lunch review - todd's cookhouse bar-b-que

i was out & about, looking for lunch in all the wrong places. and then it hit me that a new bbq place had opened in clovis. i loves the bbq so i drove over a few streets to get some.

like many local bbq places, they have a order at the counter system, with the menu on some large boards & hand held menus - worked fine, and they had enough counter help to keep it moving along. their staff was friendly and it took about 10 minutes after ordering to get my food.

i ordered the 2 item combo - brisket & sausage. it comes with 2 sides + bread. with a soda & tax it was just over $18. not terrible price, but a little more than some other local places.

the brisket was very tender, and that made me quite happy. it had a good flavor.  but what really did stand out to me was the tenderness - a lot of places fail at this. i could easily cut it with my plastic cutlery.

the sausage had a nice casing, and still had a good snap to it when i bit down. now, i have to admit that the sausage also confused me a bit. yes, it is clearly labelled as sausage, but in my head i figured it would still be a hot link or something spicy. nope, just a sausage. tasted good, but nothing special.

onto some other details: sauce - they have their own sauce, i think they call it's todd's memphis sauce or something like that. it's a sweet sauce, that has a slight kick to it. good, and they put a little on the meat itself and give you some on the side. i'm pretty sure that all of their meats are cooked without it, or with very little. i'm fine with it that idea, because a lot of times bbq places will hide their meat in too much sauce.  but what really stood out to me was what was missing from both the brisket & the sausage - any smokiness. now, i don't need or want to be overwhelmed by fake smoke flavoring, or for it to taste like i'm eating a campfire, but really, there was nothing about these meats to tell me that this meat was actually barbecued. and i also didn't see any smokers or grills outside (i could've missed it, or they could prep off site).  for example, the brisket, which was super tender, really lacked any sense it being barbecued, any smell or taste of being slow cooked on any sort of wood.

final bits - the sides. i had the hush puppies & the onion rings. both were good, and complemented the meal well enough. they had several others, and these sides probably are a little better suited to some of their other meals, but i liked them.

give it like 3/5 stars

• 1414 Clovis Ave
  Clovis, CA 93612

$9 dusty bun

has dusty buns gone too far?

am i about to commit fresno suicide?

hopefully, the answer to both of those questions is no.  but let's discuss at least the first of those questions.

let's get a few things out of the way before i go too far.  i have been a dusty buns apologist.  i took a bit of time to try the sandwiches, mainly because the line was always long at the bus, and i hated standing in the sun on some of those hot days.  but once i tried the eggman is was in.  i tried le grilled, and i loved it, too.  soups, yep.  granola, definitely.  (i've never had the veg out.)  i know and appreciate that their product is locally sourced, handmade and very good tasting.  these things matter to me.

about 10 days ago i was defending dusty buns with a few friends on facebook. one had the dusty bun for the first time and wasn't completely sold.  he said it was good, but not great.  the other friend had never had any of their food, mainly because she felt that the lines were too long, the sandwiches too small and too expensive (@ $7).  also, she said that, and i'm paraphrasing here, this is fresno, and they're trying to charge bay area prices and should get over themselves.  i can't argue too much with the first friend.  he tried it, thought it was okay but had some reservations.  totally fine, we all have our owns tastes.  the second friend i really argued with, as much as i'm willing to via facebook, that the sandwiches are very filling, and that frequently i eat one of the sandwiches and about 1/2 my order of fries and i'm very full.  the food is very high quality and is local.  i'm not sure if it's all organic, but many of their ingredients are organic - for those that this matters to.  the chicken, duck, peanut butter, everything, all come from farms in the area and are seasonal. and, they make their own bread.  all of this will cause the product to be a little more expensive than a product from a bigger chain, or from a local place that is buying their foodstuffs from a bigger market or a distributor like sysco.  and, in our current economy, everything is more expensive.  a point that i made to both was that a sandwich at lunch or dinner at most places will run you about the same.  i'll stand by all that.  if i go to dinner at a sit down place, a burger is generally $9-$10 and something like a steak sandwch easily runs $14.  but, i also have to admit that i had a bit of sticker shock last time i ate there at the dusty buns shop when i saw that the sandwiches had gone up to $9.  that night i had the duck confit slider, so it was only $5, and i thought the food was very good, was full from my meal, but it got me thinking.

cut to this last wednesday, a friend asked me if i was still going to dusty buns.  i said yes, but i hadn't been in a few weeks.  i mean, it's not like i went every week, anyway.  i probably hit them up about every 4-6 weeks, so i'm not surprised that i hadn't been in a few weeks.  i asked why, and he mentioned the increase in price.  he and his lady would go a bit more often, and they were both feeling like they couldn't afford to go their regularly.  he felt that dusty buns may be pricing themselves out of customers, or at least pushing into less than regular customers.

