Dinner at Old Irving Brewing

We’d tried sandwiches and salads at Old Irving Brewing. Dallas and I branched out at dinner and tried the salmon and octopus and were really surprised at how good both of them were! Makai stuck with his all time favorite, bacon mac n cheese with cheezit crumbles. We also sampled pork rinds, brussels sprouts and the wings.

Early Birthday Dinner [#1] at Omakase Takeya

Dallas heard about a new omakase sushi restaurant called Omakase Takaya. It JUST opened and only had 7 seats in the whole restaurant. Dallas somehow got a reservation and surprised me for my birthday. Because he got a reservation for 4, Marty and Todd joined us for dinner.


Omakase Takaya was opened by the owners of Wasabi and is located in the basement level of Ramen Takeya, their ramen restaurant. We’d been to Wasabi many times, but these places are way different. Located in Fulton Market, Ramen Takeya is styled like an izakaya. Downstairs, Omakase Takeya is TINY. A counter with 7 seats, a sushi chef, an assistant chef, and a few servers. That’s it.

Sushi chef Hiromichi Sasaki was so cute. Very old, he could speak very little English. It was fun just watching him do his thing.

 AMUSE BOUCHE: octopus, root vegetable

CHAWAN MUSHI: white fish, mitsuba, shiitake, lemon

KINME DAI: golden eye, snapper, nigiri

SHIMA AJI: striped horse mackerel, nigiri

AWABI: abalone, nigiri

IWASHI: sardine, nigiri

BLACK COD SAIKYO, NASU NIBITASHI, NADAI SASHIMI: pickled lotus, finger lime, fresh ginger

AKAMI & FOIE GRAS: lean bluefin, nigiri

CHU TORO: medium fatty bluefin, nigiri

O TORO: grand fatty bluefin, nigiri

JAPANESE A5 WAGYU FILET: dashi ponzu, yuzu, wasabi

UNI & IKURA: sea urchin, salmon roe, sushi rice

AKADASHI: little neck clam, red miso, chive

ANAGO: sea eel, nigiri

TEMAKI ZUSHI: seaweed, sushi rice

TAMAGO: tiger shrimp, yamaimo


DESSERT: matcha ice cream, crisp rice

We had 15 courses, plus the amuse bouche in the beginning and dessert at the end. Everything was as amazing as the photos look. I LOVED the black cod, the tuna with foie gras and the wagyu, but everything was so good. Best sushi in Chicago. Great experience. Nothing tops Sukiyabashi Jiro, but this was the closest we’ve had to that experience.

Hawaii Day 13: Picnicking With the Chickens at Kokee

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(null)(null)Kathy and George went to meet their friends for breakfast, a weekly ritual. Makai and I went down to G’s Juicebar in Waimea for breakfast. I wanted to try one of their acai bowls. I decided on the Rambla, which was acai, cocoa powder, almond milk, and banana topped with cocoa nibs, crushed almonds, granola, hemp seeds and banana. It was good. The bottom, acai part, was almost like a frozen yogurt consistency.

(null)(null)(null)After breakfast we walked around Waimea town a little bit. The souvenir store, JoJo’s, West Inn (not the Westin!).

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(null)I took Makai back home then ran to Big Save for the 100th time to get picnic supplies. We made the long drive up to Kokee for a picnic! There were so many chickens, roosters, chicks, crested cardinals and myna birds! Makai loved to run and chase them, but they were so used to people that when we were eating lunch Makai was holding his chip to low and one of the chickens just came up and grabbed it away! It was a fun relaxing time. Makai ran around for hours! At home he is calling the birds “myna birds!”

(null)Inside the Kokee Museum I spotted Nick Castillo’s CD. Nick is Dallas’s classmate and is a very talented Hawaiian falsetto singer. We met up with him later int he trip and saw him sing!

