Iron Chef Morimoto To Open New Montclair-Based Restaurant Concept
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto will be opening MM by Morimoto in Montclair, New Jersey later this ... More month.
Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto has partnered with Montclair Hospitality Group to open MM by Morimoto in Montclair, New Jersey. While the restaurant officially opens on July 31, reservations are open via Resy starting today, Wednesday, July 16.
While it may seem curious to some that the new restaurant will be based in the Montclair area of New Jersey and not New York City - which is about 45 minutes away by train -- this move makes perfect sense to the chef and his vision for the space. "Montclair has incredible energy," said Chef Morimoto in an email interview. "There is so much growth and passion for food," said Chef Morimoto, sharing that when he spent time there, he felt something special and knew he wanted to be part of it. "Partnering with Montclair Hospitality Group made it possible. They really understand this community and have created so many amazing restaurants here. Together, we're bringing something new, with deep respect for what already makes Montclair so special," said Morimoto.
With MM by Morimoto, the chef wanted to create an experience that goes beyond the location. 'I believe great food has the power to bring people together, and my hope is that guests from all over - including New York City - will come here to enjoy the space, the energy, and, of course, the food. It's an invitation to explore something new, but also very personal," said Morimoto.
Morimoto's famous Tuna Pizza will be featured on the new menu.
Morimoto promises the menu will showcase the culinary innovation that he's best known for—starting with a curated omakase experience featuring fish flown in from Japan. Standout dishes include Tacos Two Ways – this is "bluefin tuna tossed in steak marinade topped with avocado and micro cilantro. Salmon tossed in house ranch topped with spicy mayo, cherry tomato and dill," according to the chef, as well as Toro Tartare, made with wasabi, nori paste, sour cream, petrossian sturgeon caviar, and Tuna Pizza. "A fan-favorite from my portfolio - anchovy aioli, kalamata olives, red onion, jalapeño" The cocktail program is just as elevated, featuring handcrafted drinks and a robust sake list to match the dynamic menu.
The space is huge – 12,779 square feet – and it's all part of immersing visitors in the vision, which will include an omakase bar as well as a menu featuring exclusive cuts of fish flown in from Japan, but also Japanese and Australian Wagyu, as well as domestic USDA Prime steak.
"Montclair Hospitality Group has tapped into something special. Montclair isn't just a suburb in New Jersey; it's become a real food destination," said Chef Morimoto, pointing to popular spots like Ani Ramen and pastaRAMEN that are already part of the community. 'It felt very natural to bring something new and elevated to the table. MM by Morimoto is part of that journey, and it's pushing creativity, sharing world-class flavors, but in a way that still feels local and welcoming. And as Luck Sarabhayavanija, the founder of MHG, says, 'This is only the beginning. There's so much more ahead.''
MM by Morimoto opens on July 31, reservations are now open.
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Time Magazine
40 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
'King of the Hill's' Bobby Was Never Meant to Grow Up
For yet another unnecessary revival of a long-running show, King of the Hill Season 14 is surprisingly satisfying. Now streaming in full on Hulu, Mike Judge and Greg Daniels' 10-episode continuation of their beloved animated sitcom revisits the Hill family nearly a decade after the events of the series finale, which aired in 2009. Old-school patriarch Hank and his self-assured wife, Peggy, have just finished a long stint in Saudi Arabia, where our propane-evangelist hero worked for Aramco and lived in an idyllic, company-adjacent suburb. Now the couple is returning to their fictional hometown, Arlen, Texas, to retire. Though American culture has taken an extremist turn, things on the old block are mostly the same. The men still guzzle beer in the alley. Boomhauer still speaks incomprehensibly. Needy Bill has become more pathetic than ever. The Souphanousinphones have yet to tire of mocking their 'redneck' neighbors. Our new golden age of conspiracy theories has transported Dale Gribble to tinfoil-hat heaven—though he remains unalarmed by how much time his wife, Nancy, spends with hunky healer John Redcorn. Amusing antics ensue as perennial straight man Hank struggles to comprehend everything that has changed since he last lived in the U.S., from all-gender restrooms to toxic manfluencers. Judge and Daniels, working with new showrunner Saladin K. Patterson (who created the 2021 Wonder Years reboot), are perceptive in portraying the tension between his George W. Bush-era 'compassionate conservativism' and the hateful rhetoric of today's right. (When some Girl Scouts explain that the name of a cookie was changed to avoid offense, he replies: 'It's nice to be nice.') The creators also capitalize on Hank and Peggy's restlessness in retirement, which forces them to embark on new adventures. There's just one major problem with the way King of the Hill has been updated for 2025: Bobby. The standout character in a series nominally centered on his dad, the Hills' boy has now grown into the adult man he was never meant to be. One reason we know how much time has passed in the alternate universe of adult animation is that Bobby Hill, who aged from 11 to 13 years old during the show's original 12-year run, is now 21. Instead of going to college, he has pursued his passion for meat and become the chef and part owner of a Dallas restaurant he describes as 'a traditional Japanese barbecue with a fusion of flavors and techniques from the German traditions of the Texas Hill Country.' ('Last time the Germans and Japanese teamed up, I wasn't a fan,' one senior diner notes. 