Circa 1994
Rescuing a baby manatee, later named Mariah, at the Jupiter, FL Inlet.
Rescuing a baby manatee, later named Mariah, at the Jupiter, FL Inlet.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Monday, December 2, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
We took a side trip from Lahaina Harbor on board the Trilogy catamarans to the Island of Lanai. The boat leaves around 9AM from the docks at Lahaina and returns to Lahaina harbor about 6-7 PM. It's a very full day and the crew of these catamarans really knows how to treat the visitors. They're very patient with the elderly and children and very informative regarding the islands and wildlife. It's NOT a standard tourist trap operated by people who are so bored with telling the same old story to ignorant tourists. These folks are REALLY good, and enthusiastic. If you run across whales or dolphins during the 90 minute crossing, they will take the time to slow down and let you see them as up close as the law will allow their boats to approach. If the wildlife decides to initiate a closer contact, then you can consider yourself very lucky as this does often happen. Great work by Trilogy Charters!
9/18/2013.
Check-in at the Lahaina Harbor.
The view to the Island of Lanai, Hawaii as seen from the balcony of the Sheraton, Black Rock Resort in Ka'anapali, Maui Hawai'i. This is one of the most easily accessible snorkeling venues in Maui, if you are staying at the resort. Black Rock, at the right of this photo has some very nice coral and tropical fish to view. In addition, it is a nice gathering place for sea turtles.
9/18/2013.
Chef Bobby Masters and his kitchen crew at the Hula Grill in Ka'anapali, Maui Hawai'i as viewed from the Chef's table (bar). This crew does amazing things with local Hawai'ian foods!
Hawai'ian Opah with locally grown tatsoi greens, radish sprouts, and tomato salsa served at the Hula Grill.
9/16/2013.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Musashino Sushi Dokoro in Austin, TX
Overpriced sushi in a dirty restaurant. Dirty floors and tables and the soy sauce dispenser was unused for so long that the spout was clogged by dried soy sauce. Not a good choice.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Winnipeg Canada at night.
July 4th, 2013...this is what 10:00 PM looks like. The sun still has not set by 10PM! Very nice view from the Delta Hotel balcony. The MTS Centre, where the Winnipeg Jets hockey team plays, is at the distant lower right corner of this photo.
Spider roll and sashimi at Ichiban restaurant in Winnipeg Canada.
ICHIBAN Sushi - 189 Carlton Street, Winnipeg, MB Canada
A-
This is really one of the better sushi restaurants in town. Clean tables and pleasant staff. One of the few places where the staff is truly eager to ensure you're comfortable and happy with your meal. I really like this place. There are teppanyaki tables throughout the restaurant, so it can sometimes be quite loud, but they do play some pleasant and authentic Japanese music so you have a level of authenticity to the experience. I think the only thing I don't like is the fact that it seems to be the same exact music (probably on CD) played over and over again all night long and every night. I would think they would find some other CD to play on occasion.
Shoyu, a sushi restaurant at the Minneapolis Airport.
Shoyu - near Gate G1 at the Minneapolis Airport
C-
One of the features I do like here is convenience. You place your own order via the iPad located on each table and you pay by credit card when the order is electronically sent. The server delivers your meal fairly quickly and the receipt to your table, although at the end of processing your order on the iPad, you are also given the option of sending your receipt electronically to your e-mail address. This is quintessentially fast food. The sushi is served cold and the different soup bowls are served hot and delicious. The only negatives I find with this place is that the staff seems indifferent to the customers...they have no personality and friendliness. I almost feel as if they're feeding the animals at a zoo, and maybe that's a bad analogy since zookeepers genuinely care about the animals welfare! The food is very overpriced (examples: $15 spider roll, $8 for 2 pieces of hamachi nigiri, and $6 for a bottle of San Pellegrino water) and the dining tables are often sticky. The only things this restaurant has going for it, are decent quality food, the iPad ordering gimmick and the ability to surf the Internet while dining and waiting for your plane.
Sesame ginger teriyaki steak at Moxie's in Winnipeg, Canada.
