Boulder’s Tastes of Korea

Ever since moving to Boulder, we’ve been experiencing all sorts of great ethnic and domestic cuisine. Dot’s Diner, which we visited today, is Alana’s go-to breakfast spot; Tibet Kitchen is our favorite lunch special; Kho’s Asian Bistro in Longmont might be our top choice for dining out. However, that top spot was potentially challenged in the past few days as we decided to give two Korean spots in Boulder a try. The bar was set high because of past experiences, but I’m an easy going guy sometimes. So here are the two comparative “restaurant” reviews.

Friday night, after Tangier Moroccan was closed because of a private party (very unreliable spot), we crossed the street to finally give Korea House a try. It was a cold, dark and quiet night and we were starving. When we walked in the door, I was immediately very excited. We hadn’t had Korean food since visiting a Korean spa in Fort Lee, NJ. It was a very cute atmosphere with an overload of Northeast Asian trinkets that obviously didn’t bother me at all. Sometimes I like having more to look at.

Essentially, the music was authentic and varied, the service was friendly and efficient, and the food was delicious and healing. We had a kimchi pancake and vegetable dumplings to start. Alana had a ginger-honey tea and I had a barley tea. Her’s was delicious and mine was warming. For entrees, she got the calamari bbq while I got the beef bbq and a traditional bowl of vegetables, beef, and an egg on top. Alana’s dish wasn’t quite what she expected, but she ate most of it. My bulgogi and bibimbap were delicious! The green tea mochi ice cream was so good that I ate my half, and I don’t like mochi ice cream. It was about $60 in total, but we were full enough and it was well worth it in terms of atmosphere, service, and taste.

The next day we ventured to A Cup of Peace for lunch. It was much different so I don’t want to compare the two. They have a sign that says this is not a typical Korean restaurant. Well, it’s not quite a restaurant, but rather a cafe. Their focus is beverages including tea and coffee. The atmosphere was much simpler and the food was generally more expensive, less filling, and not as good. The service was quick but you don’t get served. It was about $30 for bibimbap, bbq beef in a different form, and a plate of mixed sides for Alana. We weren’t very full after it and while Alana loved the pickled sides at Korea House, she didn’t touch them more than once at A Cup of Peace. I’m sure there are many people that would prefer this spot, but it’s not one we’ll likely return to due to our own likes and dislikes.

Also, I have been very sick and sore lately and after having Korea House, I felt healed. After A Cup of Peace, I had some stomach issues.

So, try to find a Korean restaurant around you, grab a meal, and let us know how it is! Maybe we’ll try to stop by there on our journeys. Until then, stay hungry and fit!

Dec152012

Breakfast Spotlight: Dot’s Diner

Alana would probably be more fitting to write this post about Dot’s Diner because she’s been there more and she also likes it a bit more, but I can still tell people how delicious it can be. Dot’s is a throwback baby-boomer themed breakfast diner that has a little bit of a Nepali twist to it. Their Nepali cooks make sure that the daily curries and chai are up to authentic standards, but we haven’t tried any lunch entrees there yet. We go for the breakfast and have brought everyone that has visited, from parents, to grandparents, to friends to Dot’s for breakfast. Everything here is good and some things are really good, nothing bad so far for us and we’ve been nearly ten times in just the few months we’ve been in Boulder.

I’ve gotten the trout and eggs, AM sandwich, omelettes, and house breakfast. I like their eggs and they have really good home made hashbrowns, no grease or excess oil to be found. The service is typically good, usually the water is always refilled quickly, but not today. My hands are still cold and my stomach still isn’t feeling good so this isn’t the best, most in depth, lengthy post like usual.

Their standout feature, typically but not today, are their biscuits. They are made in the kitchen and typically aren’t greasy, or too hard, they just have a very nice fluffy inside and some crunch on the outside. And they’re huge, and they have this amazing jelly that comes out of a squeeze bottle, which is a genius idea. I usually have more jelly than biscuit.

Finally, it’s always busy but never so much that you have to wait, and it’s very affordable. A $20 bill for a breakfast that leaves two people nice and full.

So if you’re in Boulder and want a local breakfast spot that serves top five breakfast food, stop by Dot’s and play some baby boomer trivial pursuit and appreciate the warm decor throughout for a nice meal.

Nov192012

Restaurant Rave: Kho’s Asian Bistro

After our workouts (usually legs) at the Longmont YMCA, we typically go out to eat. It’s our eating-out treat day. And for the past two Fridays, we’ve gone to Kho’s Asian Bistro. You can guess if this is going to be a positive review or not. WE LOVE IT HERE. It’s not just the food, which is obviously made with love, but the incredible atmosphere and service.

