Tsunami was a disaster!

When I came from work on Friday night, my bf Zack hadn't come home yet and I was on the verge of falling asleep due to a late night out the night before and lack of sleep this week largely due to my new-found obssession with blogging. Zack called from campus asking if I wanted to go out for a dinner and a movie. I shot down his movie idea but we decided to go out to dinner somewhere. Like I mentioned in my "India Garden" post, I've been wanting to try this sushi restaurant near our apartment called Tsunami for a while now.

When we got there, the place was virtually empty. This is usually not a good sign, but we pressed on. The place has a nice atmosphere and trendy decor, but it's pretty much all they had. We started off with some Asahi Super Dry beer and ordered the Kani-Su appetizer. Even though the rest of the salad was good, the crab smelled and tasted fishy which ruined the entire dish. We managed to gulp it down anyways and waited for our entrees. Zack order the Shrimp Tempura Udon Noodles and I ordered a couple varieties of sushi, including amaebi (sweet shrimp), uni and unagi (freshwater eel) nigiris and the "Tsunami", negi toro (scallions and fatty tuna) and futo (different fresh and pickled vegetables) makis. The unagi and uni were decent, but the rest of it was subpar. Their signature maki roll wasn't very tasty, the negi toro didn't seem like it actually contained fatty tuna (or maybe tuna that barely passes as being "toro" or fatty), and the waitress got my order wrong for the futo maki by bring their vegetarian version. Worst of all, the amaebi made me lose my appetite. I had a small bite of it and the shrimp had a very bitter and fishy taste. I was reaching for my glass of Asahi faster than lightning. I seriously think they used the wrong kind of shrimp because the amaebi shrimp are usually smaller so they put two on top of one nigiri (see link above for amaebi).

Don't even get me started on Zack's dish. His udon was overcooked and the vegetables use for tempura, while light and crunchy, were not typical vegetables that are used for tempura. Even Zack, who usually isn't too picky about the quality of food he eats, was complaining about the noodles. The one redeeming part of the night was when I ordered the plum wine sorbet. It wasn't spectacular by any means but had good flavor and washed away the bad taste in my mouth. Overall, the food was overpriced for the quality of food and I had a terrible experience at Tsunami. I will never go back there again.

Summer Weather Teaser

It shot up to 60 degrees in Chicago and you can just sense everyone's summer weather itch to go out for dinner and drinks tonight. I was invited to attend my firm's recruiting dinner reception at Mike Ditka's so I was pretty excited about 1) a free expensive meal and 2) going to the restaurant owned by "da bears" coach himself. Upon arriving, we were escorted to the Board Room. After all of the candidates trickled in, we sat down for dinner and mingled with the nervous and excited candidates curious about the firm and the group.

Dinner was phenomenal. I enjoyed my Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes and roasted bell peppers. I couldn't decided between da coach's favorite "Da Pork Chop" and the Filet Mignon, but was glad I ordered the Filet Mignon when the entrees were served. The steak was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of pink juiciness inside. The mashed potatoes were out-of-this-world because it had this almost sweet taste that left you wanting for more.

Mike Ditka's
100 E Chestnut St
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 587-8989

Korean BBQ

Do you ever get cravings for Korean BBQ? I do! I haven't had it in a while, so it was a good thing that a bunch of people from work organized an outing to San Soo Gap San, one of the best Korean restaurants in Chicago (check out the Citysearch review). It's near Western and Foster and has the smallest parking lot I've seen for such a popular restaurant. Street parking isn't exactly a piece of cake either. This place is open 24 hours and has a great atmosphere. There were about 15 people dispersed between two large tables with grills in the middle. I have to warn you that the smell of smoke and cooked beef will not easily wash out of your hair and clothes, so be prepared for that. Otherwise, order up some kalbi or bulgolgi and finish off the meal with some naengmyeon. They ended up serving us so much food that there's not enough room for all of the plates. I know I had way too much to eat, but it was all worth it! I'd do it all over again and again and again...