Moxie's Grill & Bar - 300 portage Ave. Winnipeg, MB Canada
A-
The gimmick here is scantily clad waitresses serving at your table. This place serves remarkably upscale food for the area and the staff is pleasant and accommodating. The restaurant is located in the MTS Centre where the Winnipeg Jets hockey team plays. The food is of exceptional quality although it is not always served hot or on time. The staff frequently seems to be occupied by idle chit chat either at the bar or at the hostess stand, so sometimes service can be a little slow and you do need to catch a waitress' attention. the tables are clean and the restaurant sparkling. The food ingredients are always high quality and flavors & sauces are certainly tasty. I had the Ginger Teriyaki Steak bowl. The sauce was tangy and not overpowering with ginger. The vegetables were cooked, but crunchy and the steak was quite tender.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Which Airline Should I Fly To My Destination?
As a frequent business traveler, one of the most common questions I am asked, is which airline should I choose? Which one is the best?
This is an enormous question and really depends upon your own personal interests. Are you interested in just getting to your destination and comfort doesn't really matter? Do you want to maximize your frequent flier miles? Do you want the cheapest flight? Do you want to check baggage or no? Do you want First/Business Class, Economy Plus, or Economy? Since there are so many choices to make, I will explain how and why I chose my preferred airline.
About a decade ago, I used to fly Delta Airlines almost exclusively and had over a quarter million frequent flier miles with them. I stopped flying Delta when the majority of their planes flown domestically were all Canadair Regional Jets. They're affectionately referred to as, "Puddle Jumpers", because they were often used for short hops of an hour or less. Not anymore. Delta started putting these into regular service for flights of more than 2-3 hours around 2004-2005. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with these smaller aircraft, but I'm a big guy (6'1", 250 lbs), so my preference was to fly the bigger jets (MD-80, 737, 757, A320, etc.). A guy of my size has some difficulty sitting in the tiny seats of a Canadair Regional Jet, or an Embraer 145. G-d forbid you have to go to the bathroom aboard one of these planes too. The lavatories are so small that a person of my size has to fold himself like an origami crane just to get into the bathroom, and if you have a 2-hour flight, it's difficult NOT to have to use the restroom sooner or later.
About a decade ago, I used to fly Delta Airlines almost exclusively and had over a quarter million frequent flier miles with them. I stopped flying Delta when the majority of their planes flown domestically were all Canadair Regional Jets. They're affectionately referred to as, "Puddle Jumpers", because they were often used for short hops of an hour or less. Not anymore. Delta started putting these into regular service for flights of more than 2-3 hours around 2004-2005. There's nothing whatsoever wrong with these smaller aircraft, but I'm a big guy (6'1", 250 lbs), so my preference was to fly the bigger jets (MD-80, 737, 757, A320, etc.). A guy of my size has some difficulty sitting in the tiny seats of a Canadair Regional Jet, or an Embraer 145. G-d forbid you have to go to the bathroom aboard one of these planes too. The lavatories are so small that a person of my size has to fold himself like an origami crane just to get into the bathroom, and if you have a 2-hour flight, it's difficult NOT to have to use the restroom sooner or later.
So, if you haven't discerned it yet, my preference for flights is for comfort. Lately, I'm flying back and forth to Winnipeg MB, Canada on a weekly basis for work. Unfortunately, the only International flights going into Winnipeg are the small jets, so I don't have much choice. I have flown both United's Embraer 145 into Winnipeg as well as Delta's CRJ 700's and 900's. Only Delta has established a First/Business class on their CRJ 700 and 900's and if you can afford that fare, or be upgraded, the seating is quite comfortable. If you take United, you're going to be out of luck. It's all economy or economy plus on the Embraer 145.
So, what is economy plus? Depending upon the airline, with economy plus seating, you're granted an extra 3-4 inches of legroom in the forward economy cabin. For tall guys like myself, this can make all the difference in the world! Also depending on the airline, economy plus sometimes grants you early boarding with group 1 (right after 1st class and priority/loyalty program customers).
So, what is economy plus? Depending upon the airline, with economy plus seating, you're granted an extra 3-4 inches of legroom in the forward economy cabin. For tall guys like myself, this can make all the difference in the world! Also depending on the airline, economy plus sometimes grants you early boarding with group 1 (right after 1st class and priority/loyalty program customers).