So this place is tucked away, literally you have to go down No Name Road to get there. No, seriously, it exists. Once you get there, it’s in a complex with other shops. As soon as we walk in, we’re blasted to Malaysia, with fountains and beautiful sculptures and ethnic items on the wall. The sushi chef is the first to say hello and wave us to a table.

After being seated, we are soon approached by a waitress (all three we’ve interacted with have been absolutely great) and offered drinks. I almost without fail can never resist a Thai Iced Tea. Chris gets his green tea which comes in a huge pot and fills us up plenty.

We’re also pretty settled upon what we want at this point and we order our appetizer (Chris gets white rice, I get Hot n Sour Soup). The thing I love about this place is that everyone here is earnest and really wants to make you happy. We’re smiling as soon as we walk in the door.

We gobble down that quickly and we order our dishes. The first time, I got a Malaysian Curry and it was delicious (I could barely make a dent in it). Chris got the Una-Don which is his favorite. This time, I got the Buddhist Delight and he got Shrimp Ramen. I can never finish the dishes here, they’re so huge and decently priced. Packed with flavor but none of the heavy sauces that always hurt my tummy.

You can just tell: IT LOOKS DELICIOUS. BECAUSE IT IS. And that’s not all. This is the second time we’ve been here and the second time we’ve received a little special something on the house. This time it was two veggie pieces of sushi. Needless to say, we were happy.

Speaking of sushi, they have the best white tuna I’ve tasted so far. Haven’t loved it (because we’re spoiled from the coasts), but I definitely ate all my pieces last time I had some. The only negative about this restaurant is that they don’t have ethnic music on…it’s current music which we dislike. All in all, this is a fantastic joint and we will be coming back every Friday. We feel so welcomed, wanted, and happy that we’d be fools to go elsewhere. Thanks Kho’s Asian Cuisine! And where else can you find such great fortune cookie fortunes…

Cheers!

Nov012012

Halloween Feast: Open WIDE

We live in an apartment complex where kids wouldn’t exactly walk up to. There’s plenty of college kids living here and some other sketchy folk, so we decided to not give out here. We decided that we (Chris, cousins, & co.) would go to my aunt’s house in a very much-more family-friendly area. It’s also big, spacious and lovely. The perfect spot for some Halloween fun.

As soon as I was out of work, I raced home with a huge list of things to bring on my mind. First, I made some of my guacamole (which I ended up having to make a second batch because people [CHRIS] ate all of it before the main dish was out). Then, I put the pumpkins in the car, the Halloween cookies, the laundry (yes we brought our laundry over), CANDY, red wine, and apple cider. Was that it? Oh yes, and the kittens! It was the first time they’ve been over to my aunt’s house since they’ve finally gotten their Rabies shots (yay!). So I shoved both of them in the cat carrier and headed over to my aunt’s house.

Once there, I found Megan (my cousin) already preparing her wild-caught fish tacos. It was a big project, but she used top-notch ingredients, even made her own aioli chipotle sauce. She battered them in panko breadcrumbs, turned out absolutely fabulous. Fred, her boyfriend, and his brother made a top notch cole-slaw that would go on top. And then my guacamole on top of that. It was amazing. Seriously. Better than any taco place can give out. Just LOOK at it.

Main show of the feast, everyone put a little something in and it turned out to be excellent

We had a lovely appetizer of bread and baked brie with a chipotle cranberry sauce (might have been pomegranate, never get it right). Again, delicious.

We put on Monsters Inc. (the most Halloween-y movie we could find) and enjoyed our dinner immensely. As soon as we were done, Chris immediately wanted to put the cookies in the oven. They’re his favorite kind of cookies. Basic sugar cookies with Halloween deco on them.

And they didn’t last too long….

By the time these were done with, we really couldn’t move. All on the couch, kitties laying peacefully across us (why didn’t I get pics of that?!), blissfully enjoying our full bellies.

And of course, the mess in the kitchen was as usual (and as should be!) after any well-prepared feast. And Ben (my other cousin) cleaned everything up, thanks Ben!

Overall, it was a great Halloween, full of food, friends, and family (what else matters, really?). The only bummer was that we only got three batches of trick or treaters. We would get so excited when the doorbell rings I think we kind of scared them off. Anyways, it was a great time.

Nymeria didn’t like her outfit as much as we did.

Happy Halloween!

Sep262012

Restaurant Review: Conor O’Reilly’s? O’Neils?