'But this is delicious!' Bobby: 'I call it the Axis of Flavor.') He shares an apartment with his childhood best friend, the Gribbles' son Joseph, who is heavily implied to be the biological offspring of John Redcorn. And in the premiere, he runs into his first girlfriend, Connie Souphanousinphone, on a local university campus, setting into motion the obligatory will-they-or-won't-they storyline. What is Bobby doing on said campus? Exiting a dorm where he's just spent the night with a college girl, who told him that their hookup was 'a one-time thing' and sent him on his way. This moment is preceded by a cringe-worthy scene in which Peggy is awakened by her ringing cellphone; it's a Bobby butt-dial, all heavy breathing and moans. In theory, I am pleased for Bobby Hill. Good for him; he can get it. But hearing him have sex? No, thank you. I don't think that's because I'm a prude, or even just because I'm nostalgic for the old King of the Hill (though, while we're on the subject, it was always my favorite of the Fox animated sitcoms). At the core of the original show was ultimate normie Hank's struggle to relate to his weird son, and vice versa. 'That boy ain't right' was Hank's refrain—one that dated back to a series premiere in which Bobby used the threat of a Child Protective Services investigation to intimidate his well-meaning but gruff father into showing him love. Neither a great student nor an athlete like his dad, Bobby was defined to some extent by his old-soul precociousness (this is a kid whose sense of humor comes straight out of vaudeville), but even more so by his middle-school malleability. In that sense, and despite all his eccentricities, he became adult animation's quintessential pre-Tina Belcher, pre-Big Mouth preteen: a mess of curiosities, talents, delusions, and hormones slowly organizing themselves into a cohesive identity. For 13 seasons, the most memorable Bobby storylines—which also comprised the majority of the show's most memorable storylines—were the ones that stretched his nascent self into new shapes. In one great episode, the owner of a clothing store for 'husky' boys observes Bobby strutting his stuff in a variety of high-stretch garments and recruits him for a fashion show. (While he embraces the spotlight, his plus-size modeling career is cut short by Hank's secondhand embarrassment.) The source of a GIF turned meme of a cross-legged Bobby meditating in his bedroom as smoke from a stick of incense swirls ceilingward, Season 4's 'Won't You Pimai Neighbor?' sees a delegation of Buddhist monks identify the boy as a potential lama. And in what might be the most famous Bobby episode, 'Bobby Goes Nuts,' Hank sends his bullied son to learn boxing at the YMCA. When that class is full, Bobby talks his way into a women's self-defense course. Soon, he's standing up for himself. But to Hank's horror, he's doing it by kicking his tormenters in the crotch while shouting 'I don't know you! That's my purse!' Like most pubescent kids, Bobby is a sponge, thirsty for love and liable to absorb any influence that might help him figure out who he is. Feeling excluded from Hank's bond with the Hills' elderly dog, Lady Bird, in another Season 4 episode, he befriends the raccoon that has been gorging itself on the family's trash. If the episode wasn't so funny, it would be heartbreaking. At the risk of taking a cartoon character too seriously, the reason so many of us adore Bobby isn't just because he's a hammy miniature entertainer who says the darnedest things, but because his oddball's search for belonging captures something universal about youth. A person who's still getting to know himself could grow up to be anything. For him, the possibilities are endless. Getting to glimpse an adult Bobby is kind of a fun novelty, in the same vein as that flash-forward Simpsons episode where Lisa is the President. At least Judge, Daniels, and Paterson left the character's distinctively androgynous voice (provided by Pamela Adlon in both incarnations of a show that has weathered the untimely deaths of too many original voice actors) intact. And their choice to make his parents the characters in transition is an inspired reversal that goes a long way toward making Season 14 work as well as it does. The thing is, a stable, 21-year-old man who's excelling in his career, feels relatively secure in his father's love, and even gets laid once in a while barely resembles the wonderfully inchoate Bobby Hill we know. Which means that this King of the Hill, for all its many pleasures, isn't quite the same King of the Hill, either.
