The Other Critics

Kauffman Calls Nojo’s Non-Skewer Items ‘Really Effing Good’; Reidinger Makes It Out to Morph

Jonathan Kauffman sounds mighty impressed with Nojo, saying that he might have skipped it were it not for chef Gregory Dunmore’s resumé (which includes Ame and Terra). “Nombe, Ippuku, Chotto, Izakaya Sozai, Kasumi, and 2G Brasserie have all opened in the past two years, doing exactly the same thing. What could Nojo add to the genre? A fair amount, it turns out.” He says of a dish of “half-furled petals of squid” with coins of fingerling potato and “tendrils of tart purslane in a opulent sake butter sauce” that it’s “really effing good.” He compares Dunmore’s tempura to Zuni’s perfect fritto misto, but, unfortunately, he says the skewer stuff was most disappointing part of the menu. “After being awed by Christian Geideman’s yakitori at Ippuku, I found Nojo’s simply dull.” [SF Weekly]

Paul Reidinger has a fair amount to say about the inventive light fixtures at the Outer Richmond’s neo-Asian place Morph (5344 Geary), and also he talks a bit about the food. He calls the crispy fried rainbow trout “especially arresting,” and compliments the “2-NA” salad as well as the colorful handrolls. And once again, Reidinger’s review is accompanied by a photo of a dish he never mentions: the mango cocoon, which are sort of like phyllo-wrapped prawns. [SFBG]

Kauffman Calls Nojo’s Non-Skewer Items ‘Really Effing Good’;