You hear: chef from Eleven Madison Park + Alphabet City, see an awesome menu and you think goldmine. Tuome which might be one of the easiest name to butcher in this city (no pun intended), is in a quiet part of the East Village and has a menu that makes your ears perk. The dining room can feel romantic or casual – whichever you prefer for that night or depending on who you are dining with. The menu is pretty straightforward, but it has things that seem a little different yet still trendy with items that seem to be on all menus these days like a Pig for 2, Brussels, etc. I surprisingly really enjoyed the Oxtail Egg Rolls with bone marrow. Full of cumin, it reminded me of a beef taco, and the green sauce was a great additive and also more cumin. One weird thing about their style of ordering is that once you order you can’t go back and add more dishes, so you have to decide all at once. Chef’s rules.
The Short Ribs were probably my favorite, but nothing that stood out more than other short rib dishes I’ve had. When it’s done right, tender and has a great ketchup based glaze or sauce, they all start to blend together. It’s important to execute this dish well and chef certainly does. Love the sweet potato puree underneath. The Scallops are the next best entree. Gorgeously displayed on one half of the plate like a painting, there are about 5 plump scallops that disappeared from the plate within seconds. The most fun dish is the Pig for 2. The presentation is so artsy and exciting that it almost convinced me that I liked this more than the short ribs. There are about 10 square pieces placed on a black plate, similar to a chalk board and garnished on the side with fresh peaches and candied walnuts. I love that they give you two sauces in squeeze bottles to add to the concoction. Some pork pieces were tender and some were a bit tougher, but in the end it was a fun dish to experiment with and good for a group dining activity to get involved with. It comes with two bowls of peanut noodles that taste like a bowl of peanut butter.
The sticky rice folded up in a leaf and decorated with sausage and kale is one of the best and most addicting rice dishes I’ve ever had. If I could pair this sticky rice with any Chinese delivery dish, the world would be a better place. It’s so good we had to convince the waiter to send us out another one because only half the table was able to enjoy the first one since they scarfed it down before the rest of us could pounce on it. Tuome has the potential to be a fantastic restaurant. The candle lit room with wood floors is charming and the bar looks like a nice spot for a first intimate date. When you go to a restaurant after two weeks of being open, there will always be a few kinks you notice that they need to work out, so I’m not punishing Tuome for these but just excited to see how the restaurant and menu grows as it has incredible potential and some already fantastic dishes that will blow you away.