Los Angeles Times
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This must be Sawtelle
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2 hours ago
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Aging up the characters in the ‘King of the Hill' revival was not only easy, it was ‘a relief'
Years and years ago, Pamela Adlon, the actor and co-creator of 'Better Things,' had to trade a Fox Body Ford Mustang with a V8 engine for a white minivan. 'It was when I became a mom and I said, 'I cannot go down like this,' ' Adlon says. So, she had the minivan painted with flames, a skull on the front and pinstripes. When Adlon met with the artist for her auto paint job, she saw a totem in his studio: a small, gold-colored resin bust of Bobby Hill, the husky preteen she played on the animated series 'King of the Hill' for 13 seasons — a staggering 259 episodes total — on Fox. Adlon was given the figure. During a conversation about the return of the series, she pulls the bust from her bookshelves and holds Bobby lovingly in her hands. Adlon says she doesn't just identify with parts of the sweet, passionate kid she voiced. She is Bobby Hill. 'I just couldn't believe it,' Adlon says. 'This is my own bust. That's me. It's f— me!' Bobby, the son of animated Arlen, Texas, residents Hank (Mike Judge) and Peggy Hill (Kathy Najimy) has in the years since 'King of the Hill' aired its last episodes in 2010, become a social-media phenomenon in memes ('That's my purse, I don't know you!') and well-circulated online video clips. 'He has become like a little beacon for people, which is so sweet,' Adlon says. 'I'm honored to even be a part of it. I love it, I love it.' Adlon and most of the original cast return for a revival of 'King of the Hill' with a 10-episode 14th season premiering Monday on Hulu. The new episodes return viewers to a much-changed Arlen (and America, for that matter) with characters who have aged about a decade since we last saw them. Hank and Peggy are retired and back in Texas after a propane-related work stint in Saudi Arabia. Bobby is a 22-year-old chef running a Japanese-German fusion restaurant. And because it's 2025, there's a lot that feels very different, from ridesharing and microaggressions to all-gender public bathrooms and goat therapy. To say that the connections 'King of the Hill' cast members have with the show are personal would be a huge understatement. Not only did the animated series' original run and its new batch of episodes address American culture in sharp and satirical ways while simultaneously being gentle and humane, it created memorable, perhaps iconic, roles for three of the women who play lead characters on 'King of the Hill.' Adlon, Najimy and Lauren Tom, who plays both Connie Souphanousinphone and her mother Minh, all say that the show's continued high quality and influence on their lives for so long helped draw them back. Along with co-creators Judge and Greg Daniels, and new showrunner Saladin K. Patterson, the cast faced a formidable modern TV challenge many have failed: reviving a beloved show without ruining what made it great in the first place. 'The best job I've ever had' Najimy, who plays Peggy Hill as a kind but frequently overconfident retired substitute teacher, remembers very clearly her audition for 'King of the Hill' 27 years ago. 'I was pregnant with my daughter,' she says, 'so I will never forget that time in our lives.' Najimy and the rest of the cast had no idea at first if the show would work. 'I thought, 'This is a really good script and I love that there's some great writing for women characters, which isn't always the case.' ' Unlike the family dynamic of many sitcoms of the '90s era when 'King' started, and even now in some cases, Hank and Peggy aren't a schlub and a hot wife trading insults — they're partners who respect each other and who did a great job raising their son. 'They fight and they spar, but they really, really love each other, which I find refreshing,' Najimy says. In the new season, Peggy's adventures include portraying the made-up wife of Hank's buddy Bill (Stephen Root), dealing with a cover-up involving a neighborhood lending library and bedbugs, and wrestling with empty nesting. Judge says that Najimy gets credit for bringing Peggy to life on the original run. 'We, on the writing side at least, didn't have all that much for Peggy in the very beginning. 'Something happened when Kathy started doing the voice — something about the way she played her as this know-it-all who can be completely wrong with complete confidence — and we started writing to that and Peggy was born,' he says. Najimy says she appreciates that the storylines continue to be character-driven, even when they're observing or commenting on modern culture. 