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(null)FullSizeRender-7On the way up to Kokee Makai fell asleep so we just drove straight up. On the way down I made Dallas stop at the Waimea Canyon lookout. He didn’t want to. Can you tell by the photo? 🙂 It was cloudy and rainy and you could hardly see anything. But still.. you HAVE to stop!

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(null)Back at home Makai and I both slept for hours! Uncle Bob and his sister in law, Karen, came over for dinner. Dallas’s dad made me a margarita, that supposedly all of their friends rave about. He also fried up some akule fish. They are fried up bones and all. I tried a bit. It was super salty! Dallas and his mom split the salmon and each made it a different way before grilling. Kathy made hers with fresh dill and Dallas did more of an Asian shoyu/sugar rub. No one would say whose was better. Makai ate plenty of both! We sat out on the desk for a long time eating and talking and then called it a night.

Roka Akor


Roka Akor


Red Miso Soup with Lobster


Butterfish Roll


Wagyu Beef and Kimchi Dumplings


Filet


Salmon Teriyaki


Pickled Cucumber


Steamed Rice with Furikake


Another look at Alden’s steak.

A several months ago, I earned enough Open Table points to get me $20 off any Open Table restaurant bill. Since a bunch of the points were earned when Alden and I went out for lunches in River North, I thought it appropriate that I take him out to use my check.

We decided to go to Roka Akor, a fancy schmancy sushi restaurant and Japanese robata grill that we probably wouldn’t go to at dinner because it would be too expensive. It was a bit expensive even for lunch, but at least we got $20 off. We both decided to get the Roka Akor Business Lunch ($24 each), which includes red miso soup with lobster, Wagyu beef and kimchi dumplings, spicy crispy butterfish sushi rolls, steamed rice, and your choice of an entree. The entrees offerred were salmon teriyaki with pickled cucumber, cumin BBQ pork loin with shaved vegetables and cilantro, grilled seasonal vegetables with truffle soy butter, a 6 oz. prime beef filet or prime skirt steak. The steaks were $6 more. Alden went all out and got the steak. I got the salmon.

Everything that we had was pretty good. My salmon was very tasty and the portion size was larger than what I expected, for sure. Alden gave me a piece of his steak and it was flavorful and tender. I’m not a huge steak person, but it was really good. The pickled cucumber wasn’t too pickled, really refreshing. I also really liked the butterfish rolls and could see coming here for sushi and not even getting things from the grill. I thought the dumplings were alright. Not the stars of the show. The miso soup was pretty good too, but not outstanding.

I never had food cooked on the robata grill (high-heat method of searing and cooking using expensive, imported binchotan charcoal from Japan) and it was great. The grill area at Roka Akor is really pretty and it’s wide open so you can see the cooks using this unique grill. I would come back to Roka Akor, but probably only for a special occasion dinner. Just because I’m sure it tends to get swanky at night and the dinner prices can get expensive, but the food was great and the service was good, as well.

Eatt


Chop Chop Salad: Iceburg, Romaine, Diced Beets, Hearts Of Palm, Celery, Onions, Carrots, Tomatoes, Pepper Medley, Corn & Gorgonzola, Cucumbers, Kalamata Olives, Apple Smoked Bacon, Red Wine Vinaigrette


Grilled Salmon Salad: Herb Dusted Scottish Salmon Filet, Wild Greens, Orange Supremes, Red Onions, Candied Walnuts, Bleu Cheese Crumbles, Citrus Vinaigrette

Jess and I tried a new (to us) place for lunch: Eatt. I liked the look of it on the outside. When we went in I didn’t expect it was going to look like a diner with booths, but the inside was nice too. We both got salads. As you can see, they were gigantic. I wished I’d asked for dressing on the side so I could have taken my leftovers home without them getting wilty and gross. I liked my salmon salad, but the waiter recommended I get my salmon cooked medium, and I did.. when it came out it was definitely not cooked all the way through. I ate the edges, which were tasty, but I couldn’t eat the middle parts. Still, I’d go back.