This Sunday, after feeling sick with a sore throat and congestion but still trying to do chores all day, I went to pick up Alana at work. After a shift that started at 6:30 a.m., you could imagine how tired and hungry she was. While at the grocery store picking up some staples (not actual metal staples, but staple foods), we were not looking forward to our scheduled 6-8 o’clock workout at the BRC (Boulder Rock Club). I commented that I would much rather have fish and chips than work out… and Alana agreed. So, we googled “best fish and chips in Boulder” and the results were pretty clear. Conor O’Neils. Even though its Yelp page made it look more like a bar that was mostly popular with the college kids, we decided that the menu, which boasted a $12 fish and chips (so cheap!) was worth a try.

We drove and walked there and boy were we surprised. It’s tucked in right in Downtown Boulder, on 13th between Pearl and Walnut. It was MUCH bigger than I imagined it would be, based off pictures and reviews. There was the bar as we entered and then there was a “dining room”… and another… and another… and another. Seriously, this place had tons of seating and not all the rooms had huge tv’s, some really seemed that they were there for dining. Since it was post-happy hour Sunday night, and post-football games (I assume), it was pretty empty. We sat in the back, in one of the many beautifully decorated rooms. The decor reminds me of a mixture between the Shire and a fishing restaurant… and a log cabin. Very interesting at the least, not to mention the unique tree in the middle of the restaurant covered in warm-lighted Christmas lights.

Skipping some steps, we got the spinach dip for an appetizer, I got fish and chips, Alana got the Boulder Salad and a side of pub chips. For dessert, I got the Brownie and Bailey’s, and Alana got the strawberry rhubarb cobbler.

The spinach dip was good, and a decent value for the serving size. Would only serve 2 though. The fish and chips were WELL WORTH 12 dollars. My fish was slightly under-cooked, and I had to get my own malt vinegar, but the pub chips were top notch and required no condiments. Alana’s salad was blah… very bland, nothing special. Wouldn’t recommend it.

Alana’s bland salad

Same with the cobbler, too much sweetness killed what we ordered it for… the bitterness of the rhubarb (Alana’s mom makes the BEST rhubarb pie, hands down). My brownie dessert was ridiculously amazing and I have wanted another every night since then. No, seriously, I bring it up at least every six hours a day. Worth every penny. So I would obviously say go and get the fish and chips and Brownies and Bailey’s. We didn’t drink that night so nothing for that. However, their selection looked vast enough, especially if you’re in the mood for whiskey. The bill was reasonable and the service good enough to garner our usual 20 percent tip. (My water was always nearly full.)

My Brownie and Bailey’s…I want more

Now the real treat. Sunday nights at 8 p.m., there is some form of an Irish cultural event, I believe. We got to see and hear, in the room we chose to dine in, luckily, a little Irish jam group? Now it was very traditional with strings, percussion, raw vocals and all the tunes were pure and classic, but they kind of just threw everything together in a very relaxed way. It was lovely with the exception of one string that was always a little off key.

Attempted creeper shot at the Irish group playing awesome tunes

I would completely recommend this place for a nice dinner for a small party on a Sunday night, especially a date for a new or old couple, like ourselves. For a new couple, there are lots of conversation starters that might help spur some conversation and it’s not too fancy or too casual/boring.

Decor: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Food: 3/5
Value: 4/5
Overall: 3/5 (Good!)

Sep132012

Happy Birthday, Chris!

You’re an old man now (24 to be exact). So, I’ll direct you to this post for what we did over the past weekend (kind of our birthday weekend/week). That was all a bunch of fun, definitely some good times. His exact birthday was yesterday, September 12th.

Anyhow, two nights ago we decide to have a joint birthday dinner. I ask Chris what he wants for dinner and he says (can you guess?)…SUSHI! So sushi it is! We invite Marga, Ben, and Megan to meet us for a 7:30pm dinner at Sushi Tora. It was nice on the interior and very busy. We arrived in the rain, and were lucky enough to find a spot right in front! A very rare occurrence anywhere near Pearl St. Once everyone arrived, we started off with some Magic Mushrooms–a very popular appetizer there. I believe it contained salmon, mushroom, and some sort of other flavor. Looked good.

We stayed there for a few hours and ordered a lot off the menu (well, Chris did at least). I got some delicious tuna and smoked white tuna sushi (nigiri). I didn’t really like the smoked flavor of the white tuna, just because I’m so in love with white tuna (it’s my favorite, just so you know)

Chris ordered two entrees: cod and mackerel (not raw). He ate them up pretty quickly.

Mackerel: GREAT protein-wise and omega-3s!

Megan and Marga then split a DELICIOUS tempura-battered brie with sliced apples (or were they pears?) with honey. Very very good.

Then, Marga, Ben, and Megan split a bunch of different rolls, all of which mostly contained salmon and eel, I believe. They looked very tasty.

