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Saturday, April 18, 2009

Tei-An...Meh~~

Tei-An
1722 Routh Street
Dallas, TX 75201-2503
(214) 220-2828
www.tei-an.com
Price: $-$$

Went to Tei-An (in One Arts Plaza) with some friends the other day. I’ve heard a lot about this place and was really excited to finally get to try their food! I’ve read nothing but positive reviews about Tei-An and had a list of foods that other reviewers suggested to try. Tei-An is a Japanese restaurant that is known for its soba noodles and other traditional Japanese dishes. Supposedly it is quite authentic.

I normally don’t blog about the décor, but this place was pretty amazing. The décor was traditional Japanese with a simple, sophisticated twist. It was clean, contemporary and chic and probably one of the most well decorated restaurants I’ve seen in a while. The bathroom was the coolest part!! :P The doors to the stalls are clear glass, but as soon as you lock it, the glass frosts up! How freaking awesome is that?!? :D

Anyways, it’s time to talk about the food! For appetizers we ordered the White Seaweed Salad. $9~

This dish came highly recommended in many of the reviews I read online. This was very fresh and light. I’ve never had white seaweed before. It actually reminded me of the Chinese Swallow’s Nest (if you’ve had it before then you know what I’m talking about). The texture and look is very similar to that. I wasn’t too impressed though…maybe the reviews hyped it too much. I admit that the quality was really fresh but overall it was ok.

We also ordered the starter Buckwheat Risotto. $14~ Upon serving, they pour a little bit of truffle oil over the dish. I liked this dish a lot. It was super cheesy and creamy and filled with mushrooms. The flavor and texture of the risotto worked together really well. The slightly al dente texture of the buckwheat risotto with the cream and cheese created great contrast.

Now on to the entrees. Most of us ordered soba (buckwheat noodles, can be hot or cold) since that is their specialty. For those of you that aren’t familiar with dipping soba… what you do is mix all the ingredients in with the dipping sauce… take a little bit of the cold soba noodle, dip it in the sauce, and slurp!!

This is the Poached Egg Soba (a cold dipping soba). $9.50~
You have the dipping sauce along with another bowl of a poached egg. You can mix everything together or dip in the sauce and egg separately. The soba and sauce was very light. I felt like the sauce didn’t have enough flavor and the egg was almost tasteless. I did like the mix between the noodles and the egg yolk though. Other than that it was very unimpressive. I felt like the soba was a little too thick and the texture was not right. What a disappointment. What is funny is that this was my favorite entrée out the three that I tried… :/

Next is the Creamy Japanese Yam Soba (cold dipping soba). $13~
If you’ve ever had the Japanese yam over rice, you know the texture of the yam. I’ve never liked the yams prepared this way before…the texture is mushy and runny and I always felt kind of gross eating it. Needless to say, I didn’t like this at all. The dipping sauce was the same as the Poached Egg Soba and equally bland…


I ordered the Duck Soba (hot soup soba). $10~
This was also highly recommended on online reviews. I’m not sure what those reviewers had but there was nothing interesting about this dish whatsoever. The entire dish had 1 flavor….bland bland and more bland. There was no contrasting flavors or textures. There was all of 3 slices of duck, which were flavorless. An absolutely one dimensional dish. I had to trade it for the Poached Egg Soba because I didn’t care to eat it anymore. Sigh~ It’s always upsetting when you eat something that’s not up to par, but it’s even worse when your expectations are already really high and everything (reviews, word of mouth, décor, service…) had hyped it up even more and then it all comes crashing down. T_T

So I was still somewhat hungry after everything. We decided to get dessert. A meal is not complete without sweets plus I just really wanted to end on a good note. We ordered the Green Tea Flan $6~ (which was also highly reviewed and praised) and the Black Sesame Mousse $6~. I love black sesame, so I was quite excited about the desserts. The desserts did not disappoint. The black sesame mousse was pretty awesome. Good flavor, good texture, I could’ve had nothing but that for dinner. The flan was good as well. Although the texture of it was quite thick and dense, so I was confused as to why they called it a flan. Flans are usually really soft and light… But the flavor was great and I didn’t mind the texture. It worked well together. I felt a little better after the desserts…the restaurant had somewhat redeemed itself...just a bit.

