I had some initial reservations about trying out Raymi since I had an ok experience at his other restaurant Zengo a few years ago. But I was willing to give his new restaurant another try since I do love a good ceviche and frankly because it was in a convenient location to meet up with a friend of mine. When I got to the restaurant they told me that they were still undergoing a soft opening. Frankly, I've never really truly understood what that means. I mean I guess it means you still have time to change things if they aren't working out. But I feel like you only have one chance to make a first impression, so if I eat there during your soft opening and it sucks, I don't really care that it's a soft opening or not. But luckily for Raymi the food did not suck.
I got to the restaurant early so I sat at the bar while I waited for Kristen. The bartender was super super friendly and really nice and chatty. When Kristen came to dinner, we decided that it would be easier to eat at the bar rather than close out my tab and try to find a table. While the food is not tapas style, we decided to split a bunch of appetizers so that we could try out a lot of different dishes (I've always been a big fan of lots of appetizers rather than 1 big plate. I had always said that if I ever got married I would only have a long cocktail hour with passed h'orderves and no sit down dinner). We decided to get the salmon ceviche ($15), the special fish collar ($18), the grilled octopus and calamari ($14), the corn empanada ($12), and the chicken skewer ($11). The salmon ceviche was essentially cubes of raw salmon served with ginger, wontons, sesame seeds and peanuts in a tangy citrus marinate. The bartender recommended that we eat it with a spoon so that we could get a bit of the everything in one bite which was totally the right call. I would have preferred it to be a bit more sour and tangy as it had more of a sweet ginger taste to it, but overall I still enjoyed the dish. I wouldn't say that it was the most authentic of ceviches but unless there's something not fresh about the fish, I am just a huge sucker for raw fish in any form. Next came the fish collar and I apologize but I can't remember what kind of fish it was. I know it wasn't yelllowtail, tuna or salmon. Maybe sea bass? In anycase, one of my favorite Japanese dishes is yellowtail collar. The meat in fish collar is so tender and since the collar bone is pretty big, you can usually avoid any small bones. This collar was fried and then served up. Of course I can never say no to fried food, but I would have liked this dish to have been steamed or baked instead of fried. I would have also liked the collar to be bigger considering it was $18 but the meat was still tender and enjoyable. Next came the 3 other dishes: chicken skewer, corn empanada and grilled octopus and calamari. The chicken skewer was served with a bbq glaze and ginger scallion sauce and I was through impressed with how juicy the chicken was. I usually find chicken skewers to be dry but this was fantastic and the glaze and sauce added quite a punch to the dish. The corn empanadas were fried with mozzarella cheese inside and topped with cilantro and chimichurri. It was a nice solid dish that really filled me up. As for the grilled octopus and calamari, I'm gonna be honest and say I don't remember a lot about this dish, not because it was bad but because I was 3 drinks in and things were starting to get just a bit hazy. I do recall the octopus and calamari being cooked right and not too chewy which is always a good sign.
The good news was that it was all night happy hour and on Tuesdays they also served pig ears, tails and ribs as well as a whole suckling pig. We didn't try any of it, but the bartender could not stop raving about the entire experience. I would be interested in trying it if other people are. I was thoroughly stuffed by the time we left dinner and left feeling really satisfied with all my food. While I don't love the location very much and I did think the prices were about $3-4 more than what they should be, I really did enjoy my night there a lot. Total bill $68/pp.
Photo Credit: Yelp
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