Beware! Airlines these days are charging approximately $25 for checked luggage, so everyone is carrying as much as they can on board the plane in carry on bags. For the bigger jets, this isn't usually an issue, but for the smaller ones, you may not have room enough for anything bigger than a computer bag. I've even flown on some smaller jets where a computer bag is still too big! In such cases, the airline will encourage (read that as "require") you to gate check your bag(s). Gate checking a bag means that you are given a bag tag for your luggage and you leave the bag in the jetway, just outside the plane door before you get onto the plane. It's loaded into the plane and returned to you upon arrival at your destination...also in the jetway, just outside the plane's doorway. Stand by and they bring it up to you. Again, beware that if you're forced to check a bag containing your computer, remove it and carry it aboard before allowing them to load it as baggage. You cannot image the number of cracked screen complaints the airlines get as a result of these forced baggage checks.
What other criteria could you use for choosing your preferred airline? Do you have a credit card with that airline that grants you additional frequent flier miles? Do you have a bank of miles with an airline where you want to bank more miles? Do you just plain like the people on that airline?
Everyone has a story about why they hate the service of a particular airline and that's why they'll never fly them. For the most part, after decades of flying, I haven't seen much difference between airlines. Seven years ago, I was gold with Delta Airlines, two years ago, I was flying American Airlines almost exclusively and established a gold level of membership with them. I've found them to be very good for my vacation trips to Maui, Hawai'i. I've flown SouthWest Airlines to Vegas, Delta to Florida, and United to Colorado. Flight attendants, gate agents, baggage handlers, pilots, and air travelers are all under increased traveling stress these days and everyone deals with it differently, but all things considered, there's not much difference in service between airlines. Do you run into a grumpy gate agent, a frantic flight attendant? Do they lose your baggage on occasion? Sure. They all do. Should they try to be better? Certainly! In the long run though, every business traveler has come to expect these things as small inconveniences that we all have to deal with. Getting upset only provides entertainment for the other passengers.
A little trick and a caveat here...
Like so many of us, my company will only pay for me to fly the cheapest airfare, which is economy. Once my airfare has been booked, I can go to the airline website and find my reservation. At the same time, I can usually upgrade my flight to at least economy plus, if not to first class...for a fee. Of course, this fee is paid by me, since my company won't pay the higher fare, but as I said before, comfort for me, is worth the extra dollars. I might pay an extra $130 to upgrade to 1st class or $20-$40 for an upgrade to economy plus. If it's not available online, you can always wait until the day of your flight and check in at one of the kiosks in the airport. If an upgrade is available, then the kiosk will offer it to you. It can sometimes be quite a good deal. If you're paying $300 for your flight, a regular 1st class ticket might be $800 or more. If you get a 1st class upgrade at the kiosk, it's often adding only $130. I mentioned a caveat.....I have found through experience, that airlines will almost always offer you the upgrade to 1st class on your outbound ticket from your home airport as well as any connection following that flight. However, your return flight may have seats available for 1st class, but you will NOT be offered the paid upgrade for your return flights. You're likely to get whatever seat you have. You can, however upgrade to economy plus, if desired on those return flights. I don't know why and I have asked ticket and gate agents and they don't know why this is the case either, but it just is.
So, once you do get on board, where do you want to sit? If you're susceptible to motion sickness, the best seats are over the wings, or near the wings, where the up/down motion is less pronounced. You may not have a nice view out the window, but you won't feel as ill from the movement either. Keeping a view out the window is also another good method of stopping motion sickness as well. It's distracting and at the same time provides you with a horizon to focus on. The horizon helps your brain to receive more feedback that you're in a stable position, even though your ears are telling you otherwise.
If you don't get airsick, where is the best seat? A lot of people choose a bulkhead row for "legroom", but I find that the bulkhead provides a flat wall that keeps you from stretching out more than you would if you could put your feet under the chair in front of you in a regular row. On some CRJ jets, there is no bulkhead in front of you. Instead it's just a curtain and the first class seats are in front of you. These are ideal seats for legroom. Some folks prefer the exit rows over the wings and on some planes they do provide more legroom, but be aware that while you'll get more legroom, your seats will not recline. This feature is intentional so that seats left in the recline position during an emergency won't impede the progress of people trying to exit over the wings.
