Of all the new and newish food and drink establishments on East Colonial Drive near Mills Avenue — a list that includes Sampaguita Ice Cream, Haan Coffee, Tasty Wok (v2.0), Bb.q Chicken and Ga Ta — no other business has provoked the kind of purring from food folk in this city that the Moderne has. And with good reason. After all, it is the first upscale cocktail bar on the strip, and one with the design backing of GDP Designbuild, the same firm behind Tori Tori, an upscale cocktail bar to which the Moderne is often compared, at times snarkily. There’s no denying the layouts of the two budding rivals are similar, but while Tori Tori is steeped in a sort of moody minimalism, the Moderne lets loose in high-design glory, filling the space that once housed a mattress shop with a buoyant energy.
“What is it about this place that has you coming back?” I asked my dining comrade on my most recent visit.
“There are three things I take into consideration when judging a restaurant,” she said. “Good vibe, good food and good cocktails, and this place gets two out of the three right, so I come back.”
I know which criterion it falls short on as I’ve been here a few times myself. Yet, when there’s an occasion to return, I never hesitate.
I always sit at the bar, mainly to interact with the seasoned, informed and conversant bartenders. Ask any of the bev techs here to concoct an off-menu potable and they’ll stir, shake and deliver, which — in my experience, anyway — often elicits conversations that lead down the rabbit hole of potent quaffs.
On one occasion, we found ourselves sipping on Élixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse, a 138-proof varietal that entered the U.S. market late last year. We had to consciously pry our lips away from the potion to get on our phones and order some food, lest we got overly tipsy-doodles. Looking around the fetching square bar, we noticed the half-empty space was now teeming with tipplers, so we got to work, first ordering pani puri filled with hamachi ceviche ($15). I appreciated the cross-cultural effort, but you can’t have pani puri without the pani (water flavored with spices). Perhaps serving it with a citrus/chili pani would help, but the fish inside the hollowed crisps didn’t give off the fresh feels.
Thinly shaved tuna brushed with a sweet truffle sauce and beautifully cloaked with watermelon daikon, fried scallions and micro herbs ($18) was so much more fulfilling a bite. And there’s no shortage of bites — more than 40 “Asian-inspired tapas” items are listed, but some editing may serve the kitchen well and help iron out consistency issues.
From the meat-on-a-stick kushiyaki offerings, the beef glazed in sweet teriyaki and five-spice ($8) has lacked flavor every time I’ve ordered it (forgive the harsh, um, skewering), though the Chilean sea bass grilled over binchotan and slicked with a spicy lemon cream sauce ($12) made for one toothsome toothfish. Grilled eggplant served beneath a crumble of tempura flakes with chives and sweet soy ($7) has earned its rightful place on the menu; the beef bulgogi served with scallion pancakes ($27), not so much. The beef had a grainy texture, perhaps from being in the freezer for too long.
There are pasta dishes, none of which left me pining for more — the Korean vodka rigatoni with chorizo and gochujang cream, Parmesan and breadcrumbs ($14) was fine, if a bit heavy. The only seafood mixed into the seafood pappardelle with tamarind Nikkei sauce ($16) was shrimp. And a little more salt would make a good smashed cucumber salad ($8) even better.
Hey, I get the need for variety, but you’ll never see me lament a tight, focused menu where the dishes rise to the level of the cocktails and the vibe instead of falling a bit flat. If we’re making comparisons to Tori Tori, and everyone seems to anyway, the relatively compact menu is one of the qualities I appreciate at that bar just a four-minute walk away.
As we stuff spoonfuls of black sesame cheesecake ($8) with Biscoff crust into our yaps, we scan the joint again and note that everyone appears to be enjoying themselves, us included. It’s what keeps us coming back, after all, and credit has to be given to owner Mike Nguyen for creating a lively destination out of what was once a repository for Tempur-Pedics. So, while there may be issues with the food and menu, don’t sleep on the Moderne.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2023.
