Review: 20-plus courses. 10 seats. Insanity. At Somni, it’s all a dream

It’s time for the 17th course to be served at Somni. Seven cooks line up along a marble kitchen counter as spotless as their fitted chefs’ whites. They fan out, delivering cut-glass plates to each of the 10 diners seated in a row in front of them. Set on the center of a square linen napkin is a hunk of yellowfin tuna, flesh still joined to fin, carved in the shape of a hatchet. It looks like an edible rendering of some elaborate Bond weapon out of the ’60s, dangerous and delicious.“Tuna katsu, fried in brioche crumbs,” a staffer announces. Others spoon saffron-scented sauce speckled with caviar over the fish. Chef Aitor Zabala trails his crew, explaining to diners that he’s used a rich, often overlooked cut of tuna called parpatana in Spanish, excised from right below its jaw.We pick up the sea-ax by its spindly handle, with plastic twine wound around it as a grip. The coating crunches. The caviar bursts. The tuna all but melts. Same for its devourer.The beautiful tableware disappears and a sommelier swoops in to pour the next rounds of rare vintages. The corps of cooks are now bent over undulating planks of wood, arranging… Read full this story

Review: 20-plus courses. 10 seats. Insanity. At Somni, it’s all a dream have 325 words, post on www.latimes.com at November 27, 2019. This is cached page on Drudgereport. If you want remove this page, please contact us.