These were the other dishes that I didn’t get to try:

Black Sesame Soba (cold dipping soba) $10~
Short Rib Soup Curry Rice (a special of the day).This actually looked really good. I wish I could’ve tried some of it. I’m sure it was definitely more flavorful than all the soba dishes.
Overall, I was incredibly disappointed. I’m not an expert in Japanese soba or anything so I don’t know if this was as authentic as everyone said, but I would hope that the real soba would have more flavor than this. The dishes were just bland and uninspiring. I did not feel happy while eating it. Other than the risotto and desserts, I would not order any of the other dishes again. I’m somewhat tempted to go back just so I can try other stuff to let the restaurant redeem itself, but another part of me just thinks that it would be a waste of money. I definitely don’t recommend the soba dishes, but if you still want to check this place out, the décor and service are top notch and maybe the other dishes aren’t quite as boring.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Monday, April 13, 2009

Birthday Bonus~

I’m on a lot of mailing lists for restaurants around town, so around my birthday my mail box was bombarded by different coupons, offers, and free stuff. One of those offers was a free entrée at Houlihan’s in Addison. Heck yea!!! Who am I to pass up free food!! Hehe. :P

My friend and I went for dinner last week. Before ordering I told the waiter about the coupon and he said “you can order anything you want!” SWEEEET!!! After asking for his recommendations on the various steaks, I decided on the USDA Prime Top Sirloin (9 oz. sirloin tender aged and basted with red wine garlic butter, choice of potato, and asparagus). $18.25~ and added 5 grilled jumbo shrimp for $5.95. Why not? It’s all included! :P

I got the steak medium rare of course (the only way to eat a steak!) with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The steak was full of flavor. It was slightly more medium than medium rare but that wasn’t too big of a deal. The grilled shrimp was delicious and quite big. The dish as a whole was pretty good. Plus it was free so I have no complaints. Haha. Although if you are craving steaks, I would recommend you go to an actual steakhouse instead of Houlihan’s.

My friend got the Vietnamese Shrimp Salad (pea greens, cucumbers, mango, mint, wasabi peas, sweet and sour dressing) (can substitute with seared tuna). $12.95~ He got it without the mango and with the tuna instead of shrimp. This dish is marked as a “lower-calorie” option... I can see why.
It was very light and fresh, but also very small… If you are hungry, this wouldn’t satisfy you. The flavor was really good…nothing was overpowering (I was a little worried that the mint would be too much). It’s a good dish, but for 13 bucks I would want to eat something more filling.


We also got dessert. They recently started offering Italian-Style Donut Flight (cinnamon, nutmeg, dark chocolate Kahlua and white chocolate Bailey’s dipping sauces). $5.95~ I’ve been meaning to try it for awhile. It was SUPER good! The donuts were crispy on the outside and light, warm, fluffy on the inside. The donuts had a bit of cinnamon sugar in it so it was good on its own, but the sauces, especially the chocolate one were divine!! The chocolate kahlua ganache was sooooooooo yummy. After all the donuts were gone, I licked the glass clean! No joke! :P The white chocolate sauce was a little bit more runny in its consistency…more like a glaze than the kahlua one. If you are a chocolate lover, you MUST try this!!!!

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**I do have to add a side note. After dinner we went to the bar area for the reverse happy hour. When we were ready to pay we told the waitress to split the bill 4 ways (since there were 4 of us) and put 1 on the first 2 cards and 2 on the 3rd card. She said "ok". I made a joke that she's going to put $2 on the 3rd card...and sure enough...that's what she did. We laughed hysterically. We didn't make it sound confusing or anything so I can't believe she actually did that! This was a different girl than our waiter during dinner (so it's not counted in the above ratings). But I'd give her a 2 for overall service....**

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Birthday - Part II Delizioso!

The birthday saga continues!! This is my Saturday dinner with more awesome friends and family. I chose to go to Penne Pomodoro, this little Italian place on Preston and Forest. I don’t know why I’ve never heard of this place…it’s cute and cozy with a friendly staff.

Penne Pomodoro
11661 Preston Road
Dallas, TX 75230
(214) 368-3100
http://www.pennepomodoro.com/

Price: $-$$

Since this dinner was for a large group of people, I wanted to find something that most people would like to eat. Can’t go wrong with Italian…everyone loves pasta! So I found out that my first choice had closed down, but that turned out to be the best thing ever because I discovered this place. I went in one day just to check the place out and really liked the setting. I was put in contact with the general manager, Toni, who was just the nicest lady to work with. She was very accommodating to my big reservation and assured me that they will do the best they can to make our dinner a great experience. :)


The day of the dinner finally came! I was a little nervous that the food wouldn’t be good since no one had been here before. But after the appetizers, I wasn’t too worried anymore.


