Hello all of my readers. I'm here to bring you Episode 1 of Dave Stith's Weekend Foodie! Yep, just like Tyler Perry, I'm putting my name on it! Eat that! Figuratively speaking, of course.

Who am I? I am a guy from VA who moved to TX to pursue gainful employment and all that good stuff. I am a foodie, but I am allergic to all types of nuts and most fish and shellfish (aside from crab and lobster). That makes going out there a little dangerous, but that makes it interesting, right? Oh, I also don’t drink, so I can’t tell you how great the liquors are, either. Wait, where are you going? Would you at least give this a chance?

*Ahem* So how does this show work? I just open up the local food listings and pick a place to eat completely at random. As in I close my eyes and point random.

How about your reviewing? Well, to start off, I want to say that I won't be writing any negative reviews. There's many reasons for this. For one, each of these chefs put their ankles into the dishes, so I don't think it's fair to say "Oh, this food sucks and the chef sucks". Another is that culinary experiences are unique for every individual. Just because I might not like the flavor of something, doesn't mean that someone else won't love it. For these reasons and more, here is my rating scale for each individual item:

Weekend Foodie's Choice
I like it!
Not my cup of tea.

Remember, "Not my cup of tea" doesn't mean I hated it. It means it's not a flavor that I, personally, am fond of. Nothing more, nothing less.

Let it also be known that I do not add ANY seasonings to the foods I eat. That defeats the purpose of writing these stories. It’s not telling you guys the real deal. That said, let's get started!

Episode 1 - The Goose's Acre
An authentic Irish pub.

When entering the building, you are instantly taken back in time by the fixtures adorning the various walls. Solid wood tables, cobblestone archways and a fully-stocked bar where among the first things I witnessed at this fine establishment of nourishment. You are able to sit wherever you please, whereupon a server will greet you quickly. Seeing as this was an Irish pub, I wanted to get some genuine Irish cuisine as my first dish. However, I was really craving some ribs and I ultimately went with that instead.

APPETIZER
Dip Trio – 9.99
A plate of chips with house queso, guacamole and salsa


First off, I take a stab at the chips and dip (which I still have some of here at the place). The chips are multi-colored but taste the same. Not that it’s a bad thing. I actually thought they were pretty good chips. The dips were pretty nice, as well. The queso had a flavor that kind of reminded me of broccoli and cheese. That’s something I like. However, there was something missing that kept it from the pinnacle of cheesy goodness I like in quesos. The salsa was a little different. I was thinking about what it might be missing to make it really awesome to me and I believe the answer is sugar. It had somewhat of a sour-ish aftertaste that isn’t my thing. The best thing was the guacamole. It’s hard to make that right for me, it would seem. I don’t know if you guys know, but avocado by itself pretty much sucks. It tastes like nasty green near-tasteless-but-not paste. But this was different. It had a flavorful, slightly-citrusy taste and I agreed with it. It was my favorite of the three dips. I eventually used a chip to create the Tri-Dip Chip:



with each edge holding a bit of the dips. Combined, it was a pleasurable taste. I didn’t even mind the salsa.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Chips: I like it!
Guacamole: Weekend Foodie’s Choice
Queso: I like it!
Salsa: Not my cup of tea.


THE MEAL
BBQ Full Rack – 16.99
Full rack of ribs, fries, house salad and apple slaw

(Salad)


(Main Course)


After a decent amount of time, I get the salad that was a part of my meal. Before I consumed it, I noticed a bunch of white, seed-looking things resting atop the bed of leaves. I poked around for a while before asking the waiter what they were. He said ALMONDS. I told him about my allergy and he took it back and got me a new one. I have a picture of it. It’s a fabulous salad. It’s got cherry tomato halves, shredded real peppered bacon, shredded swiss (?) cheese and carrots, garlicky croutons and mixed greens, noticeably baby spinach, which I crush on. I had it with a side of Italian dressing. Good-ass salad. I cleaned my plate, which is something I don’t do as often as I like with salads.

Then the main course comes out about 15 minutes later. It’s a plate-sized rack of ribs with a good amount of fat on them (a plus in my book), a side of crispy fries and a small side of something called apple slaw. I will come back to that last one. Let’s start with the ribs.

Not quite fall-off-the-bone type, but not tough as nails. Between those two types, I believe these would fall just about in the middle. The sauce that had for them was a sweeter variety, which is a thumbs up for me. I know it’s not for everyone, but there’s few things better than being able to take a bite of meat out of a rib and be able to find a bit of fat to go with it. Just heavenly. That’s my favorite way to eat them. These ribs had that. I did have to cut the ribs apart with a knife in order to get it down to manageable size, but that’s not too bad. Overall, enjoyable.

