Llama San

Observations from my first visit

I was excited to try Llama San, which opened in early September. It was still early days when I dined there for dinner, which is to say that both the front staff and kitchen staff were still getting their bearings together.  Disclaimer that I have not been to Llama Inn or Llamita but very aware of their reputations. Chef Erik Ramirez hailed from Eleven Madison Park, received two stars from Pete Wells at the New York Times and was a James Beard Award’s semifinalist for Best Chef in New York City. 

Atmosphere and design: No signs of Tertulia here. Llama San is beige and white — pretty much everything from the walls to seating to the plates. Speaking of plates, they are custom-made and heavy. 

Menu: I love reading menus for the range and types of dishes but also the descriptions.  For me, the menu at Llama San is hard to read. You understand the main ingredient(s) for the most part, but there is usually one item in the description that is not familiar.  You actually take up the waiter on the offer to answer questions about the menu. And once you begin asking the waiter for more detail, the dish descriptions blur as you realize that the listed ingredients or components sometimes obfuscate what the dish is.  I recall feeling that the menu was trying a bit too hard to sound fancy.

Also, while we were told that the menu order related to the richness of the dishes, it did feel like the top sections of the menu were more like starters and appetizers, and the latter two represented main dishes.

Dishes: I am familiar with the term Nikkei which refers to the Japanese immigrants and their descendants that live outside Japan but had not heard of Nikkei cuisine until this year.  I am not a connoisseur of Peruvian nor Nikkei fare, but I have eaten a lot of food around the world and while fusion is such a dated term, I have enjoyed cooking inspired by multiple countries and regions, and cultures. 

Now onto what I ate.

The cabbage and quinoa furikake dish was delicious. The cabbage had body but was not raw, and the melding of nori and miso was spot-on.  I would order that again.

The scallop ceviche with avocado was also very good with my one quibble being that it seemed like there was one large scallop in the whole dish cut into about six pieces.  Priced at $20, I would’ve wanted a bit more of the fish.

The mackerel and potatoes was all right. The fish and potato combo is familiar and one I enjoy, but I think mackerel is a bit heavy-handed in flavor.  Basically, I wasn’t convinced that the fusion created something more.

The pork katsu with udon verde was the largest dish and according to the menu ascension, the most rich.  The katsu was very nice– the pork was pounded to a reasonable thickness and the panko was crunchy. The overall color was a deep brown which was a nice offset to the bright green color of the noodle part of the dish.  The udon noodle was the flat-type so it was like thick and chewy fettuccine; and the verde was a pesto. I was not a fan of the noodle portion as it was overly chewy and a little gluey. It also didn’t enhance the pork katsu portion of the dish.  I tried eating them together a few times but decided after a few bites that each was better enjoyed separately.

Alas, the downward fusion spiral continued with “what I think was kamquat”-shaved ice-custard dessert. The ice shavings melted too quickly and it tasted like all the parts stayed separate versus melding together into a tasty mess.  Again, the flavor of each component was good but I wasn’t convinced that the textures were right, and that bringing them together made a tastier whole. 

Overall: I thoroughly enjoyed most of the meal and appreciate the unique cuisine that Erik Ramirez and Juan Correa are bringing to the dining scene. The most enjoyable dishes are the ones that are the most relaxed.  While my sampling was small, it seems like the dishes that try to be overly elevated are the ones least enjoyable.

Llama San, 359 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10014