A little trick and a caveat here...
Like so many of us, my company will only pay for me to fly the cheapest airfare, which is economy. Once my airfare has been booked, I can go to the airline website and find my reservation. At the same time, I can usually upgrade my flight to at least economy plus, if not to first class...for a fee. Of course, this fee is paid by me, since my company won't pay the higher fare, but as I said before, comfort for me, is worth the extra dollars. I might pay an extra $130 to upgrade to 1st class or $20-$40 for an upgrade to economy plus. If it's not available online, you can always wait until the day of your flight and check in at one of the kiosks in the airport. If an upgrade is available, then the kiosk will offer it to you. It can sometimes be quite a good deal. If you're paying $300 for your flight, a regular 1st class ticket might be $800 or more. If you get a 1st class upgrade at the kiosk, it's often adding only $130. I mentioned a caveat.....I have found through experience, that airlines will almost always offer you the upgrade to 1st class on your outbound ticket from your home airport as well as any connection following that flight. However, your return flight may have seats available for 1st class, but you will NOT be offered the paid upgrade for your return flights. You're likely to get whatever seat you have. You can, however upgrade to economy plus, if desired on those return flights. I don't know why and I have asked ticket and gate agents and they don't know why this is the case either, but it just is.
So, once you do get on board, where do you want to sit? If you're susceptible to motion sickness, the best seats are over the wings, or near the wings, where the up/down motion is less pronounced. You may not have a nice view out the window, but you won't feel as ill from the movement either. Keeping a view out the window is also another good method of stopping motion sickness as well. It's distracting and at the same time provides you with a horizon to focus on. The horizon helps your brain to receive more feedback that you're in a stable position, even though your ears are telling you otherwise.
If you don't get airsick, where is the best seat? A lot of people choose a bulkhead row for "legroom", but I find that the bulkhead provides a flat wall that keeps you from stretching out more than you would if you could put your feet under the chair in front of you in a regular row. On some CRJ jets, there is no bulkhead in front of you. Instead it's just a curtain and the first class seats are in front of you. These are ideal seats for legroom. Some folks prefer the exit rows over the wings and on some planes they do provide more legroom, but be aware that while you'll get more legroom, your seats will not recline. This feature is intentional so that seats left in the recline position during an emergency won't impede the progress of people trying to exit over the wings.
Want to find out more about airline comfort and how to choose the best seats for the aircraft you'll be flying? Check out http://www.seatguru.com where you can look at each individual seat on board your plane and choose the best one for your personal preference.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Daily Grill - 11410 Century Oaks Ter. Austin, TX
(C+)
7/28/2012 - The Daily Grill, a chain restaurant, is a social gathering spot in The Domain Shopping Center in Austin, TX. David suggested eating there on this hot Saturday afternoon. The restaurant is located in an "out of the way" area in the back of the Domain where there are few folks walking by, so this isn't the type of place that you might happen to walk past and say, "Hey, let's drop in for a bite to eat.". We were seated at a walk-up table at the bar. It took a few minutes and we were cheerily greeted by a young waittress named, "Estee". She told us we could just call her, "Red".
You'll know from my previous posts that one of my pet peeves in restaurants is when the wait staff takes your order and writes down absolutely NOTHING and then delivers completely the wrong items to your table later. Red managed this beautifully! She took our drink order (1 Pellegrino water with lime & an iced tea) as well as our food order (batter-dipped french fries, artichoke dip, mini-burgers and seared ahi tuna sashimi with fried spinach and cold pickles on the side) without ever writing down a word. I was very skeptical, but also equally surprised when it was perfect!
The food was served timely and hot. In fact, Red had to caution us about the searing hot plate that she used to bring out the fries. That was a good touch by the kitchen to keep the fries hot longer. Unfortunately, it didn't nothing to help the flavor. The fries were tasteless, bland, and not very crispy. They were served with ketchup and I never use ketchup with fries. In this case, the ketchup made the fries taste better...and that is NOT a compliment!