We were in 3 separate tables since there were too many people, so I will only be blogging about my table.

For appetizers, we got the Calamari Fritti (served crispy with spicy marinara sauce & spicy tomato aioli). $6.95~ The calamari was pretty good, like most other calamari I’ve had in other places. The squid was tender, slightly chewy, with a good amount of breading on the outside.

We also ordered the Focaccia Bread (made with rosemary, garlic & cheese, and baked). $4.95~ This was super tasty. For 5 bucks you get one as big as a pizza. The bread was just crispy enough, with lots of herbs and cheese. If I didn’t get an entrée, I could’ve just snacked on this all night!

Next were the salads. I got the Insalata della Casa, or house salad (mixed greens & cherry tomatoes, served with balsamic vinaigrette). $4.95~ I really liked this salad. The vinaigrette is not your typical olive oil vinaigrette. It seemed to have a little bit of creaminess added to it. It wasn’t overwhelming and wasn’t too tart which sometimes balsamic can be. It was very fresh and flavorful.
So far so good!

My mom ordered the Tuscan Salad (mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, peppers, Tuscan bread & parsley with lemon-herb vinaigrette). $5.25~ This was also really good. It’s just as fresh with lots of color and flavor. Although I still liked mine better just because I liked the dressing on mine better than this one.

Time for the main courses! We ordered the Paglia e Fieno (green and white tagliolini pasta tossed with peas, prosciutto, mushrooms and cream sauce au gratin) $13.50~ and the Genovese (white pizza with pesto, mozzarella, caramelized onions, grilled chicken) $10.50~ to share. My favorite of the two was definitely the pasta. It was nice and creamy and full of ingredients. There were lots of mushrooms, crisped prosciutto and peas. The top was crusted with parmesan!! I’m hungry just thinking about it now… The green and white pasta with the peas also added a splash of color. Since it was a cream sauce, it was a little heavy, but it was totally what I wanted!

The pizza was also a great choice. It was not greasy at all. It was a change from typical pizza with marinara. The pesto made it more interesting and the combination of the onions and chicken was great. And the crust was awesome. My favorite part of a pizza is definitely the crust. I think the crust can make or break a pizza.

My mom and sister shared a Create Your Own Pasta: Fettucine pasta with Arrabiata sauce (crushed red peppers, garlic, olive oil & basil with tomato sauce) $10.95~ (plus chicken + $3.50~). They weren’t too impressed with this dish. The noodles were overcooked so they were a little too soft. The sauce was average. It wasn’t a bad dish, but not memorable either.

A friend of mine ordered the Fettucine al Limone con Pollo (fettucine pasta tossed with chicken, alfredo sauce, lemon zest and parmesan cheese). $13.50~ This is his staple Italian pasta dish. Any new Italian place, he’ll have to order the Fettucine Alfredo. He loved it! He said this was one of the most authentic Alfredo he’s had in a long time. Everything from the look to the pasta to the hint of lemony tartness was spot on.

After dinner, the restaurant told me I was going to get a free dessert for my birthday! WOOT! I got to choose from their dessert platter with 5-6 different choices. I finally decided on the crème brulee. It was what I expected a crème brulee to be, creamy and smooth with a nice crunchy sugary shell on top.

Here are some other dishes that I didn’t get to try. But both plates were completely devoured so I'm thinking they were pretty good. haha.

Petto di Pollo alla Griglia (marinated grilled breast of chicken with lemon, garlic & rosemary; served with seasonal vegetables and potatoes of the day) $13.50~

Baked Ziti al Telefono (Ziti pasta baked with sweet Italian sausage ragout, tomato and mozzarella cheese) $13.50~




I want to thank Toni and Penne Pomodoro for making my birthday such a great experience. The food was superb and everyone had a good time. I will definitely be going back in the future to try more stuff!! :D


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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Birthday - Part I @ Fuse!

**Update 12.28.10**
Fuse is now closed.
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My birthday weekend was a blast!! I got to see so many of my awesome friends and try new restaurants with lots of yummy food! We started off on Friday night at Fuse for dinner. www.fusedallas.com I’ve been wanting to check out Fuse for a really long time so it was a great opportunity to go for my birthday. I’ve heard about their pool side lounge area so that sounded like something cool to check out after dinner and maybe get some drinks.
With no further ado, on to the food! There’s LOTS of it!! :D


For starters, we ordered the Spicy Fuse Popcorn (clarified butter, arbol chiles, parmesan). $4~ We’ve read reviews online that rave about this so we had to try it. It was definitely interesting. Big bursts of flavor with the parmesan, sometimes was a little overwhelming and salty. I liked it…but at the end of the day…it’s still just popcorn… It was definitely not as ‘AWESOME’ as some of the reviews have said, but if you love popcorn…this might be your thing.