The fries are something that took me by surprise. They were crunchy and pretty damn tasty. A thicker cut than a fry like McDonald’s, these had a lot of flavor and potato in them without being overly greasy or hollow. It was a great complement to the meat I was eating, but I took care not to eat all of them.

Finally, apple slaw. I had never even heard of the concept. Apparently, it’s a bit of sliced red delicious and golden together mixed with traditional (albeit light) coleslaw dressing. It was another great complement to the meat. The main thing I tasted was the flavor of the apple, while the dressing came through after a couple of chews. It was a unique flavor, I’ll say, and I would likely eat it again.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Salad: I like it!
BBQ Ribs: I like it!
Fries: I like it!
Apple Slaw: I like it!

Well, that’s Episode 1! Next week, provided I don’t have to work, I’m going to do it again! Tell me what you think below.

Hey guys. Sorry I missed last week. Here’s Episode 2!

Reviewing Recap
How about your reviewing? Well, to start off, I want to say that I won't be writing any negative reviews. There's many reasons for this. For one, each of these chefs put their ankles into the dishes, so I don't think it's fair to say "Oh, this food sucks and the chef sucks". Another is that culinary experiences are unique for every individual. Just because I might not like the flavor of something, doesn't mean that someone else won't love it. For these reasons and more, here is my rating scale for each individual item:

Weekend Foodie's Choice
I like it!
Not my cup of tea.

Remember, "Not my cup of tea" doesn't mean I hated it. It means it's not a flavor that I, personally, am fond of. Nothing more, nothing less.

Let it also be known that I do not add ANY seasonings to the foods I eat. That defeats the purpose of writing these stories. It’s not telling you guys the real deal. That said, let's get started!

Episode 2 – Crust Pizza Co.
A new take on thin crust.

Part of a row of stores, Crust Pizza Co. looks almost like one of those hole in the wall restaurants. When you enter, it seems like a mix of hole-in-the-wall and chain stores, with a eating area the size of a medium-sized Pizza Hut. The cashier is right at the entrance and you pay for all of your stuff upfront. I had a friend with me, Syn aka Shadowfox, so we were able to split a lot of stuff. Once the order was placed, we took a number, sat down at the table and we played the waiting game.

APPETIZER
Garlic Cheese Breadsticks – 6.50 small
A cheesy garlic breadsticks served with marinara sauce.



As we were waiting for the main pizzas to arrive, we managed to scarf down some of Crust’s breadsticks. The garlic flavor was apparent, but not overpowering. The cheese was quite good since it was nice and hot. But the star of the plate is Crust’s bread. It’s cooked in such a way that every bite you have has a crunch in it. Greasy? Oh yeah. But it’s a damn fine thing to experience. The sauce was chunky marinara, which was nice. The flavor was kind of light, though. I like the flavor of my sauce to come out a bit stronger. Not bad, though.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Garic Cheese Breadsticks: I like it!
Marinara: Not my cup of tea.


THE MEAL
Pizza #1 – The Pinky – 8.99 medium
Standard thin crispy crust, pink sauce (mixture of tomato and alfredo sauce), chicken, onions, bacon, mozzarella



Pizza #2 – Pepperoni, Sausage, Bacon, Ham – 7.99 medium
Standard crust featuring the above toppings and tomato sauce



After not much of a wait at all, the pizzas have arrived! The thin crust nature of them allows them to cook much faster than a standard pizza crust (and probably at a higher temp?). Pizza 2 (P2 hence) hits the table first. The pizza is a round pizza cut into 16 pieces, checkboard-style. One thing that you notice is that there is not a lot of sauce on these pizzas. I joked with Syn that they probably just had a paintbrush that they just dipped into a bucket of tomato sauce and just gave the crust a couple swabs. Haha. So the toppings become the main event of the pizza. Thankfully, the ingredients they have at Crust are high-quality. The pepperoni is fresh and flavorful, the bacon is on-point, the sausage is probably some of the best pizza sausage I’ve ever had and the ham is also good. The crust is a nice golden brown and is crunchy. Oh yeah!

Pizza 1 then hits the table (P1 hence) and I take some of that. The chicken is damn good. So are the onions and bacon. I should mention here that their cheese is also quite good. However, because of the limited amount of sauce they put on the pizza, I wasn’t really able to taste the difference between pink sauce and regular sauce. I liked everything, but the pizzas were missing a certain je ne sais quoi that would have made me award them with a Weekend Foodie’s Choice.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
P1: I like it!
P2: I like it!