The artichoke dip was served with garlic toast and a fried artichoke on top. Very good and very addictive! David said his burgers were good. Two mini-burgers were served as an appetizer...alone on a large plate. I can think of only 1 word for it. The plate just looked, "lonely" with two mini-burgers on it. It was as if someone came over with one single pea on a huge dinner plate and grandly stated, "Your dinner, sir!". Really?!
The seared ahi sashimi consisted of a single 7 or 8 inch long, 1 inch diameter "squared rod" of tuna, rolled in black sesame seeds and seared on a grill, then sliced and laid out on a long plate. It was served with a VERY tiny bit of wasabi, gari (pickled ginger), fried spinach, and cold cucumber pickles in rice wine vinegar and red pepper flakes. The tuna was excellent and the crunch of the fried spinach with the pickles really complimented the flavors in the dish.
As we were chatting during dinner, as always, I was looking around the restaurant and glancing upwards, I noticed this...
This is one of my other pet peeves about restaurants. The light fixtures above our tables were filled with dead bugs and the ceiling vents were caked with dust. I've been in restaurants where they've forgotten to dust their ceiling fans or the light fixtures were dirty, but never filled with dead bugs. Our consolation: at least they weren't LIVE bugs!
At the close of our meal, Red again was so pleasant with us that her effervescent personality truly made it easier to overlook any flaws. A waittress who is this nice really makes the whole dining experience worthwhile!
Red gets a gold star in my book, but the restaurant gets a C+. The Domain Shops have the reputation for being expensive and "high-class", but there is not a single thing sold in the Domain that you cannot get for a lower price, and often better quality, elsewhere in Austin. Like so many restaurants at the Domain, this is just another one that is trying to be very chic, trendy, and sort of "faux-high-class", but it fails miserably in the delivery. The Daily Grill seriously needs a little more daily work.
7/28/2012 - The Daily Grill, a chain restaurant, is a social gathering spot in The Domain Shopping Center in Austin, TX. David suggested eating there on this hot Saturday afternoon. The restaurant is located in an "out of the way" area in the back of the Domain where there are few folks walking by, so this isn't the type of place that you might happen to walk past and say, "Hey, let's drop in for a bite to eat.". We were seated at a walk-up table at the bar. It took a few minutes and we were cheerily greeted by a young waittress named, "Estee". She told us we could just call her, "Red".
You'll know from my previous posts that one of my pet peeves in restaurants is when the wait staff takes your order and writes down absolutely NOTHING and then delivers completely the wrong items to your table later. Red managed this beautifully! She took our drink order (1 Pellegrino water with lime & an iced tea) as well as our food order (batter-dipped french fries, artichoke dip, mini-burgers and seared ahi tuna sashimi with fried spinach and cold pickles on the side) without ever writing down a word. I was very skeptical, but also equally surprised when it was perfect!
The food was served timely and hot. In fact, Red had to caution us about the searing hot plate that she used to bring out the fries. That was a good touch by the kitchen to keep the fries hot longer. Unfortunately, it didn't nothing to help the flavor. The fries were tasteless, bland, and not very crispy. They were served with ketchup and I never use ketchup with fries. In this case, the ketchup made the fries taste better...and that is NOT a compliment!
The artichoke dip was served with garlic toast and a fried artichoke on top. Very good and very addictive! David said his burgers were good. Two mini-burgers were served as an appetizer...alone on a large plate. I can think of only 1 word for it. The plate just looked, "lonely" with two mini-burgers on it. It was as if someone came over with one single pea on a huge dinner plate and grandly stated, "Your dinner, sir!". Really?!
The seared ahi sashimi consisted of a single 7 or 8 inch long, 1 inch diameter "squared rod" of tuna, rolled in black sesame seeds and seared on a grill, then sliced and laid out on a long plate. It was served with a VERY tiny bit of wasabi, gari (pickled ginger), fried spinach, and cold cucumber pickles in rice wine vinegar and red pepper flakes. The tuna was excellent and the crunch of the fried spinach with the pickles really complimented the flavors in the dish.
