Oiji, New York, NY

Restaurant Oiji is one of the latest /current ‘rock stars’ of NYC’s dining scene. In a world class dining destination like NYC, it’s hard to stand out, but that is exactly what Oiji has been doing since it opened.

Foodies and  food journalists have long praised Oiji:    celebrity NYC’s food journalist Pete Wells rating it with a whooping 2 stars (the exact same rating he did assign to 3 star Michelin Per Se, therefore not a light score). Oiji has a score of 4.8 /5  on Open Table at the time of writing, a perfect score of 5/5 as/per TimeOut, a near to perfect 8.5/10 on the  Infatuation.

Oiji is a contemporary Korean-styled bistrot opened by two Korean Chefs who have honed their skills at NYC’s celebrated restaurants Bouley and Gramercy Tavern. They do add international accents / their own twist to their Korean-inspired cuisine, hence the Korean-fusion qualification that seems to be attached to the eatery, their cuisine perfectly in sync with North American palates, which is their market, obviously. But the Korean spirit is never too far, meaning the array of korean cooking techniques and flavours are there.

As it is now common in NYC, at most of their popular casual eateries, the portions are tapas-alike.

I ordered two of their most popular dishes:
– Oxtail / Glass Noodle, Root Vegetables. Slow cooked oxtail with root vegetables and glass noodles. The minimum to expect from an oxtail stew is that it is  packed with rich/ hearty meaty flavours. That was the case, here. With  the noticeable difference that it was a bit more sweet than your average oxtail-based preparations. Again, normal, as it is a proper korean flavour profile. But then, you look at the price. It comes with an ambitious price tag, as if I was in a fine dining Korean restaurant or as if I am being served some of the top Korean-inspired slow cooked oxtail stews to be found out there. A great Korean-inspired stew does exist at plenty of restaurants, but what I was having was just a generic / normal oxtail stew.  And that is where I failed to understand the raves about  this stew. Yes it was an Ok stew. But for that kind of  price, ‘Ok’ is not an option.  I can find plenty  of Ok Korean-styled slow cooked oxtail stews of this level at a fraction of the price of this stew 5/10

–Bone Marrow / Short Rib, Maitake, Crispy Rice Cracker.  The fine taste of the  marrow was marred by a topping that was, to put it politely….a confusing accumulation of ingredients. This had the taste of absolutely nothing. That was the effect, in mouth, that I was having.  Which is a shame as bone marrow  can be delicious, indeed. An off night…???…Mind you, this was more about a cook who has no palate, rather than a cook who was going through  on an off-night (whoever has cooked this dish has zero palate…I mean, let’s be upfront here: who, in his right mind, would have served  that mish-mash found  atop that bone marrow?? Unless he has no palate…). And do not get me started on  the commercial  crispy rice chip that came with the bone marrow as if it makes sense to pair the fat of a bone marrow with that. Talking about a cook who has no palate, no sense of flavor combinations…   0/10

Overall rating: 2.5/10 (food) – Egads! …..ages have passed since the last time I had such  a disappointing  restaurant meal — and I dine out a lot, all levels of dining taken into account. In the case of NYC, I am very familiar with its  dining scene and this has got to be the weakest restaurant meal I ever had there. Given the widely  spread online raves, I went there to like this eatery. But my reaction, when I left, was something as simple as “Wow…for real?? “. I know that sometimes  if the food is affordable that is also one thing that makes a restaurant popular, but those two dishes had a price tag that pertains to an ambitious table. I hope … for them… that it was an off night (mind you, at those prices, that is hardly an excuse) as the service was great (save for one dude at the bar — an asian male — which service was  as awkward as it gets) . The ambience festive, etc. I still left with the impression that this is perhaps a kitchen brigade  that got caught up in its own hype. Oiji Addr: 119 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10003; Phone: 646-767-9050 URL: http://www.oijinyc.com