Sushi Maki & the End of a Semester...

    

                Life is a cycle. And as such, I believe all things are meant to come full circle. Since I started the semester with my first food blog about Unagi sushi, I thought it would be extremely appropriate to finish the semester with a blog post about sushi again!
                For this chapter of my culinary adventures, my journey took me to a restaurant called Sushi Maki, located at gate D29 in the Miami International Airport. I have eaten in this very same restaurant with my mother before, so I expected a pleasant meal as was typical. I ended up ordering a pot of green tea and two pieces of sushi to start and an order of Pad Thai (rice noodles in a special Thai sauce, topped with crushed peanuts) for my main course.
                At first, I was rather surprised when my meal came. Firstly because the waitress clearly had no tact and as such, brought out all my food at once! So as I sat enjoying my sushi I was simultaneously lamenting that my noodles were growing ever colder…
                The first piece of sushi I ordered was written on the menu as “Hotategai.” My other surprise was because on this piece of my sushi, the hotate (scallop) came raw! At my local sushi joint I am accustomed to having the meat buttered, seasoned and most importantly, cooked. Yet I feel a wee bit ashamed at my shock since I know enough Japanese to know that the suffix “-gai” implies that it is uncooked… Nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised because even though scallops are renowned for their miserable, chewy textures, this little piece of sushi was so smooth! It was an absolute pleasure to consume. Who knows? I may even have to convert to eating raw scallops from now on.
                In addition to the hotategai sushi, I also ordered (surprise!) a piece of Unagi sushi. Now I’d like to take the time to point out that this piece of sushi is very different from what I first blogged about. The variation is apparent in the sense that this is what the Japanese actually refer to as sushi. This is in contrast to the ‘sushi’ I mentioned in the first blog, which is known as maki (lit. ‘roll’) in Japan. When sushi is referred to as maki, that is to say the fish (or whatever ingredients) are rolled in the middle of a layer of nori (seaweed) and rice. The Japanese are more accustomed to eating the individual pieces like those I ate than maki, which is more common among Westerners. And as usual, this piece of sushi was utterly delectable. I am extremely partial to unagi sushi because I adore the way the Japanese prepare eel. The eel was soft, well cooked and marinated in the perfect amount of eel sauce.
                Sadly enough, the worst part of my meal was the entrée - a chicken and shrimp Pad Thai. It really was my fault though; I should never have ordered a non-Japanese meal from a (so-called) Japanese restaurant…  The noodles were barely cooked. They were chewy, leathery and extremely difficult to swallow. In addition, they were slathered in an extremely sweet sauce that I had to counter with two servings of soy sauce and wasabi. The taste was barely masked and to make matter worse,the noodles were also completely overpowered by a serving of bean sprouts (which I added, hoping the sprouts would make the dish more appetizing. Oops…). I really don’t like to send food back, but if the customer isn’t happy then the patron should try and fix that, right? So I sent the noodles back and opted for an order of Special Fried Rice. (Not that this meal was terribly Japanese either, but at least it seemed a little closer to home.)Needeless to say, the Fried Rice was a marked improvement. The rice was fresh, hot and bursting with flavour. The vegetables (carrots, onions, edamame beans, bean sprouts and scallions) were crunchy and juicy. Due to the eggs and the meats and the variety of the vegetables, the dish was quite colourful, and as a result, very aesthetically pleasing. The serving size was also hearty and therefore, worth its price.
                Overall, disregarding the little hitch in the middle, the meal was quite good, and left me ready for my late-night flight back to Atlanta.

Taste: ****½
Texture: ****½
Tummy Happiness: ****½

Image source:
http://shop.fiu.edu/_assets/images/aramark-vectors/sushi-maki.png
(More pictures to come! Trying to figure out my phone camera…  :\)

    

The Tenth -- Thai

A fair while back, in a time long, long ago, my university awarded its fervent, hard-working students a well-deserved break. That ancient holiday was known as, “Fall Break,” and over its course I ventured to many a creative venue in search of sustenance.
                Alas on the third day, a Sunday, as I recall, a friend and I traversed to the Atlanta neighbourhood of Midtown to partake in the Atlanta Pride 2011 festivities. The parade petered out at the end of 10^th Street by the entrance to Piedmont Park, leaving my friend and I with the rest of the afternoon to explore the vibrant, bustling, gay-friendly lane. The conclusion of our travels led us to a quaint little Thai restaurant, adorned with rainbow banners, streamers and flags, appropriately named “The Tenth.”
                On my first real visit to Atlanta I remember accidentally ending up at this very same restaurant with my father in tow. Even though I have forgotten exactly what I ate that day, I do remember the meal was very good. So I was more than pleased when my friend and I managed to get a table despite the hustle and bustle of the festive day.

