Friday, June 09, 2006

House Gourmet

A new Japanese/Chinese restaurant opened up near us just recently - in the place that used to be El Maguey, decent (but not great!) Mexican food. The place has been vacant for quite awhile. A year or so ago a new Japanese/Thai restaurant opened up were a Thai place closed years ago - not the best stretch for restaurants, what with all the fast turn over! But at least we're getting a sampling of multicultural cuisine nice and close to us!

Since I'm off today to do some clean up and shopping before my folks show up this evening for a weekend visit, I decided to give House Gourmet a try for lunch. I noticed them when I drove by last week, and then a couple days ago we had one of their menus on our front doorstep when I got home from work. I'm sorry, but the signs were telling me I HAD to give it a try! Brett's been a little more skeptical, figuring it wouldn't be a very nice place. We both agreed the menu seemed a little pricey for the Chinese food, they also don't seem to offer pint prices - only one price per item, and it seems comparable to the quart prices at most other Chinese restaurants.

Looking to try something different that would also give me the most bang for my buck, I went for one of their Japanese Box Lunches. Chicken Teriyaki seemed like a nice, safe bet, but at the last minute I panicked (as I usually do when ordering) and swapped for something that seemed to have even more variety - the shrimp and vegetable tempura box lunch.


Wow, you get A LOT with these box lunches! In addition to the tempura, I also got an egg roll, three pieces of sliced California Roll (I looooooooove California Roll and have to thank my brother Sean for introducing me to them a few years back!), a salad of iceburg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, fried rice (no veggies mixed in, but that's alright), some pickled ginger (yum!), a blob of wasabi (watch out!), a bowl of miso soup (with seaweed and tofu cubes), a small container of spicey mustard for dipping, and a larger bowl of...um...stinky stuff, kinda fishy, but tasted good when the tempura was dipped in it. Oh, and the orange stuff was my ginger dressing for the salad, NOT a duck sauce (as I originally assumed when I dipped tempura in it). Plus the standard accompaniments including chopsticks, plastic utensils, soy sauce and a fortune cookie.

Quite a lot of food for my $8.50 minus 15% for the grand opening sale, hunh!?

The tempura was GOOD! I was worried about getting that as a carry out item - would it hold up? I'm sure it would've been a BIT crisper if I ate in, but it was still fairly crisp and tastey. I got three loooong strips of very straight shrimp (wondering how they pulled that off!), two pieces of broccoli, a slice of sweet potato, a slice of some purpley potatoey tuber or root vegetable (good!), a piece of red bell pepper, and what I THOUGHT was a massive cap from a mushroom, but was actually a slice of eggplant (either way - yum!). Assuming I hadn't all this dipped and fried it would've been very healthy! ;-) Plus both the dipping sauce and the miso soup were INCREDIBLY salty...altho the tempura benefitted from the saltiness of the dip!

For such a bland salad, it was really good with the ginger dressing, and the cold crispness contrasted well with all the other items, and countered their saltiness nicely.

The fried rice was good - nothing exciting, but good.

The spring roll left a little something to be desired - maybe a tad doughy on the inside? And the filling could've used some more flavor/texture.

The California Rolls - mmmmm! Can NOT go wrong with those! YUM YUM YUM! Dipped in a little soy sauce, with a sliver of pickled ginger and maybe a dab of wasabi and I'm in heaven!

The miso soup. Ok, I THOUGHT I'd really like this. You see it listed in all Japanese menus. It's a staple! I did NOT like it. I ate a fair amount - not wanting it to go to waste, and wanting to give it a fair shot (some things grow on you and then become addicting the more you taste them and get past the initial "ew, kinda gross" factor - like Twiglets!). But I did not like the miso soup. I couldn't even get the cats to try it - I actually went so far as to put the bowl down on the floor to convince 'em it was something good and tastey meant for them, like tuna or a little yogurt (which they've discovered they LOVE!). But this stuff - they stepped towards it, stopped quickly as they sniffed, winced their eyes a few times, and backed away.

So no more miso for us! I would ask for a substitute soup if that's an option.

I grabbed some extra full color glossy menus to take in to work next week - I know I've got some coworkers that have come out this way in the past to eat out, so hopefully they'll give House Gourmet a try and report back. Sharon's due for a couple visits over the next couple months, so maybe we'll go for a sushi/roll run! YUM! I might even get Brett to go eat with me there so we can get some Chinese food - he usually sticks with chicken & broccoli...so he can report back on that.

And this wraps up the most extensive restaurant/one meal review I've ever written! I see alot of other people out there do similar things, either for food they've prepared, or when they eat out. I'm sure my friends who see this will just say "wow, anal retentive!" LOL

22 comments:

Stunned Donor said...

I tend to avoid any restayrant that has more than one cuisine coming out of it's kitchen.

Dirty Fingernails said...

I love ginger dressing.. It is very tasty with garlic roasted chicken.. I know sounds weird, but hey even the picky kids like it..

And my favorite these Mexican and Chinese restraunt serving fries and hamburgers.. That cracks me up..

Jeph said...

LOL Hey, I'm not saying it's a FANCY restaurant!!! Please remember, we love White Castle and Chick Fil A, so you're not working with the most civilized folks here! ;-)

And I'm with you Weeding - what's with all those places serving burgers and fries!?!? Does anyone ever eat that?? Who knows, maybe it's one of the best places to get a burger!

Anonymous said...

I'll stick with Ming Chu, thanks. I'm so lucky to be surrounded with all the haute cuisine that Ravenna has to offer ...

Stunned Donor said...

