a visual collective outlet of inspiration

we arrived around 9pm to a packed 40 minute wait, medium sized restaurant. the crowd remained and so did the wait on this thursday night until we left around 10:30-11. the place is quite simply done and super clean. almost too clean – tending to lean a bit on the prefab/suburban. the ikea bleach wood was taken to the n’th degree. i sort of missed a bit of that grit in such a special place. that said, in all of this suburban-ism, i appreciated the clean bathroom. nicely sealed on all 4 edges from any of those summer visitors that are bound to be somewhere near by, with a small stainless sink and a hand blower that actually worked. little details that went a long way.

now, onwards to the food (and we had plenty of it): i started by sharing an orion beer with my dashing companion. tried the soy marinated egg (6/10) then a chicken mole tamale (10/10) moved on to sliced raw sea scallop with yuzu kosjo, sauteed cilantro-yum!, and beets (10/10) and then some pork buns made like tacos with two thick slices of pork rolled into the flat bun (8/10). for main-course, i had the chilled spicy (and they mean spicy) noodles with sichuan sausage, spinich, and suger cashews and my date the ginger scallion noodles, the only vegetarian dish on the menu! a bottle of sparkling water was required to wash it all down. our total bill something under a $100. not bad. the place is highly recommended.

as an extra; for those who may care… lovely model helena christensen and some handsome young actor josh hartnett, were sitting next to us at the bar. they had practically the same dishes as us, spicy noodles, the scallop, and the sorts… so josh if you are reading this, just wanna say that i know you where copying my order ; ) by dd