'It's really hard to bring something back,' Najimy says in praise of the show's creators and writers. 'I think it's a miracle that they've done it so seamlessly… it's the best job I've ever had.' Bobby and Connie all grown up One of the new storylines finds Bobby reconnecting in Dallas with his childhood crush Connie. How that develops through the 10 episodes is one of the most emotionally satisfying parts of the revival. While other actors on the show were voicing older versions of adult characters, Adlon and Tom had to decide with the showrunner and creators how to age their characters into adulthood. At one point, using technology to change the pitch of their voices was considered. But in the end, the actors made the vocal adjustments themselves. 'I feel like since Connie's in her 20s now, that was actually easier for me because it's close to my own voice; I'm about that age emotionally,' Tom jokes. 'For me, it was a relief to age her up.' 'King of the Hill' was Tom's first animation job before she went on to play roles on 'Futurama,' 'Teen Titans Go!' and 'Rick and Morty.' Adlon said that Bobby's vocal journey into manhood had to be grounded in an authentic portrayal with a subtle adjustment: 'I just did a little thing,' Adlon says, cupping her hand for emphasis, 'get him more into, you know, the balls. Cradling the balls of age.' When the new season begins, Connie has a boyfriend; it's an ethical nonmonogamous relationship. 'In a way, she is sowing her wild oats,' Tom says. As Bobby, Adlon interjects, 'Well, I don't wanna talk about that.' Patterson, a veteran of several TV series including 'Frasier' and the well-received 2021 version of 'The Wonder Years,' says the actors were able to bring a huge amount of complexity to characters that fans have grown to love for 27 years. For Bobby, 'What Pam does is so specific and so magical,' Patterson says. 'Fans are coming back to this show because they want to recapture that magic, right? Let's not try to fix what isn't broken. Let Pam continue to do the magic that she does with Bobby Hill.' With Tom's challenge of playing two characters, Patterson says, 'When we have scenes with Minh and Connie, not only is she doing two voices, but she's capturing all those layers and nuances that exist in the mother-daughter relationship.' Living in 2025 … and beyond? The actors and creators are careful to say that 'King of the Hill' has never been as political as some might ascribe to the show, despite it being set in a red state featuring a conservative-passing family. But in 2025, it seems impossible not to take a side and the new 'King' season arrives just two weeks after 'South Park' unloaded a stinging critique on President Trump and his administration. The new 'King of the Hill' season takes aim at misogynist bro seminars, cultural appropriation in the restaurant world and how divorce is still stigmatized in many cultures, among other topics. The cast members and creative leaders of the show say that while they're big fans of what 'South Park' is doing, 'King' mirrors things very differently. 'The world needs someone to shake things up like that,' Tom says, 'and then the world needs our approach, which has a lot more kindness and love and gentleness and inclusiveness to it. It's a nice balance.' 'Now seems like the perfect time, this window of opportunity when people are just going, 'What the f—?' with everything,' Adlon says. Judge says 'King of the Hill' is 'a calming presence in the midst of all the divisiveness. People often tell me they watch it before they go to sleep, and I'm totally good with that.' How long that calming presence will be with us when it comes to getting fresh episodes in the future is not completely clear. Season 14 debuts with all 10 episodes available. Will there be more? There are certainly more scripts and the actors on the show confirm they've continued working on episodes beyond this initial batch, but Hulu has not yet announced whether 'King of the Hill' will continue for a 15th season or more. Reviews so far from critics have been universal raves; the 14th season has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with one reviewer calling it the best TV revival of all time. For the 'King' crew, who have been working on the show since the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to do voice recording separately, seeing 'King of the Hill' come back together successfully after so long has been incredibly rewarding. 'I think it was a big relief reading the first episode and realizing the writing was just as strong as the original and feeling like, 'Oh, we're going to be in good hands,' ' Tom says.
