Turns out it was very lucky. We arrived at Ooka at dusk. The outside of the restaurant is really nicely decorated, fairly upscale and a bit out of place near a big mall and across from a strip mall.

Once we entered the restaurant, I noticed that the very upscale look of the outside continued inside as well. The left side of the place is a standard dining room and the right side was a very nice Sake bar. We of course sat in the dining room as we were there for dinner. It was large with good sized tables and a sushi bar at the rear.

We sat down and took a look through the rather large menu. I knew of course that I wanted some maki sushi, my partner decided he’d join me so we could get a good sampling of Ooka’s sushi choices. My dad, not a big sushi fan was on the prowl for something cooked. For appetizers everyone seem to want to sample the Seaweed Salad, I decided to also get some edamame and the pork gyoza, dad chose the Blue Shrimp Cocktail.

All of our appetizers were delicious. The edamame was crisp and salty, the seaweed salad was fresh and the dressing, just tangy enough. The shrimp was fantastic especially with the wasabi cocktail sauce. Even the gyoza were good which has been a bit of a challenge for me these days since every where I seem to go they seem frozen!

We also had some cocktails with our apps. I opted for the pineapple yasumi which is a pineapple infused iichiko shochu. I loved shochu when I was in Japan but I did not care for this drink at all. Dad and my boyfriend had the two different variations of sake sangria Ooka offered. Dad went with the shiro
which was star anise, white wine, sake, Bacardi “O”, mango and pineapple. My boyfriend had gosai made with red wine, sake, Bacardi Limon, asian pear, fuji apple and lychee. The gosai was much more my taste although both were pretty good!

Next up was our main dishes. Dad (who is not a fan of sushi) found quite a few things on the menu that he wanted. He decided on the Duck Breast which was served with a balsamic-teriyaki reduction, asian pear compote and glazed sweet potato fries arranged in a little log cabin.

This dish was amazing. The duck (which as I found out at Chuti’s is just about the best thing in the world), was cooked perfectly and seasoned so well I couldn’t help but stealing a few pieces. The sweet potato fries once again made a liar out of me. “I don’t care for sweet potatoes” I said, but when one was rather rudely shoved in my mouth… it was like a bit of heaven. Just excellent.

Next up was the massive amount of maki I ordered. As always I start off with my “standards” Spicy Tuna, Philadelphia and California rolls. Boring yes but, they serve two purposes. They are available everywhere so they’re a good measure of how good the sushi is and, if the specialty rolls aren’t so great, I have something that’s usually pretty tasty to fall back on. They were all very good. Fresh and not too skimpy.

At Ooka I went big with three specialty rolls. First up the “309″ Roll. Named for the street “Route 309″ that Ooka Montgomeryville sits on, it was spicy tuna, scallion, avocado, eel sauce and a unknown spicy sauce. ABSOLUTELY amazing. I could have eaten way more than one of these rolls. Next up was the Creamy King Crab Roll: cucumber, avocado, albacore, creamy sesame sauce and masago. Almost as delicious as the 309 Roll, the creaminess of the sesame sauce combined with the crab and the avocado was just decadent. Last but certainly not least was the Montgomeryville Roll:tuna, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, crab, avocado and masago. Also another great roll. I think sadly that the lack of a sauce on this one when I was loving the sauce on the other two made me sad but it was still great. The fish was fresh and the preparation was first class. Just delicious and soooo filling.

In summary, the food and the atmosphere at Ooka combined to make a memorable food experience. If I had any complaints it was the waiter. He was very loud and very forgetful. We had to ask for things a few times and when he delivered things, he always seemed to be at the next table before he left ours. However, even that could not darken the bright experience that I had at Ooka, not only will I go back but I will even try one of their other locations. 4 pans.

Ooka Montgomeryville
764 Bethlehem Pike
Montgomeryville, PA 18936
215-361-1119
http://www.ookasushi.com/new/montgomeryville.html

It has come to my attention that the next big thing in the coffee world is going to be “Cold-Brewed Coffee”. I’ve seen it pop up in the Food Blogosphere and at a few restaurants.

It’s nothing new really, the Vietnamese have done it for years, and let me tell you that cold-brewed coffee tastes much better than it’s hot brewed cousin any day. When the coffee is cold-brewed, it has a much less acidic taste, which makes for a much smoother coffee experience. To some “coffee aficionados” who like the acidicty and other common flavors that came with coffee that has been hot-brewed, cold-brewed coffee will be a different experience. You will have to try both of them to make your own decision which of you like best.

