We had a sensational dinner at newly opened French / Korean fusion restaurant Bloom. Chefs and owners Woo and Joann are true artists. They both have graduated from the French Culinary Institute. Chef Woo has worked at some of the more renowned restaurants as Jean-Georges, Daniel, and Morimoto. I highly recommend this tiny little restaurant that sits a little over 20 people. Everything was bursting with flavor. The servers were very friendly. We have to add this to our regular rotation.
We shared a couple of appetizers of excellent filet mignon beef tartare with Asian pear, crispy farro, quail egg, and a spicy Korean chili paste. This was unlike any beef tartare I have ever had. The same can be said for the awesome grilled Spanish Octopus with salsa verde, quinoa, and cauliflower puree.
For entrees Mrs. P had the amazing crispy monkfish with ginger soy brown butter and saffron risotto. I had the melt in your mouth short ribs with carrot puree and potatoes. It all went great with Le Plan Cotes Du Rhone.
The portions are a little small, and you won’t get any leftovers, but I would rather have quality over quantity.
We loved Bloom so much that we decided to return a week later with our friends from Staten Island. The food and presentation of Chef Woo was exquisite as always. We are privileged to have such an accomplished NY quality chef in the small town of Verona, which is only about 20 minutes away from us. However, the service was a little rushed and disjointed this time. One of the Chef/owners Joann was not there last night to keep everyone in line, and that might have had something to do with it. Although the food came out a little quicker than we had hoped for, we were not rushed to leave, and were able to enjoy each other’s company for about 3 hours. We shared multiple appetizers including a beautifully composed appetizer of watermelon salad with watermelon cubes topped with whipped ricotta, caramelized pecans, and a balsamic drizzle; escargot in mornay sauce; salt & pepper, and soy & ginger crispy chicken wings; a generous comp from chef Woo of melt in your mouth Bellota Iberico Jamon; beef tartare and octopus that were pictured in my previous post. For entrees I had the excellent bulgogi with kimchi fried rice and monkfish that was previously pictured in my last post. For dessert we had an excellent caramel sea salt ice cream. It was our friend’s wife’s 75th birthday a few weeks ago & this was the 1st time we saw her. We gave her a present, and the Chef brought out a little Tiramisu with a candle in it, and the Chef and staff all sang Happy Birthday to her, which was a very nice and unexpected touch. Our friends bought some fabulous wines including a 1998 Silver Oak cabernet and a 2009 Ridge Dynamite Hill petite Sirah. We bought a nice Châteauneuf Du Pape and red blend (not pictured). All in all great company and a fun evening.
We had another sensational dinner at Bloom. This is our favorite new BYO of 2019. Joann, the owner was the perfect hostess, and Chef Woo is extremely talented. Besides our usual dishes, I had an unctuous applewood smoked bone marrow with caramelized kimchi. Mrs. P had a special of branzino with ratatouille. I had an excellent pork belly with jalapeño miso glaze, couscous with little apples, and sautéed Swiss chard. I also had Japchae; Korean glass sweet potato noodles with soy sauce and julienned vegetables. We also had the most addictive lightly tempura battered shishito peppers with a soy glaze. This was probably the best version of shishito peppers that I ever had. Everything went great with a 2016 Domaine De L’Harmas Chateauneuf Du Pape.
Man those pics look good Eli. I would trade my balls for that tartare, looks amazing. I’ve also never seen anyone put char like that on kimchi before, good stuff!
We were back at our favorite new restaurant, Bloom, and had another outstanding dinner. We shared several appetizers including an awesome 7 herb grilled portobello mushroom steak with fontina cheese, cauliflower puree, dehydrated fried crispy garlic chips, and chive oil. This tasted like a real steak. We also had a creamy organic yellow corn soup, and addictive crispy tempura battered shishito peppers with a soy glaze. For entrees Mrs. P had excellent pan seared scallops with sautéed wild mushrooms, organic pea, crispy tapioca (that looked like a limelight hydrangea), and a spicy kimchee puree. I had 4 hour braised bone in lamb shank, with lamb jus, red cabbage marmalade, and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had a crispy organic waffle with chocolate ice cream. It all went great with Cooper and Thief red blend aged in bourbon barrels for 3 months.
This. Is. A. Thing. Of. Beauty!
Thanks Jimmy! Yes it was 
We had another excellent dinner at our favorite new restaurant Bloom. Besides the usually awesome fried shishito peppers, steak tartare, and monkfish, we had a creamy wild mushroom soup, a generously comped fried cod fish balls with a miso glaze, fried shallots, and mashed potatoes, and a duck leg confit with honey roasted endive, garlic potatoes, pickled cucumber, and a blueberry sauce. It all went great with a 2015 Apriori Napa red blend.
I have a hard time resisting steak tartare on a menu!
Bloom makes an excellent version with filet mignon, Asian pear, crispy farro, quail egg, and a spicy Korean chili paste.
We had another fabulous dinner at Bloom. They recently came out with their new awesome Fall menu. We shared several excellent appetizers including spicy marinated pork tacos with wasabi coleslaw; assorted wild mushroom risotto; kabocha squash salad with roasted apples, candied pecans, and endive in an apple cider vinaigrette. For entrees I had a wet aged ribeye steak with grilled vegetables and Mrs. P had grilled branzino with wild black rice, and mushroom with saffron cream.
Great looking meal. The tacos are calling my name.
All looks terrific. Mushroom risotto is calling my name. 
Looking great buddy! May I ask what the little side dish is with the ribeye? That is looking like a nicely charred piece of meat!
Thanks Jimmy! The mushroom risotto was excellent. It was nice and creamy and topped with crispy garlic chips.
Thanks Johnny! The steak was very good. That little side dish was excellent smoked salt to sprinkle over the steak. The steak also had roasted garlic on top of it that spread like butter.
We had another outstanding dinner at Bloom. Besides the usually awesome bulgogi with kimchi fried rice, scallops, pork tacos, kabocha squash salad, and fried shishito peppers, we had creamy garlicky artichoke dip and kabocha squash gnocchi in bechamel sauce. It all went great with The Offering, an excellent California red blend.
We had another fabulous dinner at Bloom. Chefs Woo and Joanne were very generous enough to preview to us some upcoming new menu items which take effect next Tuesday. They comped us some crispy crab balls that were like mini crab cakes, and a root salad consisting of kabocha squash, parsnips, candied pecans, potatoes, and ricotta cheese, in a balsamic syrup. We also Enjoyed some old time favorites of spicy pork tacos with wasabi coleslaw, fried soy glazed shishito peppers, artichoke dip, caramelized kimchi, crispy sweet cod balls, in a garlic sauce with french couscous, and melt in your mouth, fork tender short ribs in a carrot puree. We had a ton of leftovers. It all went great with a 2012 Chateau Sixtine Chateauneuf Du Pape.