                The interior of the restaurant had a fairly relaxed ambiance, which was a nice contrast to the excitement outside. The layout was fairly simple; not very remarkable nor very Thai but nevertheless pleasant. The food is where this restaurant capitalizes. And of course, there was no shortage in the seafood that I perpetually crave.
                We started the meal by ordering the Fried Wonton appetizer.  It consisted of a long, thin fried dumpling of sorts, stuffed with ground shrimp, chicken, garlic, Thai pepper and served with Thai sweet chili sauce. The thing that shocked me the most about this dish was the unique shape of the wonton. Traditionally, Asian wontons are small, thick and fat while these were long and tube-like – think a ‘Pirouette’ biscuit. (Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the appetizer because I was famished and forgot to take out my camera before digging in.) The fried rice paper exterior was flakey and crunchy at the same time and the filling was peppered just right. Unfortunately, it was difficult to differentiate between the tastes of the pork and the shrimp, but regardless, the chili sauce accompaniment was a perfect blend of sweet, tangy and spicy. For me, the exterior skin was also a little too thick in proportion to the filling. Even though the flavours all melded together, they blended well and the dish was delightful overall.
                For my main course I ordered a dish called “Kra-Prao Seafood” which was comprised of shrimps, calamari, mussels and mixed vegetables stir-fried in a chili-basil sauce and served with sticky white rice. The dish was very tasty and the spicy/peppery sauce worked well with both the seafood and the vegetables. I don’t have much to say in terms of criticism except that I wish there had been a little more sauce so my rice would have been able to get doused in it too! 

                My friend however, ordered a dish that left me completely jealous and re-thinking my meal option! He opted to try a dish called “Spicy Catfish” which was sautéed catfish filet with green beans, mixed in with a red curry paste and basil sauce. First off, one of the most important aspects of food for me is texture. And whereas I ordered a dish with a fair amount of chewy components (i.e. the calamari and mussels), the texture of the catfish was unlike anything I had tasted in a long while. The meat was fresh, juicy, hot and absolutely succulent. It was amazing, because even though the exterior was coated in the curry/basil sauce mixture, the fish itself managed to maintain the unique catfish flavour. In addition, the sauce was better than the one on my meal too! The curry paste gave the dish a surprisingly sweet and smoky taste, and the basil sauce spiced things up. There was also a very distinct pepper source, which tasted to me like red, hot chilies even though the menu description didn’t state anything in particular. Plus, as an added bonus, the green beans were plump and crisp.

                And finally, to top it all off, we decide to share the dessert platter. The platter was comprised of “Fried Banana w/ Coconut Ice Cream”, “Blueberry Cream Cheese Spring Rolls” and “Fried Green Tea Ice Cream.”  I was a little disappointed after the meals when I ate the desserts. Everything was mind-blowingly tasty, but the textures were poor at best. The coating of the fried ice cream was actually dreadful. It was rubbery, chewy and cold – as if it had been put out or cooked for a while. The blueberry cream cheese and fried banana were just fillings inside more of those aforementioned rice paper skins. Except this time, the exteriors were tough instead of crunchy. Yet as I said, the mix of flavours was spectacular. Plus, the presentation was fun and aesthetically-pleasing. My favourite part of the dessert platter was probably the plain ol’ coconut ice cream, because it was the right mix of milky and icy and the flavour was on point.

                My friend was also feeling ambitious and ordered “Fresh Mango w/ Sticky rice” as another dessert, but I was too bust pulling my weight through the dessert platter to try it out. But here’s a picture anyways:
(He said it was delicious!)

                The service was quick and the servers were friendly and patient. In my opinion, the pricing was a little out of range for the average college student. But my hefty bill could also be because I indulged in a three-course meal knowing full-well that this occasion would be my splurge of the month.
                All in all, I whole-heartedly recommend you go pay “The Tenth” a visit. 10^th Street is really enjoyable to explore while you’re there too!

Taste: *****
Texture: **½
Tummy Happiness: ****½