? Or even standardize the flavors we got so we all got the same thing. Anyway, the black sesame flavor was the clear winner for me.
I've been to Zama a few times now, and while I haven't tried that much of the regular menu, I would say that the chef's tasting menu is the way to go. Unlike Double Knot, where the tasting menu is an assortment of dishes the chef puts together from the regular menu, from what I can tell all the dishes we had at Zama for the tasting menu are not on the regular menu (unless the online menu is outdated, which is possible).
The price point and overall food experience is actually pretty similar to Double Knot in general. Both are high-end Japanese inspired-fusion restaurants with tasting menus and a full bar. However, some key differences that might guide your choice:
1) Reservations at Zama are much easier to get,
2) Food at Zama is a little more true to Japanese roots with more raw fish and simpler preparations,
3) You get more food for four people with the tasting menu at Double Knot (I was stuffed after our meal) though at a slightly higher price point,
4) Not everyone has to participate in the tasting menu at Zama,
5) Cocktails, and the menu as a whole, were more creative / out there at Double Knot.
In the end though, the food and service at both places are stellar, so you really can't go wrong with either choice.
TL;DR - Delicious Japanese-inspired chef tasting menu without the 3 month reservation waiting period. Bring $$$$.