DESSERT
Cannoli 1 – Vanilla – 2.50



Cannoli 2 – Chocolate – 2.50



This time, I wanted to get some dessert since I completely missed it on the last episode so I read the menu for desserts. They have a bunch, but I figured if I was going to an Italian eatery, I should get something Italian, so I got these. To describe them, they are oblong, hard and crunchy pipes filled with sweet crème. The crème isn’t too sweet, but it has a rich, full body. Taking a bite, the flavor is unique but ultimately not as sweet as I like my desserts to be. I think if there was more just plain ‘ol sugar in it, I would like it a lot more. The chocolate version seems like a vanilla one dipped in chocolate. The chocolate didn’t really affect the flavor, though.

Vanilla – Not my cup of tea.
Chocolate – Not my cup of tea.

Well, that’s Episode 2 in the bad. Sorry for missing last week, but I went to a restaurant and then forgot to bring my camera. Then I was gonna go somewhere on Sunday, but a friend canceled an appointment with me and I ended up not going anywhere. Just a heads-up, next week I’m heading to Lantis’ house for Thanksgiving. Peace.

Strangely enough, I am actually going out to these places every weekend, but I get so lazy about doing the writeup. Today’s episode took place over Thanksgiving weekend, where Lantis joined me for some more pizza! Here’s Episode 3!

Reviewing Recap
How about your reviewing? Well, to start off, I want to say that I won't be writing any negative reviews. There's many reasons for this. For one, each of these chefs put their ankles into the dishes, so I don't think it's fair to say "Oh, this food sucks and the chef sucks". Another is that culinary experiences are unique for every individual. Just because I might not like the flavor of something, doesn't mean that someone else won't love it. For these reasons and more, here is my rating scale for each individual item:

Weekend Foodie's Choice
I like it!
Not my cup of tea.

Remember, "Not my cup of tea" doesn't mean I hated it. It means it's not a flavor that I, personally, am fond of. Nothing more, nothing less.

Let it also be known that I do not add ANY seasonings to the foods I eat. That defeats the purpose of writing these stories. It’s not telling you guys the real deal. That said, let's get started!

Episode 3 – Main Street Pizza
El Dorado, Arkansas
Thin crust is what they do best.

Main Street Pizza is based in what seems to be downtown El Dorado. On the way over, we passed City Hall and other government buildings. I was struck with the realization that this town was very likely smaller than Petersburg, VA. So weird. But more on topic, Main Street Pizza seems to be an institution around here. As we enter, I notice a lot of tables and booths, all with red and white checkered tablecloths. The waitress tells us to find a seat and we do so. This is where I tell Lantis about the whole Weekend Foodie program. He’s down with that so hurray!

As I’m looking at the menu, I notice this rather unique item called “Armadillo Eggs”. Now, don’t fret: these are not actually the eggs of an armadillo. It’s actually a cheese-stuffed jalepeno pepper wrapped with something. Maybe bacon? Unfortunately, they were out of them when we were ordering. Maybe next time. On with the show!

CONDIMENT
Grated Parmesan with mystery seasoning – Free
A container with grated parmesan cheese with some type of maybe Italian seasoning?



While waiting for food, we decided to taste some of the cheese on the table. Hey, don’t judge us. Anyway, this stuff was SO GOOD by itself. Whoever made that is an amazing individual. The best pizza cheese condiment I have ever had.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Grated Parmesan with mystery seasoning – Weekend Foodie’s Choice

APPETIZER
Thin-Crust Cheese breadsticks – 6.50 large
Thin-crust cheesesticks served with marinara sauce.



The cheesesticks manage to arrive a while we’re waiting for the main course, so we start getting that peck on. These cheesesticks are made from the same, standard thin crust, but with a layer of what seems to be mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. The sticks are delightfully cheesy and crispy. The marinara that comes with it is chunky and slightly sour, which was not an entirely unpleasant taste contrast. After I did my pre-requisite flavor tests, I added more of the mystery parmesan. The flavor improved. 

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Thin-Crust Cheese Breadsticks: I like it!
Marinara: I like it!


