Rain Modern Japanese Cuisine

I live in fear of eating bad sushi, and luckily there was none to be had yesterday when I gave Rain’s happy hour a try. However, good sushi with bad service leaves much to be desired as well. When we sat down we were given a small bowl of edamame, and I’ll be honest, I have to say I love when the restaurant gives me something to munch on while I make my decisions. We ordered 2 large house sakes ($4 a piece, not bad at all) and a Jenny’s roll. The Jennys roll (scallops, avacado, salmon, wasabi sauce) was very good. It was a filling roll, and it came cut into 8 very large slices. The two handrolls we ordered came out wrong–one negihama and one salmon skin suddenly became 2 negihama. Once that was straightened out, I have to say I did not like the style their handrolls cam in. Instead of being rolled simliar to a regular roll, they were rolled like an ice cream cone–a cone of nori, with rice in the bottom and a chopped mix on top. I liked the mix in the salmon skin (why I had ordered it in the first place, and not 2 of the negihama). I was not overly pleased with the negihama–a mix of tuna and scallions and herbs. I felt that the flavors overwhelmed the taste of the fish, but my partner in crime liked it a lot.
We both ordered ourselves the Sashimi plate ($ which was an amazing amount of raw fish for such a price (I love happy hour). The fish was quite good, and generally very well cut. There were some odd pieces of tuna chunk there, but it all tasted just right, so I was pretty happy.
So the service…Besides our screwed up handroll, he also asked if we had anything else coming out (clearly having forgotten our 2 sashimi plates), then told me the hand roll would be on the house and proceeded to charge me for all three handrolls. However, he forgot to charge me for one of the sakes and when asked removed the handroll. Somehow we also lost a sashimi plate in all this. So if you are willing to endure the terrible service to get cheap sushi, here is the place!

Mr. Villa’s

On Lake City way, just a few blocks from my house is Mr. Villas. It is shabby from the outside, but by the time I woke the BF up at 1pm on saturday, I just wanted food, and Mexican sounded great. It was a little crowded, so service was slow until a second waitress showed up. However, they kept us well supplied with their delicious house made tortilla chips and salsas. In fact, by the time my food came, I didn’t even want it that much. Which may have been a good thing. My fajita meat (Fajitas de res) was like rubber, the sauce unflavorful. The sopes were good, but nothing exceptional. I would go back, but is it bad if I just want to eat the chips and salsa?

Wingmasters Note

We went in for wings at Wingmasters last night, and I’m sad to announce that Todd, the cook has been fired. I have no interest in this place any more. His wing sauces were what made this bar great.
He has an interview with the now Consolidated Restaurants owned Wing Dome next week. Best of luck, Todd!

La Carta de Oaxaca

Oooh, I waited along time to try this place. After repeated attempts to eat here botched by the rumbling of my tummy after hearing that it was a one hour wait, I dragged my parents out here for my Dad’s birthday on a monday night. It was still a ten minute wait, but at least this time I could enjoy a margarita at the bar while I waited.
All the plates are fairly small, so we ordered about half the menu and dug in. Started with chips and guacamole. The chips were great, but the guac was not as good as I hoped. It was creamier than I am used to, no big chunks of deliciousness. The salsas from the salsa bar were fairly good though, especially the pico de gallo-esque fresh veggie one. Next up was the Albondigas, a beef meatball soup. It was very authentic–just like what I have had in Mexico. But then I remembered that every time I order I wonder why I didn’t just order an extra taco al pastor! We had the tostadas con camarones. They were alright, but the smallness of the shrimp pieces (all chopped up) meant a little less shrimp flavor coming through everything else. The two kinds of tacos–al pastor (a personal fave of mine) and halibut were both quite good. I would say that I would prefer them more in the style I am used to–less sauce, more allowing of the lamb and fish flavor–than with the creamy sauce. Last but not least, the Mole negro oaxaqueno. Unreal. Now I understood why everyone raves about the place. Everything else was good, this was unbelievable. I get it. If I went back, I might skip straight from the chips to a few orders of Mole Negro.
and the price? Well, my dad’s comment was “This is pretty much as good and as cheap as the food we had in Mazatlan”
Now, I’m not going to make fun of him for Mazatlan being his source for Mexicanity, but it makes my point. Good, cheap mexican food in Ballard. Not an easy find in these parts!

Cooper’s Ale House

Okay, working on catching up on a few here. Cooper’s is the closest bar to the new digs. I went down there last week to check out my options, and what did I happen upon but this girl’s favorite thing in the world–PUB QUIZ! Lovely. I ordered up a lovely glass of riesling (I was off beer for a while, please don’t make fun of me ordering wine at an ale house) and started answering questions. The man ordered up some Nachos and I could not help myself. These are some amzing nachos! We didn’t run out of cheese, there were spicy fresh jalepanos all over the place, unbelievable. The pub quiz was tough, but not too hard to be fun. The darts were all in working order. All in all, I was floored at the many virtues of my new home away from home. If you’re looking for me some tuesday night in the future…Cooper’s Quiz night, my friends.

Thai-ger Room

Holy hell, its been a while since I posted! Ski season (aka hibernation) has in fact set in. In the meantime I have moved into a new house and got a new car (courtesy of the lady in the giant SUV who slammed into me). So all is good now. Last night the man was craving a little bit of Thai, and, inexplicably to this girl who grew up frequenting Siam on Broadway, Thai-ger room is what he likes.

To me, Thai food means a big table full of various dishes all passed around family style. At Thai-ger Room, I’m limited to my one dish. Well that clearly wasn’t going to work. I admit that it is nice that I know I can get my meal for $6.75. But still, I want that variety.

I started with the ‘Crab Wontons’ which were basically Crab Rangoons, though the sauce was so overly sweet I felt a little like I was eating cream cheese and jelly. Not too bad once I dropped the sauce, but a little more crab flavor would not have hurt. The boy tried to have the wings as a started, but they showed up moments after our main dishes (which admitadly were quite quick). The wings were served with the same overly sweet sauce, so I clearly had no dipping intentions. However, the flavor of the wings was basically non existent. You know the old joke ‘tastes like chicken’? Well, these tasted like chicken. Now think of the last time you had wings that tasted like chicken? Exactly. I want my wings to taste like buffalo, or jerk, or some kind of exciting thai spice!

For my main dish I fell upon the classic, Drunken Noodle. I love them. I have no crticism of the noodles themself. They were tender, the beef was delicious, the 5 stars had some semblence of heat (which is not something I find often). All in all, very good. My only question: Who serves a noodle dish with a side of rice? I would so much rather have had more noodles. Or a bit of broth. Some veggies, anything! I don’t need more starch! The BF had garlic peppers with beef. It was also quite good.
And went well with the side of rice.

Moral of the story: At Thai-ger Room, stick with the basics. A meat dish, eat it with your rice, and go home happy with your cheap meal!