At Least They Had Karaoke

It finally happened. After all the years of holding out and being the oddball ordering a teriaki plate, I gave in to eating sushi. It took place at a very appropriate place for me, Sushi 80's in Fresno. Since Fresno is the place that I was first encouraged to try sushi, I think it was only right that my first sushi experience was there. Another reason this place was especially fitting for the occasion is that Sushi 80's has karaoke after 8 everyday, for those who know me, know I love karaoke. So let's get into it.

The only thing that I was looking for was something with the raw fish but without crab meat...but it seemed like EVERYTHING had crab. So i found something that seemed safe enough, but asked them to leave out the crab. It was an Asuka Roll, it was compsed of Spicy Tuna, Cucumber, Avocado and Crab meat(that i had taken out) with fresh Tuna on top with some kind of sauce...it might have been eel sauce(which sounds kinda nasty when you think about it). That is an actual photo by the way.

I don't know why in the hell people go out to eat this stuff! The best thing about it was the crazy mixture of sauce that I dipped my roll in(Ginger, Soy Sauce, Wasabi). The roll itself had a kick to it from the spicy tuna, but that was about it. I think something that I was concerned about, that most people told me wasn't true about sushi, was the fishy taste. And they were right, it doesn't taste like fish at all, actually you can't taste a damn thing! It was like, hey how about we give you a bunch of stuff that doesn't have taste aaaaand you do something to it to make it taste good. I'll give it to them for the presentation though, sushi is probably one of the coolest looking things you can eat. But unfortunately I base my eating decisions on taste.

I think sushi is going to be one of those foods that I only have once. I don't see myself going out to get another roll anytime soon. I'm glad I did it though, but I'm sticking to teriaki plates guys. Until next time everyone. Stay hungry.

This Just In

I found a drive thru mexican spot!!! I went there for lunch, had a "Super" Carne Asada Burrito. Not bad, very big. I'll have to try a few other things before I draw my final conclusions on it. But there is one here, and I am excited about it.

Big "Pho"kin Deal

I didn't hear about Pho (pronounced FUH) until about junior year of college. I had a good number of Vietnamese friends that constantly told me how great it is. But it seemed too far outside of my comfort zone, so I never went. About month or so ago I fiiiinally went to a place called Pho Queen for lunch. The line to get in was out the door, which is pretty common at most places at lunch time where I work. But the people I was with told me that the lines move fast at pho places. And I found that to be true.

So first off at the table, I noticed there are A LOT of extras that you can put in the soup: garlic flakes, about 3 different kinds of hot peppers, hoisin sauce, soy sauce(regular AND reduced sodium), siracha, salt and pepper. What this said to me was the food was going to be pretty bland. Trying to not let that hinder my decision, I took a gander at the menu. I went for a basic dish, the spicy noodles with flank steak (by the way, this was not spicy, see "Black Thai Affair" for my definition of spicy).

So they brought out a big bowl of boiling broth, big enough to bathe a baby in (Nice use of alliteration, I know) that contained my noodles and meat. Apparently the logic behind the super hot broth is to cook the meat as it is served. You're supposed to order the thin strips of meat medium rare and they will cook more thoroughly in the soup. I found that quite interesting. As to no insult the cooks, I tried my pho without adding anything to it, which you should ALWAYS DO PEOPLE! It's a slap in the face of anyone that prepared you food, to automatically conclude that the food will be bad if you don't add a dash of salt before you partake. So after my test run, I had to hit my pho with this red paste packed with chili peppers, mixed with the hoisin and garlic chips. This gave it a little kick. So I got the taste to where I wanted, then proceeded to dig in.

OK, so I couldn't really dig in. I don't know who said it was a good idea to eat soup with chop sticks, but that person was definitely not hungry or concerned with eating quickly. But I struggled through it and finished about 2 hours later. I kid I kid. But it did take a while, even though they did give a little spoon/bowl to aid in the transfer from bowl to mouth. I felt a little bit lied to/disappointed about the whole thing after all the build up about pho. But hey, they can't all be winners.

Wrap up, pho to me was basically top ramen with meat. It may have received too much hype from people, so my expectations were a little elevated. Maybe a good side dish, if it came in smaller portions, by my standards pho is not a main dish. That's that for my pho experience, it's about lunch time...and I'm starving. Stay hungry.

Black Thai Affair

All Asian foods were not created equally! I discovered this after sending my taste buds on a spicy trip at Krung Thai next to Valley Fair. You will not find flavor lacking here. Let's give a little overview first, then I'll get into the nitty gritty. Off the bat, parking was pretty sparse, waiters we we're seated pretty quick for having a full lot, and everything on the menu was fairly priced for the portions...but I'm not here to talk about the logistics of the means to my delicious end.

What I ordered - Spicy Basil Beef with a side of Rice

I'm not sure what is going on with the combination of spices in other Asian dishes, but Thai has it DOWN! NOTE TO PLACES THAT PUT SPICY NEXT TO MENU ITEMS ---Spicy does not, I REPEAT, does not mean that you can taste a hint of spice in the food. You know a dish is spicy if, when you take a bite and it's like a child around the age of 6-7 slaps you in the face. You know you just got hit, but you saw it coming and you're able to continue your day without any lasting effects other than a strange feeling of amusement over what just happened. This coupled with an almost soothing flavor of the basil took the dish from B+ to A. I was surprised, however, by the rice not being included in the meal itself, but it was only $1.50 extra. They didn't give me any chop sticks to use though. It's probably a safe assumption that not many non-Asian prefer to use chop sticks. Nonetheless, it was a great meal topped off with a Singha to wash it down.

If this were a track meet, I'd say Thai food is much quicker out of the blocks than other genres of Asian food in the race to my stomach. I would suggest you give Thai a shot wherever you may reside. I had a great Thai food experience, but I'm still starving. Until next time, stay hungry my friends.