THE MEAL
Boss Hogg – 8.99 medium
Standard thin crispy crust, mozzarella, cheddar, pulled pork, smoky BBQ sauce



Maybe 3 minutes after the cheesesticks hit the table, the main pizza joined it. The Boss Hogg is a helluva thing. If you take a look at the pictures, you can see that it is a thing of beauty. But here’s something interesting: as I was opening my mouth and moving a slice into prime biting position, it started making me cough. Like, there were fumes coming off the sauce where I was breathing and it was wreaking havoc on me a bit. Lantis had the same problem with it. So we had to end up holding our breath a little so that we could actually eat it. The BBQ sauce was nice and smoky and a bit sweet, the pulled pork was tender and a bit vinegary, like North Carolina BBQ (which is something I am not particularly a big fan of), but the BBQ sauce pulled it in the direction I like. The cheeses both blended well with the rest of the toppings and the crust made it a well-done eating experience.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Boss Hogg: I like it!
P2: I like it!

DESSERT
Mindy Lu’s Lemon Pie – 2.00



I actually bought this while I was waiting for the waitress to actually come back and take our order (which took a little longer than it should have). They had a box of pies sitting beside the cashier with a lot of pre-made pies. I had never seen the brand before, so I figured I’d try it. Although the box featured many types of pies including apple, strawberry cheesecake and more, this box was full of lemon and a single apricot pie. I am not too familiar with apricots, so I took my chance with the lemon pie. Lemon is not my favorite fruit and not the first choice to put into a pie. This pie did not change my stance. The outer crust of the pie was pretty decent, but it was simply containing lemon filling, which made my tongue cry. In fairness, though, I believe this particular pie was a little old. I’m just thankful I had it first instead of after pizza.

Mindy Lu’s Lemon Pie – Not my cup of tea.

That’s all I have for Episode 3! The next time I write, I’ll be talking about an interesting place I went with my pal Syn. Look forward to it!

Episode 4 is here! This week, we’re doing a little Asian! And country! Read on!

Reviewing Recap
How about your reviewing? Well, to start off, I want to say that I won't be writing any negative reviews. There's many reasons for this. For one, each of these chefs put their ankles into the dishes, so I don't think it's fair to say "Oh, this food sucks and the chef sucks". Another is that culinary experiences are unique for every individual. Just because I might not like the flavor of something, doesn't mean that someone else won't love it. For these reasons and more, here is my rating scale for each individual item:

Weekend Foodie's Choice
I like it!
Not my cup of tea.

Remember, "Not my cup of tea" doesn't mean I hated it. It means it's not a flavor that I, personally, am fond of. Nothing more, nothing less.

Let it also be known that I do not add ANY seasonings to the foods I eat. That defeats the purpose of writing these stories. It’s not telling you guys the real deal. That said, let's get started!

Episode 4 – Stiry Crazy
The Woodlands, TX
Fresh Asian Grill with some interesting cross-culture décor.

Stir Crazy is a rather unusual place. On the outside entering the establishment (with Syn rolling with me) from the Waterway here in The Woodlands, it looks like some type of nightclub. If you check the link below, you can see how the restaurant looks:

http://stircrazy.com/company/about.aspx

Anyway, as we enter, there’s someone performing live music with a guitar in hand. It’s a Christmas song, in tune with the spirit of the holidays. There’s a bar with televisions, tables inside and outside for people who prefer to eat like civilized people and hoity-toity ones respectively. As you look around, there’s various Asian culture pieces, with paintings of famous Japanese watercolors being one of the ones I recognize. Funny enough for an Asian Grill, as Syn points out, our waiters were white, the décor is asian, the food preparers were latin, and then they starting playing country music. Mixed messages much? Anyway, I want to take this time out to say that our waiter was incredible. I believe he’s the best waiter I have ever had and I gave him a $10 tip because he was just that good. Anyway, to the report!


DRINK
Mango Spritzer – $3.50 with refills
A mixture of sprite and their special mango syrup


I usually don’t have a section for this because the drinks I get are usually just water or a brand-name soda, but here they had some special drink mixes. I got the Mango Spritzer and it was DAMN good. The flavoring of the syrup is just right. It almost touches the bottom part of “too sweet” but the soda brings the sweetness back down perfectly. When I go back, I will get this.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Mango Spritzer: I like it!


APPETIZER
Crab Cake Hand Rolls – $8.00
Panko encrusted crab cakes, daikon sprouts, sushi rice and dynamite sauce rolled in a sesame soy wrapper.


This is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted. A crunchy crab cake, inside a soybean wrap filled with sushi rice and a sprinkle of the sauce that comes with it is some of the best eating I’ve ever had. The slightly honey mustard-tasting drizzle that was just the icing on the cake. A fantastic offering. The mountain of shredded something on the side of that is questionable, though. I didn’t even taste it for fear that those brown things in it were peanuts. But it doesn’t matter, since crab was the showstopper, anyway.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Crab Cake Hand Rolls: Weekend Foodie’s Choice!