We then ended the night with banana tempura, which was extra delicious. Very sweet and under a base of caramel, mmm! Overall, this place was good, not great, but still an excellent time with family and just enjoying the night. The price didn’t quite match the value, but it’s a big step up from Japango. Our next Sushi adventure will be at Sushi Zanmai, which is supposed to be superb. Can’t wait to try it out!

We went to bed full and happy, having had a really fun night. The next morning, we woke up to wet grounds outside and a steady trickle of rain. I looked at the forecast: 57 degrees alllll day. I knew Chris would be happy. He likes the cold. I don’t quite like the cold (sorry, I’m from SoCal), but I do enjoy my rain and it gives a great reason to stay inside and be happy. Which we did when we could. With the looming chore of the DMV before us, I wanted to take Chris out to a place that had good croissants for breakfast. So I put on my jeans and my NZ gumboots (rare recently, due to it being a usual 90 degrees and all) and we drove to Spruce Confections.

It was delicious (see above). We got two croissants, one mixed berry with chocolate scone, hot chocolate, and Bhakti Chai. We really enjoyed the croissants–they were fresh, buttery, and had a perfect taste. The scone was good, but didn’t compare to the croissant. The hot chocolate was soul-warming, but needed to be a tad bit sweeter, but we will definitely again. Now, the Bhakti Chai was intense. It had the strongest ginger flavor I had ever tasted in a chai before! If anyone is sick, pick up a cup of this stuff! Well, anyhow, it was an adorable little cafe/bakery with quirky girls working the shop, rain dripping down outside, and a couple of cute dogs hiding under tables waiting for their owners to hurry up with their drink. They will definitely see us here again. We can’t wait to go here during the winter, I have a feeling the scene will be perfect.

I then spent the next 3 hours in the DMV, getting a Colorado license while Chris happily sat in the car, playing a new game I got him for his birthday on his 3DS. We then both had work, but by the time 8pm rolled around, we were hungry. Chris picked me up and we discussed dinner. We had recently walked to Marshall’s and on the way, our noses were hijacked by the most wonderful smell…wafting from a big Indian restaurant (Jai Ho). So, last night, we decided to go. It was very good, very quiet, and very atmospheric. We had samosas, garlic naan, a mushroom dish, and a curry dish (which was spicy even though the waiter insisted it was the non-spicy one Chris could get). I guess we’ll need to say “non-Indian non-spicy” next time.

He also got a lot of great birthday loot, including some video games, music, checks, and cards, so thank you everyone!! Cheers 🙂

P.S.- Sorry for skipping a day, beloved readers, as you can see we were very busy yesterday and the night before. Thanks, as always, for reading!

Sep102012

Happy Birthday, Alana!

So, I failed Saturday because I was feeling lazy and Alana bailed me out, AND yesterday I was feeling sick and she didn’t bail me out. So here’s a few-days overdue post of our plans for Alana’s birthday and how they actually worked out. So basically…

We wake up on Saturday, September 8th and Alana is nearly 22 years old, American age. She’d be 23 in Korea. Now, she says she was born around 10 am Pacific time, so it’s not quite her birthday but that’s fine. So, actually at midnight, the night before, Alana opened her presents/cards from my family back home (thanks Mom, Dad, and Andrew for the check) and her family back home, thanks Kai for making so much and being so generous, and thanks mum and Dad for the jandals, tiger shirt, and being so generous. So, back to Saturday morning.

Marga invited us out for breakfast and we found ourselves at 10 a.m. at Tangerine on Iris and 28th. It was SOO busy so we knew it was a trendy spot with most-likely delicious food. Two minutes into the meal we got a surprise when Ben showed up. Ben and Marga got lattes, Alana got a chai, I drank water, and the food came out really quickly (it is breakfast food, but fancy). Alana got a vegetarian eggs benedict highlighted with pesto. The pesto was powerful and the eggs were cooked to perfection, along with some well seasoned taters. Marga got a prosciutto di parma wrapped egg-based dish, I think. It was really good and Ben eventually stole it because he wasn’t in the mood for his classic Belgian waffle with fruits and nuts on top. I couldn’t decide, because being a new pescatarian isn’t compatible at a breakfast place usually, and I got the flight of the pancakes, which is their sampler of three different pancakes. One was classic buttermilk, one was whole grain with some interesting toppings, and one was sweet with ricotta and blueberries on top. The maple syrup was good and by the end of the meal, after some plate passing, everything was finished off.

We sat around for a while and had some great conversation, about the democratic national convention and our political views. It is Boulder after all, so talking about politics was safe for us. Marga and Ben split the bill because they’re awesome. Ben had to leave to coach his girl’s soccer team and, as we left, Marga being the ridiculously nice and thoughtful person she is, gave Alana a present wrapped in a bag and some pet spot smell remover for our kitten accidents.

