Donato Poto -- GM, co-owner, and maitre d' -- had just entered, wheeling a huge cast iron dish full of salt toward our table. We could hear the quiet sizzle as he prepared our salt roasted santa barbara spot prawns -- rosemary, lemon, olive oil...
I had specifically mentioned this spot prawn preparation earlier, and they happily obliged my request to work this into our tasting. This dish was depressing on two levels. One, it tasted so damn good that I was somehow able to justify the $11 per prawn supplement. And two, after this dish and the kuruma ebi at Urasawa the night before, I feared that eating shrimp outside of these two restaurants ever again could be a futile and pointless activity. Mr. Poto shook the salt off and split the prawns down the middle. Then they were given nothing but a liberal dose of Castelas extra virgin olive oil from Provence and wedges of lemon. I'm not even sure shrimp shells are digestible, to be honest, but I couldn't have cared less. From head to tail, these prawns were delicious.