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Last Saturday night, Matt Carter’s Nine | 05 did a very quiet soft opening. His new Asian cuisine spot in the former Fate space of Johnny Chu, has been transformed into a sleeker and wilder enterprise where Carter lets loose with his greatest hits of Asia.
This Pan-Asian menu features dishes from China, Korea and even India. Carter doesn’t miss a beat or an airport.
Upon his return from a three week trip to South Korea, he anticipated that his Nine | 05 would be much further along in its buildout and readiness. Upon finding it was not that at all, Carter still forged ahead announcing to his staff, “We are opening tonight even if it means serving one dish and one beer.”
That adventurous spirit has served Carter well with his last two ventures, Zinc Bistro and Mission, where he takes diners on culinary journeys through his eyes, spiking traditional dishes from other countries with his own delicious mark. But don’t expect to see him in the kitchen once things are more steady. At the helm on a daily basis is Jay Bogsinske, who opened Zinc with Carter and is a vet of LGO Hospitality.
We stopped in last night and sure enough only about three-quarters of the menu was available. Some presentations were still being tweaked, but the flavors were all there in perfect form. Instead of laundry-listing we’ll tell you two things: one thing we probably won’t order again: fried organic tomatoes were too much about the fry and less about the tomato. And one thing we definitely will: any one of the three crepes – filled with duck confit or pork belly or red miso brisket. All were stand-out spectacular, and will probably be ordered every time we dine here. Another thing we’d order every time: the crispy rock shrimp – they were as good as candy. Like we said, we dined around the menu as best we could – some sticky buns (duck conift winner,) a fried rice, tonkotsu ramen (the pork belly was insanely good,) chicken wings, etc. and everything was damn good for a place that’s been open all of 3 minutes.
Halfway through your meal though, expect nostalgia to kick in. Nostalgia for the days when Johnny Chu cramped a drum-and-bass DJ up in the attic, while he’d sit on the steps of the old house smokin’ cigs, and downtown’s angst-ridden artists would stumble in piss drunk yet in good spirits. Those days are gone, but if anyone’s going to make sure that there’s still some soul left within these walls, it’s Carter.
905 N. 4th St.
(602) 254-6424
Full hours hopefully next week:
M-Th 11am-11pm
F-Sa 11am-2am
closed Sunday
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