So, we got back home, Alana opened the beautiful wine glasses from Marga (thank you!) and we decided to go to the Boulder Farmer’s Market. We didn’t need much so we just got some Persian garlic. We walked there and back since it’s close and it was a beautiful day… it’s finally been getting cooler and I hope it wasn’t just a phase. Afterwards, we took a nap with the kitties and really did little to no work or chores.

5:30 rolls around and we have plans to visit my friend in Englewood (near Denver). The Buffs game ended hours ago and the Broncos didn’t have a game so we thought traffic wouldn’t be that bad. Well, it wasn’t LA or New York, but it took 80 minutes to go 33 miles on all highways. We stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some hard cider and a salad for our get together. We were going to make a salad at home, but our greens weren’t fresh and we weren’t about to serve them to friends.

So we roll into Englewood, interesting little area, and Garrett lets us into the parking garage. Now, Garrett was my co-worker at Hollister during high school. We played against each other in soccer and basketball in high school. I went to a small public school and he went to a smaller private school. We were both really bad schools for sports in general so nobody really won or lost. I haven’t seen him since high school because he went to CU Boulder and never returned because he loved it so much. Their apartment is beautiful and twice the size of ours, but they only have an original x-box and no matter how many emulators you have for retro-gaming, after selling 90% of my systems, our gaming is better.

But I digress. I was feeling very sick by the end of the day, but we still had a great time, meeting new people like Garrett’s better half “Lee.” She has a fun story having two parents in the military/government, I can’t say more because then my life might be in danger. Oh well, we just ate and hung out and caught up and can’t wait to see them again. Thanks everyone for an amazing birthday. Oh, and I got Alana a Star Wars the Old Republic graphic novel, Super Smash Brawl, and a huge zodiac tapestry for the bedroom wall. And that’s about it! OH and thank you Grandpa and Grandma Powell for the super generous card!!! 🙂

Sep062012

Gourmet in Boulder: Pizza Bagels

So, I’m not actually talking about those delicious little treats that can be found in the frozen food aisle. We know as long as you toast them in the oven and steer clear of the microwave (best-worst invention ever) that they’ll be reliably delicious, in a very cheap sense. I’m talking about pizza and bagels, specifically in Boulder. This will be similar to the sushi post; another rant because I’m not comfortable/in-shape so no fitness posts quite yet.

Now I won’t say that New Jersey or even New York has the best sushi, although Masa is supposed to be top notch, but it does truly have, overall, the best bagels and pizza in the United States, and from what I’ve tasted, in the world. I’m not talking about gourmet style artisan pizza, for the record, I’m talking about a good old fashioned throw it in the oven family style pizza pie. Some people say it’s the water where we’re from, some people say it’s the dense population of Italian-Americans, and some people say its the climate. I don’t know what the secret is, but there most certainly is a difference. And that has become very apparent in Boulder.

New Jersey

When Alana first came to New York, she thought she had good pizza in the city, but I brought her to New Jersey and had her experience real pizza. She’s stubborn and proud (in a good way) but she easily admitted how good it was. Then we moved onto bagels, where North Jersey took it home again. No competition. So growing up with pizza and bagels all the time, I wanted to keep eating them in Boulder. Alana didn’t object because the ones she had in Jersey made her crave them all the time. Then we got to Boulder and tried…

Cosmos, Blackjack, and Abo’s… and for bagels we went to Moe’s (all of these were recommended by individuals who have lived in Boulder… for their whole lives)… this is how it breaks down. And for the record, Colorado Daily, you had an article last week that talked about Abo’s being New York Style Pizza… you clearly don’t know what it is and you should do some more research before you put it into circulation. Here, I can make a mistake, because no one reads this.

We’ll go from worst to best.

Moe’s – Overpriced in every sense. The bagels are much more expensive than back home, they’re literally half the size, maybe even a third, and they don’t have the proper texture. I saw that a New York Style Bagel Sandwich was nearly $8. It had tomato, onion, lox, cream cheese, and something else. I had never heard of that before… so there goes the authenticity. Even if it is authentic, it can’t be because people from New York would know! Plus, that sort of sandwich wouldn’t be more than $4 back home, and it’d be twice the size. Moe’s bagels are smaller and harder than Dunkin Donuts. We had the Italian and the Pesto, and they were little rocks. I can’t even put into words what it’s like to bite into a bagel back home, but it was the total opposite of this. I got an egg and cheese on the pesto bagel. The egg was one of those disgusting pre-made patties. This was just garbage. Alana disagreed but I gave this place a 0/5, no questions asked. I wouldn’t consider going back there again. But then again, there are several locations. They didn’t even have ketchup so I could drown the taste of that horrible sandwich. Her Italian bagel with cream cheese was better, but still not even good

Blackjack – Horrible Domino’s ripoff. Same style but worse taste and texture. We didn’t know it was like that so it was our mistake. If we want that kind of cheap late pizza we’ll never go back to Blackjack. Domino’s is the easy choice, same price and better quality. Delivery service was good though.