As we were chatting during dinner, as always, I was looking around the restaurant and glancing upwards, I noticed this...
This is one of my other pet peeves about restaurants. The light fixtures above our tables were filled with dead bugs and the ceiling vents were caked with dust. I've been in restaurants where they've forgotten to dust their ceiling fans or the light fixtures were dirty, but never filled with dead bugs. Our consolation: at least they weren't LIVE bugs!
At the close of our meal, Red again was so pleasant with us that her effervescent personality truly made it easier to overlook any flaws. A waittress who is this nice really makes the whole dining experience worthwhile!
Red gets a gold star in my book, but the restaurant gets a C+. The Domain Shops have the reputation for being expensive and "high-class", but there is not a single thing sold in the Domain that you cannot get for a lower price, and often better quality, elsewhere in Austin. Like so many restaurants at the Domain, this is just another one that is trying to be very chic, trendy, and sort of "faux-high-class", but it fails miserably in the delivery. The Daily Grill seriously needs a little more daily work.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Kona Grill - 11410 Century Oaks Terrace Austin, TX
(C+)
4/16/2012 - Kona Grill, a chain restaurant, is nicely decorated, although somewhat dark inside. I went on a Monday afternoon for lunch. I was seated near the entrance, not far from the sushi bar where you can watch the sushi chef make some amazing sushi. The restaurant is decked out like a night club and has several booths, a bar area and a seating area on the terrace overlooking traffic coming into and out of the Domain shopping center.
The waitress came to the table and I ordered an iced tea. When she returned to take my order, I ordered regular edamame (steamed, salted soybeans - they also offer it spicy), the Sunshine Roll (salmon and avocado topped with salmon and a thinly sliced piece of lemon), Spicy Tuna Roll and Octopus Nigiri.
One of my pet peeves is when a waiter or waittress comes to take your order and doesn't write anything down. My waittress returned after giving her my order and asked, "Did you order the Houston Roll or the Dragon Roll?". I replied, "Neither one." So, I had to repeat my order to her again. I do have to hand it to her, though, when she came over, she pointed out several nice specials and offerings from the auxiliary menu.
The steamed edamame arrived first. It was served hot in a covered bowl and seasoned with Kosher Salt just right. The sushi arrived after about 10 minutes or so. The Sunshine Roll was excellent and the lemon is the perfect accompaniment to the salmon. The Spicy Tuna Roll is pretty much the same Spicy Tun Roll you would get at any sushi restaurant. nothing really remarkable, but still quite good.
The octopus, however, was a different story. Octopus is very difficult to get "right" and this wasn't quite right. It was still quite chewy, which is normal, but it was sliced very thick and not scored along it's length to make it easier to eat. Sushi is really supposed to be a "one bite" morsel, meaning each piece is consumed whole as a single bite. I nearly choked on the first one. It was a giant piece of rubber on top of rice. The chef really should have sliced the octopus much more thinly, or at least made some scored cuts on the underside of the slices so they would break down in your mouth more easily. Clearly they're trying to be generous with the slices, but this is one where you probably don't want the chef to be quite that generous. The last thing any restauranteur needs is to do the Heimlich Maneuver on a customer because your "one bite" sushi was too thick.
The waittress returned after the meal and I was convinced to try to the small Key Lime Pie (apparently, they have a large one!). As an ex- Floridian, this would be hard to beat, but they did a good job serving it in a square creme brulee dish with whipped cream, a raspberry and mint sprig for a garnish. It was very tart, had a smooth texture and a graham cracker crust. I must say it was one of the better Key Lime Pies I have had outside of the State of Florida.
Damage for this meal was some $43 with the tip. Expensive, but I would say it was worth it. Overall, the restaurant is a little too dark for my taste and the waitstaff maybe a little mentally pre-occupied, but the food was excellent and the timing for this lunchtime meal was right on target.
