Tomodachi Sushi

  Howdy folks!  For lunch today (because I completely slept through breakfast) Julia, Jason (friend from work) and I decided to get some sushi at Tomodachi Sushi (http://www.tomosushiaustin.com/index.html).
I love sushi and I've finally started getting my sister liking it again and so I was hoping that Tomodachi wouldn't push my sister back to the dark side of the non sushi eaters.
   For an appetizer my sister ordered the Mushroom Caps; "Stuffed with shrimp, crab, Serrano and Parmesan cheese."  Jason ordered the Pumpkin Tempura.  And I ordered the Crab Cakes; "Panko mozzarella breaded crab cakes served with spicy aioli" and the Cherry Blossom; "Soft-shell crab wrapped in avocado with Unagi sauce"

 The mushroom caps were good, but they really weren't anything special.  The shrimp flavor was masked by the crab and the Parmesan cheese pretty much drowned the Serrano and any other seasoning that may have been included in the stuffing.

    The Rock Shrimp Tempura was greasy, under seasoned and basically just bland.  I want to think that because we came right when the restaurant opened the oil in the friers weren't at temperature and that's why the tempura was soggy and greasy.  However that doesn't explain why the pumpkin was bland.  If you're planning on ordering this, make sure the restaurant has been open for a least an hour and has enough time for the oil in the fries to get to temp.

   The Crab Cakes tasted pretty good.  They aren't as good as the crab cakes at Chez Zee, but they still had good flavor, excellent crunch  and the spicy aioli gave it just enough kick to cut through the mozzarella that was melted on top.  Overall a very good dish.

   When the Cherry Blossom came out I was very surprised, I wasn't expecting to be served a tennis ball sized (not to mention same color) portion.  Though this was a good dish, the soft-shelled crab in the middle tasted exactly the same as the crab from the Crab Cake, except there wasn't a spicy aioli to cut through the rich creaminess of the avocado.  The Unagi sauce added a nice sweet flavor to the plate and even though I really enjoy Unagai (probably my favorite sushi) and the sauce, I found myself wanting the spicy aioli from the crab cakes.  But again, this was a pretty good tasting dish and I would recommend it, especially for those individuals who can't really handle spice.

   For the main course we ordered the xXx, Japanese Lasagna, 2 pieces of Sea Urchin, 2 pieces of Unagi  and Tempura Roll.

   Long story short; xXx was good; the Japanese Lasagna was really rich because of the cheese on top, but flavorful; The Unagi (though only Jason ate these, I've had them before here) was good; the Tempura Roll was crispy and tasty.  Do NOT and I mean NOT, NEVER, NEVER EVER, order the sea urchin.  It tasted rotten and texturally it was slimy and grainy.  The Urchin was one dish that I would only serve to my enemies, it was that horrid.  To get the taste off of my tongue I actually drank the Wasabi soy dipping sauce that I was using for other sushi.  I'll probably have nightmares later on tonight.
 
   Okay I stopped shuttering about the urchin.  Tomodachi isn't a bad place to go for sushi, but its not a place to go for spectacular sushi.  I'd give it a grade of "B-" because most of the appetizers were decent and most of the rolls and sushi were good, again not spectacular, but good.

Until next time, I wish y'all happy eating.
-Henry

Hemingway Restaurant and Bar

My sister and I love to find new places to eat.  With that being said, sometimes we're lazy and don't want to drive too far to try something new.  Since my sister and I live up in North Austin we didn't really want to drive back to the down town area or to south Austin to try out some local fair, so we searched for something up north and found ourselves at Hemingway Restaurant and Bar (http://www.hemingwayrb.com) in Cedar Park.
   Small Plates(Appetizers):  For an appetizer we had the Fried Portabella & Avocado Strips.  The breading was had a good crunch and was seasoned well and the portabella mushroom tasted very good.  It reminded me of the flavor of Plucker's Wing Bar's fried mushrooms (that's going to have to be a different blog).  The Avocado was breaded with the same breading, which was fine, but the avocado itself didn't have any real flavor, it needed some seasoning.  The avocado was creamy and buttery, but with the fried breading, it needed something that would contrast the flavor.  The orange marmalade sauce that came with the appetizer was awful.  To me it tasted like a Chinese plum sauce that had red peppers added to it, not a good pairing, at least not by my taste buds.  Overall the appetizers were decent.

  And that's pretty much the best part of this meal.  For the entrees my sister went with the  double chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and a salad.  As for me I selected the Gulf Coast Two Step.
   Let's start with my sister's dish.  "Country Fried Steak: Third pound of tender steak, topped with old-fashioned seasonings, lightly hand breaded and smothered with scratch cream gravy."  The breading was thicker than was on the appetizer, but essentially it had the same flavor.  However the breading fell off the steak as soon as a knife was applied to the steak.  The steak itself was chewy and wasn't seasoned or at least wasn't seasoned well.  The gravy wasn't spectacular and added nothing to the steak except a gelatinous mass.  Now the mashed potatoes; tasted like they were rehydrated from from a box.  The potatoes were dry and flaky instead of smooth and creamy and again wasn't very pleasing to the palate.

   Gulf Coast Two Step: "Three Gulf Coast shrimp and three farm raised catfish fingers served with a double order of french fries."  If you can believe it or not, my sister's entree was better than mine.  Everything on my plate tasted like it came freezer section of HEB.  I guess I was expecting too much when I read, "Fresh from Texas and the U.S. coast whenever possible."  I would've thought that a restaurant that has only recently opened would use fresh ingredients instead of ingredients that have been frozen.  To add insult to injury, I don't believe that the oil was hot enough when they dropped my food in the frier.  The reason I say this is because the shrimp, catfish and fries were greasy.  I know, I know, the food is fried, it should be greasy.  There is a difference between frying at the correct temperature and frying at a lower temperature, the food becomes more oil soaked than it should.

   Conclusion: I'll probably never come back to Hemingway Restaurant and Bar and I do not recommend this place to anyone who actually enjoys good tasting food.