San Soo Gap San
5247 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 334-1589

India Garden

We had another night with Nishaant in town, so we all met up again for dinner last night. I had a few restaurant suggestions (like Frontera Grill, Tsunami, etc.) but they were all shot down. We basically had to go somewhere that has a good variety of vegetarian food so we ended up picking Indian food. We chose India Garden where we all ordered a bunch of dishes to share. There's nothing like family-style eating to enjoy good food and good company. Here are some of the dishes we ordered: tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, some vegetarian dishes like Masoor dal, Aloo gobhi (potato and cauliflower) and saag paneer (spinach with cheese) and, of course, samosas. I couldn't get enough naan dipped in plenty of masoor dal and the tandoori chicken was perfectly cooked. Zack and I finished off the meal with some mango and sweet lassi drinks.

India Garden
247 E Ontario St
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 280-4910

Pizza, pizza!

Well, my friend Nishaant is back from India and he's in town, so another mutual friend Will and his boyfriend Fred plus my bf Zack and I decided to make a vegetarian pizza feast for him last night. Will and Fred were in charge of drinks, the pizza dough and the dessert while Zack and I were solely in charge of the tomato sauce and toppings.

When Zack and I arrived at Will's place, I don't think anyone expected this night to be an ambitious culinary challenge. I had planned FIVE different pizzas, each one with its own distinct flavors and characteristics. Here's the menu:

• Mixed herbs and cheeses (fresh rosemary, fresh basil, fresh thyme and minced garlinc on top of a soft bed of grated fontina and parmesan cheeses)
• Roasted pepper and goat cheese (roasted red bell peppers and caramelized onions topped off with chunks of soft goat cheese)
• Eggplant, mushroom and sun-dried tomato (oven-roasted eggplants, sauted portabella mushroom and red onions, and sun-dried tomatoes on top of mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce)
• Asparagus and black olives (oven-roasted asparagus and sliced black olives on top of mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce)
• Margherita (fresh tomatoes and fresh basil on top of fresh mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce and topped off with parmesan cheese)

I even decided to make the tomato sauce from scratch (a variation of Mario Batali's recipe from his most recent book Molto Italiano). It's really simple to make but Fred and I were also trying to prep for the five pizzas at the same time. Meanwhile, Will and Zack made a trip to the grocery store for some last-minute necessities like a cheese grater, EVOO (as Rachel Ray would say) and extra Boboli pizza crusts and picked up Nishaant from the Metra station. We had eggplants and asparagus in the oven, mushrooms and onions in a pan, the bell peppers directly on top of the burner plus the tomato sauce simmering away. Finally, Will and Zack come back with Nishaant.

While Will was making us rum and cokes with a really dark and rich rum from the Bahamas, Fred was grating the cheeses and I was chopping up the fresh herbs and garlic. Zack pitched in by forming the pizza dough into a crust. His was really thin so I used it for the mixed herb and cheeses pizza. This couldn't have worked out better, because it tasted like a crunchy fociaccia and was a perfect appetizer. My personal favorite is the roasted pepper and goat cheese pizza because you get chunks of goat cheese that have a golden brown crunch on the outside and is warm and soft on the inside. The next two pizzas were pretty good too, but everyone was getting full. I also have to add that the Boboli crusts weren't nearly as tasty as the pizza dough made from scratch. It's a lot of work but worth it for feasts like this. I guess making five whole pizzas for five is an unbelievably large amount of food, but it's always better to have leftovers than to have anyone go hungry or unsatiated. I'd say I took care of that. It was a hectic but successful night of good eats and good company.

Intro to Oishii Ringo

I've created this blog to document my adventures in the appetizing world of cooking and dining. I'm a novice to blogging and I'm not sure if I'm ready for it, especially since I can barely keep up with checking my personal email and mobile voicemail. Well, I'm hoping that my passion for "good eats" (as Alton Brown on the Food Network would say) will be enough to fuel my blogging hunger.

As for the title of this blog, I've named it Oishii Ringo. Oishii means delicious and ringo means apple in Japanese. I've named my blog this because 1) it's about delicious food and 2) my boyfriend Zack loves impressing people with his vast knowledge of Japanese by trying to fit in "oishii" or "ringo" into every conversation.