The Trifecta +1 (Dragon King's Daughter, Lonnie's Taste of Chicago, Seafood Connection, and Wild Ginger)

"Oh it was painful... but the memory was so well worth it!"

I had posted on facebook earlier in the day, "Some days I get myself in trouble eating... I have a feeling that this will be one of those days."  There was an inkling in me that foreboded the imminent  surfeit...

It was 4 P.M. Friday January 25, 2013... Sushi had been on my mind all day and I had it all planned to eat at Dragon King's Daughter (DKD) <- (Keeping with my government ways...).  Making good of their Sushi Happy Hour (3-6 P.M. and 10-12 at night).  I must say... I was rather on the skeptical side... as finding quality sushi can pose a challenge... I may be too familiar with eating at Sapporo (In my opinion, the best Sushi in town.).  Yet, this was one of the locations in my "food bible" (FB | Louisville Magazine Eats Edition) that I had yet to dine, so I felt powerless to act differently... 

DKD was located at the old Karma Cafe (Highland Area).  I had eaten at Karma Cafe on many occasions, yet reluctant to ventured back since the establishment of DKD.  With a touch of trepidation, I ambulated into DKD and sat at a table.  The Happy Hour Menu surprised me; the variety of sushi rolls was quite extensive.  You could find a roll to complement any desired ingredient... It had been a while since my taste-buds had the pleasure to indulge in eel.  Add on salmon, shrimp, and crab; naturally, I had to take the Dipity Roll (lower roll in the picture above) and the DKD roll (the other one).  The rolls were great!  I still think Sapporo has better sushi, but Sapporo doesn't have eel on their sushi happy hour (5-6.5 P.M. daily btw, an exceptional deal for the sushi lover). 

Rating
Food: 8/10
Ambiance: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

(My friend | Shunsuke Maruyama was my confidant with regards to eating and we raided our fair share of restaurants... He and I would rank a restaurant at the conclusion of ever meal in a similar fashion to the aforementioned rating.)

Earlier in the day, Tim Kempf (a cohort) had mentioned Lonnie's Taste of Chicago (LTC) during a discussion of food (You may already notice that food is perpetually on my mind...) as having some of the best hotdogs in town... So It was inevitable that I try it out (not to mention that it was in the FB)  It was conveniently next to my friend's work place in Middletown... The food god (Bacchanal?) connecting the dots that day...  I continued on and carried myself to the Starbucks at Middletown as I waited for Bach (my friend) to eat at LTC.  Bach called around 6.5 and we drove to LTC.

LTC reminded me of an old-school diner.  The walls were plastered with Chicago memorabilia; from Jordan's jersey to the Whitesox posters... Everything Chicago.  I had the opportunity of eating a Chicago hotdog in Chicago (I must say... I wasn't overly impressed.  Just saying.)  We went up to the counter to order.  Bach wanted to try the authentic Chicago hotdog (all-beef hot dog, tomato wedge, dill pickle spear, sport peppers, celery salt, sweet green pickle relish, chopped onion, mustard, and a poppyseed bun), so he ordered the Clark Street Hotdog (the right basket) and I had the Italian Beef sandwich (the left basket).  Bach wasn't overly impressed with his and I thought mine was... decent.

Rating
Food: 6/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Overall: 6.5/10

As we walked out the door, Bach said, "Let's go to Seafood Connection (SC)."  I had mentioned the possibility of going to SC after trying out Lonnie's to Bach earlier in the day... it went something like. 

Me:  Want to try Lonnie's Chicago Hotdog or Seafood Connection tonight?
Bach:  Which one you like better?  Seafood or Chicago?
Me:  We can do both?...
Bach:  LMAO.  You crazy. 

We had been in Chenoweth Square (location of SC, Middletown) yesterday and was going to eat at SC but they had turned off their fryer since no business had been there the last hour or so.  We decided to come back another day... wasn't expecting it to be so immediate.  (I'll talk more about Chenoweth Square in the Majid post.)

We drove ourselves over to SC.  We were amazed at the fresh fish offered at the front of the store.  All the fish could be selected and cooked on the spot (Reminiscent of Texas Roadhouse and their choose you steak).  The swordfish (second piece from the left on the top row) captivated caught our eye.  It may be the allure of never eating swordfish in the past (neither Bach nor I) or it just felt exotic to try out a new fish.  Of course, we had to get ourselves about a pound worth of Swordfish.  