THE MEAL
BBQ Tacos – $15.00
4 Tacos made with a crepe-like tortilla, filled with chicken and beef (2 each) and shredded veggies, served with spicy sauce and a bowl of fried rice


Probably 10-15 minutes after the crab hit the table, of which Syn did not partake at all (his loss), his food hit the table and so did mine. He order the Mongolian Beef plate with white rice and a spring roll. I have a picture of that included in this set. I order the BBQ Tacos, which weren’t really tacos in the traditional sense. The taste of the wrap they used was sort of akin to a flat pancake flavor (or more accurately, a crepe). It tasted pretty good. The shredded veggies were kind of unusual, I’m not quite sure what was in it besides tomatoes , but it tasted good all the same. The star of the dish was the meat by far. The chicken and beef were both tender, juicy and made the meat pancakes taste a unique one. The spicy sauce was indeed spicy, but I didn’t use too much of it because the flavor wasn’t particularly bold. The rice was pretty decent, though. It was also pretty standard.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
BBQ Tacos – I like it!

DESSERT
Apple Bread Pudding – $6.00
Bread Pudding with apples and a strawberry syrup cup + whipped cream on the side


I saw this and I figured I’d try it. I haven’t had bread pudding in a good while and since I’ve gotten over the whole “eww, bread pudding sounds gross” thing, I wanted some of theirs. I ordered a side of ice cream with this (but naturally, I didn’t use it for the taste test). Strangely, the pudding came in a sturdy, form-shaped way. A little too sturdy for my tastes. The flavor benefitted from the addition of the strawberry syrup that came with it. Overall, it was a little too unsweet and the apples were a bit too hard than I like for such a dish. Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, the apples used might have been something like Granny Smith apples. If so, that would explain my aversion to this dish. The ice cream did help the dish a lot, but ultimately I would pass next time.

Apple Bread Pudding – Not my cup of tea.

So that’s episode 4! Check back next Sunday for another episode!

P.S. This is Syn's meal: Mongolian Beef:

I'm gonna tell, you though, there's too much other stuff, not enough beef. I was disappointed in that regard.

It’s been a crazy end-of-the-year here at Weekend Foodie. I actually didn’t go out to get any food at restaurants over Christmas because there’s been a metric crapton of people buying mountains of stuff they don’t need. However, I did go to somewhere before the break: Kita Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar!

Reviewing Recap
How about your reviewing? Well, to start off, I want to say that I won't be writing any negative reviews. There's many reasons for this. For one, each of these chefs put their ankles into the dishes, so I don't think it's fair to say "Oh, this food sucks and the chef sucks". Another is that culinary experiences are unique for every individual. Just because I might not like the flavor of something, doesn't mean that someone else won't love it. For these reasons and more, here is my rating scale for each individual item:

Weekend Foodie's Choice
I like it!
Not my cup of tea.

Remember, "Not my cup of tea" doesn't mean I hated it. It means it's not a flavor that I, personally, am fond of. Nothing more, nothing less.

Let it also be known that I do not add ANY seasonings to the foods I eat. That defeats the purpose of writing these stories. It’s not telling you guys the real deal. That said, let's get started!

Episode 5 – Kita
The Woodlands, TX
Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar with a very modern look.
http://kitawoodlands.com/


The story of how I got here is pretty interesting. You see, I’d already visited Kita once before this report! On the 2nd week of Weekend Foodie, I went there with a group consisting of Sarah’s Knight, Lantis and FullofSyn, but I went and left my camera at home! D’oh! I just figured I’d do my thing with something else. But I figured I’d be back there one day.

Well, that day came sooner rather than later. Once again, I had Syn accompanying me on this food adventure and we were trying to figure out where to go. I actually had a couple of spots pre-checked and decided to try those first. One was a Brazilian Steakhouse and another was a Thai place, but they were both booked solid! So we figured we’re stalk the Woodlands Mall area for something. As we were walking along, we tried to go to a few places, but the food was either something we had already had recently (burgers, pizza, etc). One place, called Americas, we walked up to at around 6pm and told us that the next opening they had was around 8:30. I was like lol and we left. With few options left, we passed back by Kita and I remembered that I hadn’t done the report on it, so we ended up going there.

Kita is the kind of like a futuristic nightclub sushi place. There’s these odd square chairs that are just there to make you say wow.


