Zen Box Izakaya
Tag: restaurant
Writers Block/blog
Oi ladies and gents.. I have writer’s block.
I have lots of blog fodder just waiting to get off of my phone but every time I sit down to try to write, nothing worthwhile comes to mind. I think I’ll just pick a photo from my phone and write about that… here.. listen to this song while you wait (don’t worry, it’s squeaky clean):
The new title of the entry you are about to read is “Sushi: with friends“
Jeff and I have a friend that was talented and studious enough (note: I didn’t say lucky, she worked her bum off) to get into TSU in Japan. She’s been stateside for a couple of months and completely absorbed with visiting family and friends, attending weddings, barbeques, and doing all of the things that one does when visiting home in between living as an expat.
I invited her to meet up with me at a craft store as it is a common interest that we share, but due to a mix up with a friend’s wedding plans, she wasn’t able to make it. That’s okay, though, c’est la vie, and we rescheduled for dinner on Tuesday.
When I checked in with her the day of our event, unfortunately, something else came up again — this time with family in a not so good way and she had to cancel. No rain check this time. Maybe it’s because we were going to have sushi and she would soon be going back to the land of sushi. Maybe we should have invited her out to a burger.
Oh well. We didn’t make what was on our menu for dinner because we thought we were going out, and so Jeff and I headed out without our friend. We went to a great newish restaurant in the area called “Kona Grill”
Originally, I had gone to Kona with a friend from work who had made the drive to the home office from Iowa. She was going to go by herself but she said “sushi” and “awesome” and “by myself” all in the same sentence and so I knew that someone would have to intervene… and go eat awesome sushi with her. We had a great meal and I knew that I’d have to come back and introduce other people to this new local delight. Jeff and I got a table in the bar since there was no wait and just enjoyed each other’s company. We didn’t have a lot to talk about, so we shared stuff with each other on our phones. At one point, our heads were leaning against each other as we looked at something (it was quite loud, so this also helped us to hear each other’s comments without yelling) and the waitress appeared out of thin air and commented “Awe, could you be more cute?” We tried to cut the PDA a little bit after that.. *sheepish grin*
The meal that Jeff and I had was even better than the first time I had gone to Kona. Jeff and I both ordered a Dragon Roll [crab special roll topped w/eel, eel sauce & sesame seeds], I ordered a Philly Roll (it’s Americanized…) [smoked salmon, cream cheese & cucumber], and Jeff ordered a Bama Roll [crab mix, cream cheese, jalapeño wrapped in soy paper topped w/tuna, avocado, fish roe and spicy mayo]. One roll is probably enough for anyone, but I was looking for left overs 🙂 I was able to save more than half of what we ordered. It’s a good thing I saved room, too, because their seasonal item was a pineapple upside down cake–it was a dessert to redeem the evening:
Hell’s Kitchen – It’s a helluva good restaurant
Last..er.. Saturday? Jeff took me to Hell’s Kitchen for lunch. We were downtown looking at a potential venue when we realized we were getting a bit hangry. Jeff had been to Hell’s Kitchen before and it was within a few blocks so we went. There were a LOT of people there when we got there, but happily, they told us it was only a 15 minute wait.
Maybe it’s because we were already hangry, or maybe it’s because time flows slower in Hell(‘s Kitchen), but 15 minutes turned into 45. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we had time to wander around and appreciate the decor.
We were happy pandas when we finally got our table, but our faces still reflected our hangrys. We ordered up our entrees and scarfed them down before I could take a picture. For me:
Ham and Pear Crisp (Featured in “America’s Best Sandwiches” cookbook)
Featured in “50 Best Sandwiches in America” Shaved, slow-roasted smoked pit ham, poached pears, melted Swiss and Fontina cheese on spicy-sweet buttered grilled sourdough bread. Includes choice of fries, sweet potato* fries, coleslaw or fresh fruit.
For Jeff:
Huevos Rancheros
(v) (g) w/o the tortilla)A crisp flour tortilla with buttery hash browns, spicy black beans, soft-scrambled eggs and a 3-cheese topping, all baked to a golden brown. Topped with hand-chopped salsa and a dollop of sour cream. Like heat? Ask your server to also bring Bottled Hell at no extra charge.
Can you really blame us for not pausing to take a picture?
After lunch we decided to take a chance on ordering the Nefarious Mystery Dessert, though, and since we weren’t hangry, I *did* get a picture of that:
See.. that might look unappealing, but we figured out that it is Devil’s Food Cake with chocolate, home-made caramel, peanuts, and some other type of chocolate something-or-other. It was delicious!! The thing about the Nefarious Mystery Dessert, though, is that no one knows what it is until you order it! Never the same twice because you’ll get whatever they feel like making. Eat up 🙂 And Happy (belated) Valentine’s day.
[Sidebar: Hell’s Kitchen runs a blog called “Bite Me” check ’em out here: http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/bite-me/]
MegsFitness 