On the whole, I prefer the cuisine of Ravenna,Italy to the cuisine of Ravenna, Ohio. ;-P

Stunned Donor said...

No apologies Jeph, I'm near Erie remember..not exactly the food capital of the Northeast. At this point, fine dining is driving to Cheesecake Factory in Cleveland.

I'm so spoiled because of living in San Francisco for REAL Chinese food that I can't bring myself to go to any of these places around here.

I have a hankering for Chik-Fil-A every now and then but I save it for when I'm in Atlanta or when we're driving from Atlanta to Disney with the kids.

Dirty Fingernails said...

Chick Fil A have one down the street from me.. I absolutely love their lemonade... The chicken noodle soup is great too.. I still haven't found a great Chinese place here.. When I was first married I lived in Seattle and have never been able to find anything delish like that.. Vancouver BC had the second best. And you gents can call me Alison..

Jeph said...

Alison and Steven -

My "birthday lunch" out this year? Chick Fil A! Classy, hunh? And TOTAL heaven!!! If I were younger I'd totally be getting the #7 (Chick Fil A sandwich, waffle fries and coleslaw) WITH a side of their chicken nuggets for additional snacking. Instead I play it smart and stick with just the #7...and then WISH I had a second sandwich! ;-)

Tell me you've also tried White Castle? So many people give it a bad name, but once you've tried it (it helps to be a little tipsy the first time), it's easy to get hooked!

And Steven, I can't believe you drive all the way to Cleveland for shopping and eats! Do you have family/friends up there you visit?

My parents'll be passing through your neighbhood in just a few hours. They were were for the weekend, and just got on the road back to Penfield, NY (Rochester area). I'm guessing the drive up 90 goes right past you?

Dave - No teasing about Ming Chu - we honestly haven't found anything quite as reliably good out here as Ming Chu was.

Steven - You know Ravenna OH? And "with the kids"? Yours, or someone elses??

Stunned Donor said...

White Castle and it's southern cousin Krystal are only edible if large amounts of alcohol are consumed.

Cleveland is the nearest big city to me, so if I want something big-ticket my choices are Cleveland or Pittsburgh.

90 is about 6 miles south of me.

The kids are not mine, but try telling that to my friends who foist them off on me whenever they can.

Stunned Donor said...

Alison,

Isn't there great ethnic restaurants all up and down Buford Highway? Speaking of restaurants, the friend of a friend has a great little place in Madison called the Trainwreck, give it a try.

Stunned Donor said...

Oh regarding Ravenna, I used to do site research for a chain of restaurants, I pretty much know the particulars of most US towns and cities located near major Universities.

Jeph said...

Never heard of Krystal.... Sounds dangerous!!

I miss Sonic, which we would do when visiting the grandparents in Kansas!

At least we have Swenson's out here - yummo!

Can you share what line of restaurants, or is that top secret information?

Stunned Donor said...

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to pave you over and build a large, casual dining restaurant on top of you.

Dirty Fingernails said...

Madison is a quaint little town.. I would love to live there. As it is now I Live about an hour from it.. I may have to make my man take me on a date there. Do either of you want to babysit the five kids?? ;)

As for Buford Hiway really haven't been to anything but Mexican over there. I need to venture there for Chinese. During the day that is.. LOL! I do shop at the Buford Farmer's Market, but favor much more the DeKalb Farmer's Market.

Krystal iS GRoSS!!! Can't pay me to eat there.. Never had White Castle.

Sonic is half a mile from my house and happy hour gets me my Route 44 Strawberry Limeade for less than a buck, and the kids a slushie for 50 cents.

Have to save all my money for those shoes and jeans you know.. ;)

Jeph said...

LOL Steven! Ouch!

Stunned Donor said...

I can't tell you the last time I ate fast food.. probably Zaxby's down Atlanta way last November.

I do like the limeade at Sonic, when I was living in Texas for a while I used to consume gallons of it.

Dirty Fingernails said...

No one answered my babysitting question.. Is that a scarey proposition?? Five kids can make you INSANE..

Stunned Donor said...

Five kids is easy, you pay them to rat each other out when they're being bad.

Dirty Fingernails said...

I see bribing them.. HMMM a new parenting tactie added to my arsenal..
Make sure you eat some good Chinese while you are gone for me..

Jeph said...

I opted to work from home today - decided to try sitting outside with the laptop and let the cats get some fresh air once it warmed up some. Turns out the neighbor girls were out playing and instantly wanted to come over and hang out with me. I had to tell them I was too busy and needed to work, but they were more than welcome to play with the cats and keep them under control! >;-) That's like perpetual motion!!! At one point the cats came back soaking wet...and I know I'd heard the neighbor's hose going. Oh, and the girls were wet too! LOL

Stunned Donor said...

Working from home is harder than going into an office, it takes way too much self-discipline.

I did a great piece of parental authority undermining yesterday.. I was at a trendy shoe store replacing my Doc Marten fisherman's sandals and this kid was showing his Mom some Van's slip-ons with the totally rad 80's checkerboard design that's been re-released and the Mom hated them and kept trying to talk him out of it. The kid was losing ground and his fall-back was "Buuuut Moooooooom" so I piped in with "Those are the coolest shoes ever and you need to have them." Mom lost, kid was happy and when they left the guy that worked at the store told me the kid had been in the store every day for a week looking at the shoes. This is why kids love me.

Jeph said...

....and mom's hate you. That was pure evil Steven!! Oh, and that totally rocked! Nice move!! Where were you all those times my mom was telling me I didn't need something?

Now did you do it because you really meant what you said, or JUST to undermine the mom??