My first kaiseki experience was at the original odo in Flatiron. I had only tried omakase up to this point because sushi had always been my main thing. I also always felt so full after some omakases, I was almost worried that a full kaiseki course would take me out.
odo’s new East Village location is very intimate: bar seating only, with a half-open kitchen. You can see the raw and grilled items being prepared in front of you, but there are some dishes that come from a curtained off area in the back. One guy was just washing the dishes between serving us, which I have never seen before, even in an open kitchen.
I was in one of the end seats that had a direct view out the window, which was super scenic. It was a pretty narrow restaurant though so there wasn’t too much space for my bags. I was sitting right next to their incense burner, which was pretty strong in the beginning but not too overpowering near the end.
It’s hard to compare odo EV to the original odo, but I did like their concept of “build your own tasting menu.” Here is my order:
Complimentary Broth
As always, I love a complimentary item. It was a good surprise to warm me up. I say broth, but it was more of a rice porridge shot. It was neutral in flavor but did have a slight umami taste to it.
Sakizuke
1. Ohitashi ($9) (Dashi marinated tomatoes): I would normally not order this dish. I like tomatoes, but it’s hard for me to justify paying for tomatoes because I feel like I know exactly what it will taste like. We were originally eyeing the Misozuke (white miso marinated cream cheese) but to our surprise, the waiter recommended Ohitashi so we decided to give it a try. It was a great call on the waiter’s part. For anyone who doesn’t like the “tomato-ness” of tomatoes, there was none of that here. The marinade, katsuobushi, jelly? (I could not hear him in the buzz of the restaurant) and the shiso leaves really rounded out the flavor to elevate the dish. It was a good palate cleanser that got me excited for the rest of the courses. I’m still not sure that I would put this as a strong recommendation, but if you are curious it’s definitely worth a shot!
2. Nutaae ($10) (Shellfish and scallions in a vinegar miso sauce): Now this, I definitely recommend! The sauce was very nutty and creamy, almost like a Thai peanut sauce. I loved the greens and the fish (to me it tasted like squid, but I’m not sure what shellfish it was supposed to be).
Mukozuke
3. Mushimono (MP) (seasonal japanese crab): This was another one of the waiter’s suggested menus. The crab meat was very tender and I liked the addition of shiso flowers here. This also came with shiso leaves and jelly (if anyone knows the name… please let me know), which let me down a little because it felt so conceptually similar to the ohitashi.
4. Iwanoriae ($14) ⭐ (bluefin tuna with seaweed soy sauce): The waiter had pushed this particularly for the seaweed soy sauce during the menu walkthrough. I was expecting some sort of seaweed dashi soy sauce situation, but I was so wrong. What we got was almost seaweed marinated in soy sauce: a seasoned seaweed paste that really helped cut through the fattiness of the otoro. Came with two fattier cuts and two leaner cuts.
Today’s Owan
5. Daily special ($16) (miso fish soup): They initially recommended that we get a soup per person, but we wanted to diversify so we settled with one. I think this was a good choice because it was a pretty sizeable soup! Honestly nothing spectacular to note here: just a very hearty miso soup with fish, vegetables and mushrooms.
Yakimono
6. White Fish (MP): This was a very good bite for the first bite, then I did feel like it got old pretty fast. It’s a nice and flaky fish, seasoned with salt, but I felt like it was missing an oomph.
7. Wagyu (MP) ⭐: This was an amazing bite. The meat was so so tender and the fattiness of the wagyu was so delicately balanced out by the soy marinade. I felt like the serving was sizeable compared to some of the other dishes. If you like stronger flavors, I think you might find the marinade to be on the blander side. They do serve this with some salt and special pepper that you can use to season to your liking.
Agemono
8. Okakiage ($16) (fried chicken): After trying the okakiage, I was so sad that we didn’t order both the agemono options. The chicken was THICK and crispy. It almost tasted like a pork katsu! It came with a dill-infused mayo which was amazing.
Takiawase
9. Tofu ($20) ⭐: To be honest, I ordered this for the uni. But to my surprise, the main character was the tofu! The kuzu tofu was so soft and chewy, almost like a tteok or mochi texture.
10. Nikomi ($18) (braised wagyu beef tongue): This was the primary dish recommendation that I heard for odo EV and it really did not disappoint. This was the least beef tongue-like tongue I have ever had. The braise really gave it a melt-in-the-mouth texture and the red wine reduction was impeccable. It reminded me of a mix of omurice sauce and a beef bourguignon.
Shokuji
11. Donburi ($14): The description made it sound like you could add uni on top of the eel, but it turns out we only get one or the other. If I had known it was a “choose one,” I might have opted for the eel since we got uni in two other courses. The donburi was good, but I did find the egg / sauce to rice ratio disappointing. There was a lot of plain rice left with no sauce near the end.
12. Nyumen ($14) (seasonal white fish noodles): This was another let down of the show. Overall, the broth was decent but there was very little fish or noodle in the dish. I would probably not order this again.
Kanmi
13. Hojicha ice cream ($12): I loved this! It came with little walnuts and crispy sheets of (what I think was essentially) wafer paper. The two types of crunch really added depth to the ice cream.
Overall, I admire odo’s team for venturing out into the more “casual” dining space. That being said, I’m not sure if the casual izakaya framing works here, since it still ended up being a higher-end experience in both the taste and the price. We did do a lot of the “add-ons” but a typical meal would probably end up being ~$100-$150 per person here.
If you like odo Flatiron, the East Village location is worth trying to get a chance to explore some of their newer innovations at a lower price-point. If I’m being honest though, I’ll go back to Flatiron any time for the kaiseki over the East Village version.