Abo’s – Again, that article was very off in calling this New York style. It’s not. The texture wasn’t bad either… the texture was in fact almost good enough to want to get again. It was the taste that killed it for me. It tasted like… absolutely nothing. Some of the blandest pizza I have ever had in my life. The sauce, the cheese, the dough… all bland. Plus, it was relatively expensive for the size of the pizza. Alana didn’t mind it, but she’s not as picky as I am with pizza. Delivery service was good, but at that price for that serving size and quality, wouldn’t get it again.

Cosmos– There is some real potential here. With the reasonably priced extra large pies, and a solid texture to the pizza, Cosmos is hands down the best we’ve had so far. The marinara is a bit spicy for me, I don’t think it’s the right move, but that’s the chef’s choice and I can’t do anything about it. Even with that spice, it’s still got the texture and flavor to buy again, which is what we did. We’ve already had it twice, and with a jar of spicy ranch in the fridge for Alana, we’ll definitely get it many more times.

Well that’s it for tonight. As we have more pizza and bagels in Boulder and the surrounding areas, I will make sure to update the blog with what we’ve found but until then this is what we’ll have to work with so I’ll be missing Jersey a bit more than normal.

P.S.- This may have sounded kind of harsh, we didn’t hear back from the jobs we wanted today and the darn bulb in the bedroom blew. We love you all! Thanks for reading

Aug312012

The Best Waste of $98 EVER!?

Who: Alana and Chris
What: Hunger
When: Dinner time
Where: Boulder, Colorado
Why: Worked out
How: Via the Taurus

(Basically a review of Japango)

What a weird and pointless way to start what I want to say. So it’s Tuesday night, we just did some cardio (I swam 1650 yards, ask for the workout if interested, and she did the elliptical and bike) and then a get-back-into-shape-kinda lower body workout. Now Fred (Alana’s cousin [Megan]’s boyfriend from New Jersey) had mentioned that Japango has an all-you-can-eat-sushi night every Tuesday. Wait. Hold up one second. Did you just say all-you-can-eat SUSHI? Here in Boulder? Landlocked Colorado? Intriguing.

One of my absolute favorite things in the world and my favorite post workout meal… conveniently after our first night back in a real gym. I forced Alana to go (she didn’t put up much of a fight). So we jump in the car in our workout clothes and drive over to Pearl and Broadway, park the car for free since it’s past 7 p.m. and find the restaurant. We enter at about 9:05 and we know that is closes at 10:00, but that won’t be a problem… we’ve never had problems with all you can eat places closing early. (!)

As we’re greeted, relatively quickly for the small staff and decent sized crowd, we ask about the deal. What’s the deal? Well, in fact, it is $29.99…! What?! Thirty bucks? Oh man, have we been spoiled having it for way cheaper in New Jersey, but it’s worth it, or so we tell ourselves. The hostess continues, you can have all these hand rolls, these sushi, these special rolls, and these dishes from the kitchen. Cool. Not that we have ever been to a place that doesn’t include non-sushi items, but we started taking it for granted and to have it taken away now would be really heart-breaking. So we’re seated in a TINY table that we knew would NOT be able to fit all our food, but we didn’t bother to have it changed. The nice waitress comes, we order waters, and look at the menus/checklists. We start tallying stuff off, Alana orders a red wine sangria, we hand in the checklists knowing that we might only get one round’s worth of food because we showed up so late, and we wait for the kitchen stuff to come. (That’s right, I said stuff, so you can replace it with any word you feel is more intelligent because I love being not-intelligent sometimes)

We start with some house salads with ginger dressing. They’re big, and the greens are dark and there’s spinach! But the sauce is weak, tastes more like ranch than ginger. Bummer, I eat it all. So does she. Next, we get tuna salad! A bowl of the same greens… with three pieces of tiny seared tuna on top. But the sauce is amazing and has a nice zing to it, so naturally, I eat it all, and finish hers. Alana ordered me seaweed salad; how nice of her. And they even included three kinds of seaweed. It was good; they didn’t make it too spicy like other places often do! Next is the “tuna steak” or six-or-so pieces of the same tuna in the salad, but in more of a teriyaki sauce and it is lick the plate good! She ordered spicy calamari, which I can’t eat, and it was VERY spicy so she finished it all. She also got mussels, which were like cheesy clams casino and Alana had all three. I love cheese, but when it’s time for sushi night, cheese better stay out of the way. So far, it’s on track to be a good investment, but now the moments of truth are about to begin. (By the way, the sangria was very iced-down, very juiced down, very weak, etc. Didn’t last long but tasted good… but not worth six bucks).