Check out more of their internal décor here at this link:
http://kitawoodlands.com/index.php?opti ... &Itemid=12

As we’re entering, there’s an unusual glass waterfall aquarium that’s not pictured in the photos that forces me to stop and give a bit of a look. It’s fairly cool. We take a look around for SK’s girlfriend, but alas, we don’t see her and get stuck with some dude. It’s all good though, because the guy is very capable. Something very interesting in the Woodlands I would like to point out is that, in a lot of places, the cost of the menu items have no decimal points. It’s just a single-digit pricetag. It’s like “oh no, you bet not bring any pockets jingling up in this mofo!” Haha. But enough talk! Have at the report!


DRINK
Blueberry Tea – $3 with refills
Tea mixed with blueberry-flavored syrup



I generally get water, but when a place has special drinks, I grab it. I decided to grab Kita’s blueberry tea. I can say that the syrup tasted like actual blueberries ground up and put into a syrup with a light sweet flavor. As it is, by itself, I thought it was a pretty interesting flavor. Not bad at all. Besides, I’ve gotten it before and did it again. What does that say?

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Blueberry Tea: I like it!


APPETIZER #1
Snow Crab Sushi – $4.95 for 2 pieces
Fresh snow crab between white rice and wrapped in nori.



“Appetizer #1?” you’re saying. Why the extra stuff? Well, I ordered a sushi roll for the first time and I thought that I might not have enough food, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t empty (big mistake), but anyway… This is also something I had before. It’s clawmeat and damn-tasty, if a bit simple. It’s also one of the few things in Kita that has decimals on it!

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Snow Crab Sushi: I like it!

APPETIZER #2
Ademame – $5
Lightly-salted soybeans. I took the spicy version.



So, this is food. Ademame is soybeans. The outer shell is hard and stringy. I ate it but I wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to. I’m not dead so I figure it did no harm. The inside beans were soft, though. The spicy flavoring on the outside was good. I eventually just ended up sucking the spices and inner beans and leaving the rest. Not the worst thing I’ve had, though.

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Ademame: Not my cup of tea.


THE MEAL
Katsu – $17
Fried chicken breasts cut into strips served with rice. Came with Miso Soup (seaweed, tofu, green oinio, mushroom, broth).



Chi-To Roll – $12
Cheetos, snow crab, jalapeno, cream cheese between rice; rolled in crumbled spicy Cheetos.



It took a good while for this to hit the table since the place was quite crowded. But when it did, I promptly dug in. First, I tried the Katsu. It’s a basic fried chicken dish. Just the fried chicken breast and the rice which was mixed with a few veggies like carrots and peas. The flavor was average and competent. There wasn’t any particular flavor that jumped out at me. Not much to hate about it, though. The Miso Soup is always nice and flavorful. The texture of seaweed is like eating cabbage if it was made out of paper. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but the taste is good.

The main star of the evening, though, was the Chi-To Roll! This thing was absolutely the real deal. I figured that a sushi roll with crab and Cheetos would taste terrible, but it couldn’t have been futher from the truth. Every flavor played with each other. The sauce on top was the piece de resistance. The flavor was clean and fresh. The spicy flavor didn’t come through very hard, but just enough to give each piece a kiss of fire. I’m waiting to get some more of that one day!

WEEKEND FOODIE SAYS:
Katsu – I like it!
Chi-To Roll – Weekend Foodie’s Choice!

DESSERT
Mochi Ice Cream – $7
Vanilla, Chocolate and Red Bean Ice Cream encased in mochi (glutinous rice paste).



Ah, the Mochi Ice Cream. If you have been a fan of anime like I have, then you have seen this type of ice cream. It’s almost if someone made gigantic dippin’ dots and put 3 on my plate. The outer coating, the mocha, is very sticky. It had a very subdued flavor and I actually would have never know it was rice if I hadn’t looked it up. It gives the entire dish a very exotic flavor that I liked overall.

The other part, the actual ice cream within, is easy. The vanilla was pretty good as vanilla goes, the chocolate was fantastic (and I’m not huge on chocolate). But the red bean was VERY unusual. The taste of it is almost like strawberry ice cream, but you can tell very much that it isn’t. But it doesn’t taste like just some dinner beans, either. I would say that the time to try it yourself! Experience it!

Mochi Ice Cream – I like it!

And so Episode 5 comes to a close. We didn’t see SK’s girlfriend anywhere, but who knows? Perhaps he’s had a Merry Christmas and can have a Happy New Year, eh? EH?