Ryugin the previous year (2008) was memorable – a tour de force of the world’s best ingredients served in a kaiseki meal – but mysterious. The format is challenging enough – a meal of the seasons and traditions, imbued with ritual and symbolism – but the promise, or spectre, of molecular gastronomy further obscures the accessibility of Chef Seiki Yamamoto’s daring synthesis of history.¹ Lacking the necessary framework of cultural references to properly assess Yamamoto’s complete vision, it was the ingredients from last year’s meal that persisted and reminded me that obsessiveness is most obsessed in Japan. Tweet

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In my last filed Ubuntu review (of an October meal), I mused what Jeremy Fox should cook – vegetables, I had said all along, particularly those dishes created from the Bras or Passard ethos. The creative restrictions at Ubuntu forced/allowed Fox to push the concept of a vegetable-focused menu to Michelin two- and three-star heights at times; and, arguably, placed him among the more important chefs in America.

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Elements is very much a restaurant in the Michel Bras vein, arguably more exciting than anything in New York City (well, I do love that Keste pizza.) While it may not have all of the three-star refined touches of Jean Georges or Per Se, it does have an identity and focus that neither of those restaurants, or others, can lay claim to. There are rough edges here and there that serve more as character than flaws. If the restaurant continues to develop under Chef Scott Anderson, and this report one year later suggests it has, it will grow into a solid two-star quality restaurant shortly.

series of amuse – local zucchini soup, french breakfast radish, yellow squash crostini
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Down an anonymous alley, just above Ginza, the obsessive line up early to nab a mythical mousse cake – “the best in the world” – one man bakes as many cakes as he feels necessary for the day. He then calls it a day – the freedom of being great. The cake is not guaranteed past eleven so the necessary strategy is arriving early.

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There are meals where every bite is a revelation, old world views crumble, and life takes on new meaning – the pursuit is pushed forward and there are new realms to explore. It is magical when it happens, smiles everywhere, but time, and continued avocation, often cruelly reveal the legitimacy of those epiphanies – there are few – and what was once the culminate becomes the stepping stone – local maxima. Sushi was one of those first gateways for me – I thought I knew sushi – I still don’t – but nothing I’ve had¹ compares to the Sawada meal below.

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