Okay so, here’s my issue. I read in the Boulder Daily (I think that’s what it’s called) that Japango’s all you can eat sushi is world famous! It said the Daily Camera named it best sushi in 2010 and 2011, AND best Asian in 2010. And now I become a food snob. This was garbage. I should post a video rant because I can’t put it in text. Did they only try one place and not require that it had to be good…. or even decent? Best sushi? I’ve had tuna from my college’s cafeteria at 1 a.m., 16 hours after it was delivered from the sushi restaurant in downtown Manhattan, that was fresher than this tuna. And I didn’t just try a few things. I tried EVERYTHING (just about). Even the quail eggs. The squid, octopus, scallops, red clam, tuna, salmon, smoked salmon, white tuna, yellowtail, white fish, halibut, mackerel, etc. And to top it off, their orders are a two-piece minimum, so I got to taste two of everything. We also had eel hand rolls, tuna hand rolls, avocado roll, the Las Vegas roll, the New Orleans roll, and the Boulder roll. You can see for yourself, in the picture, what we ordered. I’m rambling, which is how I present my rants because I don’t like to prepare arguments all the time. Let’s continue.

Now, Alana does not like wasabi. Or horseradish. Anything along those lines. I know that a sushi chef does sometime have the tendency to smear some wasabi paste in between the rice and the fish, but in all-you-can-eat? With this horrible quality of fish? Are you trying that hard to mask the not fresh flavor of the fish with something so strong?

I eat sushi like this: I take the piece of sushi and put it right in my mouth. No soy sauce, no wasabi, no ginger. Why? Because that is how it’s supposed to be done. The chef should prepare a fresh piece of fish and properly cook and vinegar his rice, potentially brushing a special mixture of soy sauce and seasonings on top to compliment the flavor of the fish. Not kill it. Now I could care less what you do with your maki, hand rolls, special rolls, sashimi. I put whatever on all of those too. But sushi is sacred, the relationship between the rice and fish is crucial, and Alana doesn’t like wasabi, so don’t assume all fifty pieces of sushi should have it without asking!

I mean, you’re clearly not a real sushi chef if you’re willing to serve fish that bad! I could give you a grade of how fresh each type listed above was, but it’s not worth it. Some was fresh, some was kinda fresh, some wasn’t fresh at all. The hand rolls were okay but obviously someone didn’t rush to get them to us because the nori was soggy by the time I got it. (I always eat the handrolls first to prevent this soggy effect). The avocado rolls were ALL rice and no veggie. The specialty rolls were awful. Now, my number one rule of all-you-can-eat sushi is don’t get specialty rolls. They fill you up so you can’t eat the good stuff. These tasted like nothing. And they had a ton of great ingredients in them, on paper. But they weren’t fresh or prepared right and as a result I soaked it in soy sauce to eat it. Alana had white tuna, some avocado roll and some New Orleans roll. I ate everything else, or tried to.

Now, getting to the end. We knew that you get charged 50 cents for every piece left on the plate. I have NEVER been charged extra, but there’s a first time for everything. We got charged ten dollars, for 20 extra pieces. It was that bad. I wasn’t even full but I could not punish my stomach, who is so nice to me, by shoveling in more fish that was not fresh. I felt bad and was willing to pay. BUT we had fun! We had fun making fun of the guy behind us that was worshiping everything they put on his plate. Jiro Ono would have whooped that guy bad. The bill came and it was 30 for each of us, 6 for the drink, 6 for tax, and 10 for the extra sushi we did not eat. We gave the waitress, who was very good, a twenty percent tip of 16 dollars, and took our bag of leftovers home. (They let you bring the leftovers home, which they should because you paid for it.) And they sat in the fridge, and we threw them out the next morning. I felt horrible about it, but it was really bad. Now, could it be like this all the time? There’s no way! If it got those awards from the Camera, it must have it’s good days, but we’re never going back. And for me to not go to the only all you can eat sushi place where we live is a huge deal! Why’s that? Here’s why:

I have had sushi in the middle of the Atlantic, in Bermuda, in Peru, in South Korea, on top of a mountain in South Korea, in New York, in Los Angeles, in Miami, and tons of places in between. I’ve had all you can eat in three continents. In our last months in Jersey, we had it AT LEAST once a WEEK! We went to three places usually: Arigato in North Haledon (THE BEST!), Sushi X-1 in Ridgewood (PRETTY COOL!), and Gen in Ridgewood (Not bad!), and they cost us 20/22/20 per person. They offer more kitchen goods and sushi, free desserts, and the fish is fresh, most of the time! (LOOK AT THE PICS AT THE BOTTOM)

