gobo

seeing as how i'd loved this place when i took my mom & ivana a few years ago, i thought i'd try it again w/alex on this trip home. and b/c i'm exhausted from walking all day, i'll keep this review relatively short and say that i was totally disappointed. yes, totally disappointed. granted, i might've had one too many cheap hors d'oeuvres at the UCLA reception earlier in the evening, but i'm sure my stomach and taste buds weren't THAT out of whack.

needless to say, the company was fabulous. and alex (w/her tales of joy and woe) totally distracted me from the food most of the time. in general, this isn't always a good thing, but when the food's mediocre, it's actually a blessing. and while my iced green tea was perfectly light (though i asked the waiter 2-3 times whether it was unsweetened, only to have him ultimately NOT answer me), there were some serious taste issues w/the food.

from the quick bites list, we ordered the crispy spinach & soy cheese wontons and the five spice tofu rolls w/mango puree. the wontons (which came out a bit later in the meal) actually had quite a bit of flavor, though i'm not sure i tasted any soy cheese. (i suppose you have to be looking for it maybe?) at any rate, the dipping sauce was what gave the wontons the most flavor. (which actually seems to run true for all of gobo's dishes unfortunately. unfortunately, b/c i think the dipping sauce should be a nice compliment, not the originator of flavor for the dish.) the rolls (which came out first), on the other hand, were totally and completely bland until you dipped them in the puree. even though i love anything mango, the fact that the dish itself had no flavor meant that the chef didn't think to season it at all. and while i can understand that keeping a dish mildly flavored allows the diner to season to his/her taste buds, i think it's a bit slacker-ish to not use any salt whatsoever. (and yes, it totally tasted that way.)

from the small plates list, we ordered the seitan skewers w/green tea mustard sauce and the hot spiced bean curd, red onion, & pepper stir-fry. an even starker contrast in terms of flavor. the seitan skewers -- completely bland and flavorless. i can't remember the last time i tasted seitan, but gobo's version came off as a weird textural cross b/w meat and veggie. substantive but oddly chewy, which came off a little bizarre. and once again, the dish was flavorless. the chunks of seitan had to be seriously dipped in something, ANYTHING, before i could even think of enjoying the chew. on the flip side, the stir-fry was overwhelmingly salty -- as if the whole dish had been marinated in soy sauce and doused again in it during the stir-fry process. OMG. talk about needing rice -- and i hate rice! (well, hate's a strong word, but i come really close.) the bean curd slivers were fairly yummy, but seriously, all i can really remember is the salt.

as our last dish, we ordered from the large plates list and decided on the soy protein & spinach roll w/jade mushrooms. this dish was a bit of a mixed bag b/c the actual roll (cut into sections) was DEE-LISH, as were the hefty mushrooms. unfortunately, the dish came w/peppers that were pretty basic and some mashed stuff that i thought might've been taro root or turnip or potato. (and god knows how much i hate potato!) at any rate, it was a mushy, carb-ey mess that i totally did NOT enjoy at ALL. ick!

next time i eat here (and i AM eating here), i think i'm going to order ALL mushroom dishes. one, b/c mushrooms are one of my all-time favorite foods in the world. and two, b/c gobo seems to be able to actually get those RIGHT. i suppose they should stick to what they do best. though perhaps they'd have to re-name their restaurant to something like...'SHROOM? any thoughts?

gobo
401 avenue of the americas
new york, ny 10014
212.255.3902

http://www.goborestaurant.com/west/index.htm