Below is a recipe that makes a larger batch than usual so I can have it around for a cup or two of iced coffee for myself and even some and for my guests if they happen to want one.

Cold-Brewed Coffee
2 cups of ground coffee (Medium-Coarse so that most grounds will be filtered out easier)
10 cups of water (room temperature)

In a large pitcher (large enough to put both ingredients into), mix the coffee and water together and leave it over night (or for at least 10 hrs). Strain using a fine-mesh strainer, or if you want to make sure all the coffee grounds are filtered out, line the strainer with some cheesecloth. Personally, I would run the liquid through twice just to be sure.

Once you have your cold-brewed coffee, you can pretty much use it for whatever your heart desires. Go ahead and have an iced coffee, or make coffee ice cream, or go crazy with some tiramisu.

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Start by sauteeing onions and tofu with ginger.  Throw in some random chopped vegetables.  Carrots and celery are good, cabbage, anything.  When the onions have softened, toss in a handful of fern fiddles and then add a little bit of water along with the ramen.

This will get you into Vegan Academy.

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Today on the Today show, one of my most favorite fast food places was honored with a Zagat’s Best Burger Award. Five Guys has the Best fast food burger in my opinion (read my review here). What do you all think? Best Burger?

As seen on the NBC Today Show and Blog…

According to the latest Fast Food Survey by Zagat, the best burger in America comes from Virginia-based chain Five Guys. But while the regional chain edged out national players in the hamburger category, Dairy Queen rules the Best Milkshakes category, while the best fries still come from McDonald’s.

Check out what else Zagat Rated as Best Fast Food in the complete article.

About a month ago, I noticed a new restaurant near my office called Vapiano. Judging from the outside of the place, I thought it was going to be more of an upscale type of place, but I sure was wrong. Vapiano is infect a very inexpensive restaurant. I don’t think any of the dishes are more than $15. Not bad for the food they serve or the location that they are in.

As I walked info Vapriano, I was handed a card.  I asked the host what it was for and he explained to me that there are different food stations around the restaurant and as I ordered food from each station the cook enters what you had in the system and you tap the card on a little pad and I would pay at the host stand after I’d finished.  A little different than what I’m used to but kinda high tech and  easy enough to deal with. And the host was right, there were several stations for me to choose from—Pizza, Panini, Salad, and Appetizers, with quite a few choices per station. We opted to try some of the pasta dishes. It was delightful to see them cooking the dishes to order using fresh ingredients. They even used fresh herbs picked directly from the plant. What a wonderful idea!
Another thing that amazed me was the pasta cooking machine they used. It cooks the pasta perfectly no matter what kinda of pasta you order. They also had a really cool electromagnetic stove. I really would love to have one of those in my kitchen, but the cook told me they cause a few thousand dollars… Eek!
The food overall was pretty decent. Of course nothing compares to a place like Giacomo’s in the North End of Boston (link to my review), but not bad at all for a quick Italian lunch near the office. For me, it’s the fresh ingredients, the cooking to order, the price and the awesome setting that help make Vapiano stand out. All in all, Vapiano made a good impression on me. if you haven’t tried them yet, they are in a few big cities like Boston, New York, DC, etc.

I give them 4 pans.

Vaipiano Boston
191 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116
P. 857-445-0236
www.vapiano.com

The restaurant at the Piers is located on the third floor. You could walk right past it as the sign is so small.

But once you turn the corner, the decor is amazing. From outside the restaurant, you can see the restaurant’s focal piece, a long, lit table sitting in front of a gorgeous, huge Buddha statue.

The rest of the decor is lovely as well. The feel is very open and airy and is punctuated by an amazing ceiling that actually looks like a clear night sky.

But enough about the decor… bring on the food.

We were a large party and as there were five of us I made everyone promise to order something different so we could get a good sampling of the cuisine. The menu was very large and diverse, full of dishes I could not wait to try. Even though we had plenty of food, there was just as much left on the menu for me to try on a subsequent visit. One interesting note, since we were a party of four or more we were offered the “tasting menu”, a menu with three levels that contained four apps, four mains and four noodles for $60, $70 and $80/person. We decided against it and dug into the full menu.