It must be that here in Boulder it’s hard and expensive to get fresh fish, which we understand! But if it’s not fresh, DON’T SERVE IT! Are you going to serve a raw filet at a steak house? I would hope not. It could get you in trouble. I wish the all-you-can-eat sushi crew was there to help us out. Dan Liwanag, the first person I had all you can eat sushi with, Scott Reiners, the co-founder of weekly all you can eat night, Allan Wu, aka Master Wusabi, who gets us the freshest fish by talking to waitresses in their native tongues, Scott Polhemus, the wind tunnel when it comes to downing Japanese alcohol and food in a way that would please a shogun, and Dr. Capitani for starting the original “sushi night.” (Adam and Aedan, future members of the crew, I salute you!)

Master Wusabi when he’s not eating sushi

Master of Windtunnelling Food

We want to keep this tradition alive, but if Japango is all that Boulder can offer, that tradition will die soon. We will have to try other places and not get all you can eat to see who has the best in Boulder.

Japango’s ratings!

Service: 4/5
Decor: 2/5
Music: 1/5
Kitchen food: 2/5
Sushi: 1/5
Price value: 2/5
X factor: 0/5* (No slices of oranges or pineapple!!!)
Overall: 12/30 (Maybe give it a chance… maybe… one time)

UPDATE: My weekly contest! Whoever can submit the best Japanese dining experience will be sent a special prize related to this topic. I don’t care if you’re in Malaysia or Philadelphia, I’ll get it to you for your efforts and dedication!

PREVIEW: I’ll be bashing the Boulder Daily Paper’s review of pizza. Obviously whoever wrote it and compared certain pizza to New York style isn’t from New York!

Thanks for reading! If you made it this far you get to use this free joke I stole from Alana who stole it from Twitter…

How come the T-Rex couldn’t shake hands?

Because it was dead!

(Oh, and here is the appendix, a graveyard of past, and better, all you can eat sushi nights with the individuals listed above and some extras who I apologize for not including, like Brit!)

And this…oh definitely this…is how sushi SHOULD be made. Thank you, New York

Aug142012

Welcome to Boulder!

So we’ve finally arrived to Boulder, Colorado–our new home after graduating college. We took a road trip from New York all the way to here then to California then back to here again. It was many long hot hours in a cramped car, but we got to see a lot of America which was really enjoyable.

We got an apartment (450 sq ft) and set to decorating and finding some furniture. After dumpster diving, we ended up with a comfortable futon bed, a bookshelf, and a bedside table. Although we may not have all the furniture yet, we certainly got the food down after several trips to various grocery stores.

Our first cooked meal was a breakfast. Stir-fried eggs with spinach and soy sauce to top. Pretty simple, pretty fast, all with fresh ingredients:

Happy with our first meal, we got back to work: rearranging the limited furniture we had, cleaning the floors and walls, and going out to buy goods we needed like tongs, a trash can, and more hangers. We found that the Boulder Public Library was very close, had great hours, beautiful architecture, and–most importantly–FREE WIFI! We both had lots to do online. It really throws you off after having Internet close to your finger tips at all times to going to no internet anywhere in the house (or in our case, the apartment). So we began to spend hours and hours in there, getting stuff done, job applications, and relaxing.

With our business and craze of getting the apartment together, we ate lunch almost every day at a great Tibetan family-owned place called Tibet Kitchen. Amazing lunch deals ($4.95 for a lunch plate with 1 entree and a huge bed of rice) and a great atmosphere, we had to keep coming back (plus it’s only a 5 minute walk from our apartment).

After eating to our heart’s content out, we knew we had to keep dinners in the apartment to save some pennies. We went to the grocery store (so far we’ve visited King Sooper’s, Safeway, and Whole Foods) and did our casual browsing. We came across some wild-caught shrimp for a reduced price. Chris loves to cook seafood so we scored right away.

That night, he made garlic shrimp. Very simple, throw a bunch of fresh shrimp (dead, of course) into a frying pan, pour some oil and garlic in and let it cook! One of the more simpler things to cook. We had a great messy meal, getting oil and garlic all over our hands as we de-shelled the shrimp and popped ’em in our mouths. Pretty delicious and a very low budget meal. We had plenty of leftovers the next day to make curried shrimp and mushrooms over rice the next day.

And here we are, in Boulder, slowly settling in and our apartment is looking like it’s becoming a home. We love it here. And we’ll love it even more after we get out on the rocks tonight to practice climbing with family.