A friend of mine also ordered the appetizer Braised Brisket Potstickers (Anaheim chiles and citrus dipping sauce). $8~ First of all, for $8 to get 5 potstickers, I expect it to deliver. I enjoyed the crispiness on the outside, sometimes certain places don’t make them crispy enough. However, the filling inside was really dry. :/ You would think that ‘braised’ brisket would mean that is so tender that it melts in your mouth… I have a feeling that by having the outershell so crispy, they’ve over cooked the filling. I would skip this and try another appetizer there.

Time for the entrees!!! There were so many choices that I wanted to try. Luckily, there were plenty of friends there to order different things so I could try them all! MUAHAHA~ :P

I ordered the Nori Roasted Chicken (plantain-bacon hash, curry creamed summer spinach). $15~

I saw plantains and spinach and I was sold! But…my excitement was short lived. The chicken was quite tender and had good flavor, but the plantains were slightly undercooked and dry. Despite the plantains, I still enjoyed the dish. The chicken was cooked nicely and the sauce and spinach complemented it very well.

Next is the Wasabi Crispy Chicken (wasabi pea crust, buttery mashers, jalapeno gravy). $14~
This was my other choice as my entrée. I liked this dish a lot. It was an interesting twist on the southern classic of chicken fried chicken and potatoes. It had nice burst of pepper in every bite. I love pepper! Can’t get enough of it! And you can never go wrong with fried chicken and mashed potatoes. The jalapeno peppers on top of the chicken added some serious heat! YUMM! I ended up swapping my dish to eat more of this one. Hehe.

My absolute favorite dish of the night was the Tenderloin of Beef (potato puree, Japanese eggplant, and chipotle butter). $27~
The beef was perfectly cooked…sooooo tender and juicy. The potato was silky smooth and paired wonderfully with the beef. This wasn’t my dish so I didn’t get to try all the elements, but I’m not a fan of eggplant so it was ok that I skipped over that.

I got to have one bite of the Miso Lobster (parmesan risotto, texas sweet corn, white miso broth). $32~ I’m not a fan of lobster…I know, I know…I’m weird like that… I love lobster sashimi, but cooked lobster doesn’t do much for me. The lobster was cooked nicely and had a good texture to it, but I thought it was a little bland. I didn’t get to try it with the risotto, so maybe that would’ve added some extra flavor.

This is the Laksa Salmon (shrimp broth, cilantro, laksa leaves, vermicelli noodles). $16~ The salmon was nicely cooked and the dish had lots of great colors. My friend finished it all, so I’m assuming it was pretty good, but he said that it wasn’t enough food and was still hungry afterwards.

My friend got the Hibachi Chicken Pad Thai (snow peas, cashews, cilantro). $12~
She was very very disappointed with the dish. She said the noodles were really dry and just overall not good. She said to rate this dish half a cookie just because she was hungry and forced it down…otherwise she said it deserves zero cookies.

I didn’t get to try any of the sushi, but to me they were not up to standards. The quality and look of the rolls were already not up to par. I have pretty high standards when it comes to sushi. I think the way sushi is assembled is almost as important as the freshness and taste. As you can see, most of these rolls look messy and lopsided. And I didn’t have to try it to know it wasn’t that great. My friend rated it 2.5-3 cookies which is below average.
Ahi Tuna Roll, Fuse Roll (snow crab, salmon, asparagus and carrot wrapped in cucumber) $11~, Downtown Roll (tempura yellowtail with cream cheese and roasted jalapenos) $13~, Spider Roll (crispy soft shell crab with cucumber, avocado and ponzu) $12~.

Overall, I think the food at Fuse is hit or miss. There are definitely some great dishes and some that are not good at all. So hopefully I’ve been able to give some insight into what to get if you ever decide to check out Fuse.

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Oh yea, if you’ve noticed…I did not order dessert this time. That’s because we brought our own cake… Red velvet cake from Kroger for $12.99…totally awesome! Super moist and delicious and enough to feed 12-16 people!! :D




~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~