We ordered so many different dishes I was glad when the waiter informed me that the food would come out, not in waves, but as each dish was ready. Considering the small table and the large number of diners, this kept the table fairly manageable until we all had or mains. First up was appetizers. We ordered four appetizers, the Kobe Beef Satay, Pork Pot Stickers, Hosin Glazed Pork Sliders and some Octopus dish I could not find on the menu.

For the most part the appetizers were very good. The Hosin Pork Sliders were very tasty and they were served on a sticky sweet bun which was surprising and delicious. The octopus was also very tasty, I’m not sure how it was prepared but I was suprised at how tender and not rubbery it was. The lone miss of the evening was the Pork Pot Stickers. It’s not that they were bad… they just weren’t anything special and they almost tasted frozen. In sharp contrast however was the Kobe Beef Satay. The beef was tender and perfectly cooked, so buttery and succulent.

We also decided on a large salad for the table. The waiter informed us that the small would feed two to three people and the large would easily feed the five of us. We chose the Asian Caesar with spicy cashews. The dressing and the spicy cashews made for an amazing salad. One that I wish I could have right now actually !

Just as soon as the salad was finished the noodle dishes began to arrive. We went with two noodle dishes, shrimp fried rice and Singapore noodles. Both were average, but I preferred the Singapore noodles. I’d never had them prepared with tofu before but the curry flavor and heat could have been kicked up a notch.

After we devoured both plates of noodles, we moved on to our main dishes. My sister and her boyfriend ordered the Wasabi Crusted Filet Mignon with Sweet Potato Mash.

A perfectly prepared Filet Mignon with a spicy, balanced crust of Wasabi, accompanied with maybe one of my favorites bits of the whole evening… the sweet potato mash. I believe it might have been an even mix of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes mashed together, I could not get enough of the light an fluffy side dish.

Next up… Dad’s Hot and Sour Scallops.

A very simple and small dish, the flavors and spice were on point and the scallops were fresh and huge. My only complaint was I wanted more of this dish and there was barely enough to go around.

My partner chose what I would call the best dish of the night, the Char Grilled Aged Beef.

Cooked medium rare, the beef was every bit as tender and tasty as the Kobe Beef. A very generous portion meant that I could pilfer more than a few slices without him noticing! The beef was served with “Szechuan Fries” which seemed to me to be flash fried been sprouts but boy were they tasty.

And last but not least, I had the Asian BBQ’d Pork Loin.

A very nicely prepared pork loin with a really tangy and sweet BBQ sauce served over one of my favorite vegetables, Chinese Broccoli. The dish was very good and was served with three RIDICULOUSLY huge onion rings!

Since it was my birthday celebration we decided that we should definitely go for dessert. We ordered two. I was enticed by the “Chocolate Bento Box” and my sister had her heart set on the “Crying Chocolate”. Both were to die for. The Bento had lots of little selections from cocoa powdered macadamia nuts to an amazing sorbet. And the Crying Chocolate had a lovely little cake and coffee ice cream.

All said, my trip to Buddakan Atlantic City was one of good times, good food and good drinks. The atmosphere was divine and the service above reproach. I am eagerly looking forward to a return visit or maybe a stop off at the Philadelphia or New York locations. 4 pans for sure.

Buddakan Atlantic City
The Pier Shops at Cesars
One Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic City, NJ 08401
609-674-0100
http://www.buddakanac.com

Bring the water to a boil and add the dandelion petals.
Simmer over very gentle heat about 10 minutes, then strain.
Add more blossoms to the strained water and simmer for about 10 minutes. Continue simmering and straining until all the blossoms are used up.  Strain one last time using a coffee filter. Combine water with lemon juice, sugar and pectin. Bring to roiling boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil hard for one minute. Skim. Pour into hot jars and seal.  I’ve heard of people using yellow food colouring, but ew.

From Amazon’s page

More than just a cookbook, Cooking for Geeks applies your curiosity to discovery, inspiration, and invention in the kitchen. Why is medium-rare steak so popular? Why do we bake some things at 350 F/175 C and others at 375 F/190 C? And how quickly does a pizza cook if we overclock an oven to 1,000 F/540 C? Author and cooking geek Jeff Potter provides the answers and offers a unique take on recipes — from the sweet (a “mean” chocolate chip cookie) to the savory (duck confit sugo).

Read more…

I must say that the book is really intriguing me. I just am not sure that I want to drop $15.39 on an e-Book, but it’s in my wish list… just waiting for me to buy it. Will this fool and his money soon be parted?

If the answer is yes… you can expect a review shortly.