The chef concocted a sweet chili sauce as the swordfish was placed on the grill and slowly drizzled the sauce on the steak as it cooked.  After it was done, he added the remainder of the sauce on the steak.  We were rather impressed with the sauce, complimenting it as we ate.  It was not until we finished most of it that we discovered that the gentleman was in culinary school to learn to be a full time chef.  He looks like he is on a good course. 




We also decided to also order a shrimp, fish, and fried pickle combo.  How could you go to a fried fish place and not have white fish?  The fishsticks were really good.  The chef hand battered the fish right in front of us and deep fried it.  What made the fish exquisite was that the fish was so juicy after being friend.  We can't say the same for the shrimp and fried prickles.  Rather mundane... The tarter sauce was rather mundane. 


Rating
Food: 7/10
Ambiance: 6/10
Service: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10

Tommy (my other friend) had recently gotten out of work and was hungry.  He had called us while we were dining (7.5) at SC and had a hankering for Sushi...  But he didn't want us to eat another meal just for his sake so he opted to grab fastfood or something of the nature.  As Bach and I was driving out of Chenoweth Square, Bach said, "I'm still hungry.  Call Tommy up.  Let's eat at Wild Ginger."  The smile on my face was salient.  This was the dinner trifecta!  We phoned Tommy to meet up at Wild Ginger.  We all met up at the same time and lugged (Bach and I) into Wild Ginger.

We went in and received a salutation by the owner who brought us to a table in the back.  The milieu was very much redolent of a club atmosphere.  You can't help but move a little faster, act a little sly, an extra bounce to you.  It was the ideal atmosphere for three single dudes to act well... like three single dudes (what that entails, I'll leave it to your imagination).  We sat and was greeted by our waitress.  A look at the menu and you are reminded why this place is actually called (from places) Wild Ginger Sushi Fusion Bistro rather than just the mundane Wild Ginger...  The menu draws from multiple Asian countries... Thai Garlic Basil and Thai Chili Bowl, Korean Dol Sol Bibimbob and Spicy Korean, Mandarin Kung Pao, Hunan Spicy, and Sichuan Peppercorn Sauce (Hunan, Sichuan, and Mandarin are styles of Chinese cooking).  

We decided it was best that we tone it down on the food... as I'm sure we are aware of by now that Bach had two meals in a matter of an hour and I had three meals in a matter of three hours.  So we decided to just get Tempura Udon, Bento Box, and a Play Boy Roll :-)... not much food right?

Just for some information to those who are neophytes in the arena of Asian Cuisine... Tempura Udon is a type Japanese wheat flour thick noodle commonly served hot in a broth consisting of dashi (Japanese fish stock), soy-sauce and mirin (Japanese white wine and sugar).  For this specific Udon dish, there was also naruto (the swirly pinkish things in the soup), fish cake (pink outer layer with white center), egg, and tempura (battered vegetable and shrimp with panko [crunchy flakes] and fried).  Ideal dish for a cold day!  I think Bach horded almost the whole thing himself and still dreams about this Udon nightly.  

Bento box... Oh I love Bento Boxes.  It is almost like unwrapping a present to see what you received.  There is generally a variety of things that make up a Bento Box and it differ from restaurant to restaurant and from each nationality's cuisine.  In this case, the Bento Box consisted of a California Roll (bottom left), a Spicy Tuna hand roll (bottom right), vegetable tempura, steak filet, fried rice, teriyaki shirmps on a stick, and gyozas (Japanese fried dumpling).  The Playboy roll consisted of crab, avocado, cucumber inside topped with tuna, tobiko (flying fish roe) and ponzu sauce sprinkled with tempura flakes.

As most Asian meals, we shared everything.  Many people express that this comparable to the Southern style.  Either way, we reveled in the food and delighted our stomachs.  The sushi was good but Sapporo is still better.  The Udon and Bento Box were delicious. 

Rating
Food: 8.0/10
Ambiance: 8.5/10
Service: 8/10
Overall: 8.0/10

Was I full?  Do you have to ask?  Was I hurting?  Do you have to ask?  But man... I'll forever remember January 25, 2013 as the trifecta + 1.