Unfortunately, on another visit (later, 6/18/2012), when I gave the waiter my order of a Sunshine Roll and a Spider Roll, he returned with a Spider Roll and a Rainbow Roll instead. Again, the waiter did not write down the order and entered it from memory. This seems to be a prevalent issue among their wait staff. He argued that I did say Rainbow Roll, then asked me to remove the Spider Roll from the plate as he returned the Rainbow Roll to the Sushi Chef. Which leads me to wonder...now that my hands were physically all over that plate, what did they do with the Rainbow Roll?...throw it away, serve it to another customer later? The whole process was just "wrong" on many levels and really lowers my impression of this restaurant entirely. I have MAJOR questions and concerns about their cleanliness, decision making, and the potential recycling of food to customers at this point. As a result, I must lower my rating of this restaurant one entire grade to C+.
4/16/2012 - Kona Grill, a chain restaurant, is nicely decorated, although somewhat dark inside. I went on a Monday afternoon for lunch. I was seated near the entrance, not far from the sushi bar where you can watch the sushi chef make some amazing sushi. The restaurant is decked out like a night club and has several booths, a bar area and a seating area on the terrace overlooking traffic coming into and out of the Domain shopping center.
The waitress came to the table and I ordered an iced tea. When she returned to take my order, I ordered regular edamame (steamed, salted soybeans - they also offer it spicy), the Sunshine Roll (salmon and avocado topped with salmon and a thinly sliced piece of lemon), Spicy Tuna Roll and Octopus Nigiri.
One of my pet peeves is when a waiter or waittress comes to take your order and doesn't write anything down. My waittress returned after giving her my order and asked, "Did you order the Houston Roll or the Dragon Roll?". I replied, "Neither one." So, I had to repeat my order to her again. I do have to hand it to her, though, when she came over, she pointed out several nice specials and offerings from the auxiliary menu.
The steamed edamame arrived first. It was served hot in a covered bowl and seasoned with Kosher Salt just right. The sushi arrived after about 10 minutes or so. The Sunshine Roll was excellent and the lemon is the perfect accompaniment to the salmon. The Spicy Tuna Roll is pretty much the same Spicy Tun Roll you would get at any sushi restaurant. nothing really remarkable, but still quite good.
The octopus, however, was a different story. Octopus is very difficult to get "right" and this wasn't quite right. It was still quite chewy, which is normal, but it was sliced very thick and not scored along it's length to make it easier to eat. Sushi is really supposed to be a "one bite" morsel, meaning each piece is consumed whole as a single bite. I nearly choked on the first one. It was a giant piece of rubber on top of rice. The chef really should have sliced the octopus much more thinly, or at least made some scored cuts on the underside of the slices so they would break down in your mouth more easily. Clearly they're trying to be generous with the slices, but this is one where you probably don't want the chef to be quite that generous. The last thing any restauranteur needs is to do the Heimlich Maneuver on a customer because your "one bite" sushi was too thick.
The waittress returned after the meal and I was convinced to try to the small Key Lime Pie (apparently, they have a large one!). As an ex- Floridian, this would be hard to beat, but they did a good job serving it in a square creme brulee dish with whipped cream, a raspberry and mint sprig for a garnish. It was very tart, had a smooth texture and a graham cracker crust. I must say it was one of the better Key Lime Pies I have had outside of the State of Florida.
Damage for this meal was some $43 with the tip. Expensive, but I would say it was worth it. Overall, the restaurant is a little too dark for my taste and the waitstaff maybe a little mentally pre-occupied, but the food was excellent and the timing for this lunchtime meal was right on target.
Unfortunately, on another visit (later, 6/18/2012), when I gave the waiter my order of a Sunshine Roll and a Spider Roll, he returned with a Spider Roll and a Rainbow Roll instead. Again, the waiter did not write down the order and entered it from memory. This seems to be a prevalent issue among their wait staff. He argued that I did say Rainbow Roll, then asked me to remove the Spider Roll from the plate as he returned the Rainbow Roll to the Sushi Chef. Which leads me to wonder...now that my hands were physically all over that plate, what did they do with the Rainbow Roll?...throw it away, serve it to another customer later? The whole process was just "wrong" on many levels and really lowers my impression of this restaurant entirely. I have MAJOR questions and concerns about their cleanliness, decision making, and the potential recycling of food to customers at this point. As a result, I must lower my rating of this restaurant one entire grade to C+.
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