Chef Nobuo Fukuda, the James Beard winning proprietor of Nobuo at Teeter House, is poised to serve what will probably be the classiest bento boxes the Valley has ever seen. An email sent last week promises a $50 Sunday brunch, starting April 15, featuring "Omakase-style bento boxes" and a complimentary wine pairing. Given that Nobuo's dinner omakases usually run well over $100 a person without booze, this deal sounded too good to be true.
So we called them.
Chris Bevington answered the phone and explained that "omakase-style" meant that the exact menu will be at the delicious mercy of chef Fukuda. Unlike the restaurant's dinner omakase, though, the bento boxes take up so much room that it won't be possible to sit at the counter and watch him prepare the food. Bevington said that the basic layout of the bento would follow Fukuda's signature style. You can expect some of his inventive tasting spoons and possibly something even more exotic like a individualshabu shabu.
While he was obviously light on details, that's part of the beauty of omakase. The menu flows from whatever ingredients looked best when the chef goes shopping. That also explains why they require that these reservations be made at least three days in advance. Seating for brunch is restricted to 10 slots so you'll probably want to avoid waiting until the last moment. While $50 a head is steep for most of us, we noticed this deal at the end of the announcement email.
