In 2023, the MIRO building replaced the parking lot across the street from city hall. Rollati Ristorante moved into the ground floor. The interior design referenced mid-century modernism with a color scheme subtly inspired by il Tricolore, the three colors of the Italian flag. Rollati’s was a cheerful place to have a meal. The pasta and pizza dishes were reasonably priced comforting iterations of familiar favorites. The bar and lounge area was spacious and inviting. But diners didn’t embrace it. The restaurant closed late last summer, less than two years later.
Strāta, from the M.O. Hospitality collective, is opening in its place this month. M.O. operates several San Jose concepts including Paper Plane, Alter Ego and Eos & Nyx. To succeed where Rollati failed, the collective has mastered the art of social media presentation and messaging.
Everything looks great online, from the friendly party vibes to the colorful drinks and the photogenic dishes. IRL the food and drinks work in theory as conceptual concepts. At a recent media preview meal, every dish I ate left me underwhelmed. When I got home that night, I made a peanut butter and blackberry jam sandwich to cleanse my palate.
In February, I spoke with Evan Rich, who was about to open a fourth restaurant under his and his wife’s Rich Table brand. I asked him what the ideal timeline was for a critic to publish a review after an opening. He explained that after three months the staff jitters settle down and they’re able to establish a rhythm to the service. Rich added, “In all reality, it’s fair day one, you know what I mean?”
“Realistically, when we open the door and start doing business, everybody who walks in the door is a critic,” Rich said, nodding to the immediate impact of Yelp reviews and online influencers. “We have to take that seriously and understand people are coming in spending their hard-earned money with us and so there is no excuse for not being there.”
At Strāta, the friendly front-of-house staff may have had jitters but it didn’t show during service. The jitters were confined to the kitchen. Your hard-earned money will go towards a rotating $75 prix-fixe tasting menu or à la carte options in the bar and lounge.
M.O.’s executive chef Roberto Mendoza has a couple of decades worth of experience. His career includes training at top Bay Area restaurants such as Atelier Crenn and Manresa. With this initial prix-fixe menu, all of the dishes looked pretty as a picture but they tasted like what they were: first round iterations of ideas rather than one delicious cohesive meal.
In keeping with the “layers” theme of the restaurant name, all of the plates were made to mimic a range of earthy colors. M.O. also decided to ditch Rollati’s welcoming color scheme. The décor now reflects our current and inherently more cynical era. The white walls have been toned down to the sombre colors of cave life. The palette suggests that these interior designers display a prophetic sixth sense about the human species’ imminent colony collapse.
The starters arrived on top of a slate blue platter whose surface had been buffed down to a smooth finish. An octopus tostada and an al pastor torta were plated on top. They looked like savory petit fours: cute, bite-sized and flavorless. The “bread” on the torta appeared to be puff pastry that had dried out. A long list of ingredients for both items suggested pops of cilantro, pineapple and avocado. On the plate, they canceled each other out.
The second porcini course was more simply prepared and therefore carried more of an impact. Per plate, three or four mushrooms, halved or quartered, were roasted and plated above a white soy aguachile sauce. But even here, there were missteps. I didn’t find a morsel of crispy rice. And while the soy dipping sauce was nice, a clump of ground chile paste continued the throughline of bitter notes that punctuated each course.
Particular standouts on that theme appeared in the brodo and chicken-fried morel third courses. Each ricotta-stuffed tortellini should have been luscious, but they were dry and undercooked. The broth itself didn’t soften them or add anything distinctive to the bowl.
From the texture, primarily, to the livery funk, I didn’t get past the first morel bite. Nothing about this overwhelming combination of ingredients gelled: chicken mousse, yam espuma, verjus beurre monte and, finally, shallot kimchi.
The main courses continued this muddling of too much and too many complications. A squash veloute moat surrounded a cut of rockfish that was underseasoned. The inclusion of chili oil didn’t help. The veloute was perfectly creamy but landed with a profound sourness.
A plate of prime New York steak was visually confusing. Fatty pieces of meat lined up across the center of the plate like drunken soldiers unable to stand in place. A wreath of garlic chives formed a circle around them for either a decorative purpose or an edible one. I couldn’t tell which. The most pleasing bite of the night belonged to the jus underneath.
Strāta, Tues and Wed 5pm to 9pm, Thurs through Sat 5pm to 10pm, Sun 5pm to 9pm, 181 E Santa Clara St., SJ; stratasj.com.