cut to today when i went over to the manchester marketplace for lunch with a few friends.  i was hoping that summertime pies would be there, but they weren't.  i knew there would still be some good options for lunch though, so i was alright.  there were two of your regular fresno taco trucks, dusty buns, and tako bbq.  i had seen that dusty buns was doing a lula burger special, and so was thinking that, but then decided i wanted a spicy pork burrito from tako.  i jump in line, and i bump into fresno bites. first and foremost, we joke about harmswaychad from that social media blog.  we're all in a blogger fantasy football league, and it's chad's first year so we're giving him plenty of grief.  but then, we move on to the $9 sandwich that we're not standing in line for.  we're both getting tako.  we talk about the price point, some other small talk, and by then we were at the front of the line.  he ordered the torta ($6 and a taco - $2). i ordered a burrito ($6) and a taco.  now, i'm not reviewing those here, but i had the burrito, taco and a soda (mexican coke in a glass bottle) for $10.  i sat with two friends that ordered a veg out and a dusty bun.  we all enjoyed our meals.  fresno bites was down the table, and when we were all about done, he says to me, "ed, $6 for all this torta.  it's not a hand made bun, but it's good." or something like that.  i nodded as i worked at the last few bites of my burrito.  (on a side note, i've seen people rant about places like dusty buns or tako for charging $2-$3 for a taco compared to the taco trucks where you can get 2 tacos for like $1.50 or $2, but maybe that's another discussion.  maybe.)  as i sat there, i looked again at the menu for dusty buns.  $9 for a sandwich.  $4 for sides.  $2 for a tea (12 oz.).  if i ordered a sandwich, fries and a drink, i would've been out an additional $5.

is it worth it?  i think it's still a great sandwich.  i love le grilled cheese, and when i think about it and ask them to make it an eggman, wowza.  i know that they're doing quality product.  i stand behind the idea that a quality product requires an appropriate price.  also, i've never made one of these, don't know what the cost is.  i don't know what their overhead is.  i admit all of these things because i imagine that they go into their pricing.  but things are only worth what the market will bear.  or, as my dad used to tell me, they're only worth what you're willing to pay for it, no matter what they're selling it for.  so, what do you think?  is it too much?  has dusty buns gone too far with the $9 sandwich?

UPDATE - after i wrote this blog, dusty buns switched things up a bit.  now, they do a slightly smaller sized sandwich for $5, 2 for $9.  it's a really good deal.  we went there not too long ago and i had a sandwich & soup, and it was quite a filling meal.

stak shak lunch review

a few weeks back, i'm not exactly sure when, i saw that a couple of new places had opened up along my drive to and from work.  one, a taco stand that used to be open years ago had new life breathed into it.  the other, a strange little building that i never really noticed until the new sign went up and lights were on.  this oddly shaped place: the stak shak.

today, i had the chance to drop in on the stak shak for some lunch.  they have a decent sized menu that is centered around the idea of sandwiches, hot dogs and more.  they have both hot and cold sandwiches, a variety of dogs, and some special offers as well.  the interior of the restaurant is pleasant, and has a "home-y" feel to it.

since it was my first time, and i knew i'd be writing about the meal, i wanted to try a few things.  i also hoped they had pastrami since i love pastrami, and it's something i've had all over and can compare.  they did have pastrami, which i ordered. you can get it on a variety of breads, and i went with sourdough.  i also love hot dogs, and so i ordered the western dog as well.  they have several drink options, some bottle, some not.  i went basic and had a bottled root beer.

i ate the dog first. the western dog comes with bbq sauce, shredded cheese and onions.  i should have ordered without the onions, as they're not a favorite of mine, but i was able to knock them off fairly easy and enjoy the dog.  the bbq sauce was a sweet bbq, and worked well with the cheese & dog.  the dog itself was an average dog, but fine.  the whole thing comes with a pickle side.  i liked the dog, and my only beef with it was the price.  all the dogs cost $5.50, which is a little more than they're worth in my opinion.

after devouring my dog, i went to the pastrami.  first, it's a cold pastrami sandwich, which i figured when i saw the menu.  i prefer hot pastrami to cold, but whatever. i chose the sourdough, which was a pretty good, thicker slices of sourdough.  they use a spicy mustard that i really loved.  it's one of those mustards that has the little seed balls in it. great flavor, really worked with the sandwich.  the meat itself was decent, lunch meat style pastrami with a fine flavor.  the lettuce was shredded, and i prefer leaf.  the pastrami sandwich costs $6.

overall, i thought the place was fine. the service was nice, and rather quick in filling orders.  the restaurant was comfortable to be in, and they do have free wifi.  i thought the food was good, not great, and it seems a little pricey, but not exorbitant.  for those that are inclined, you can all or fax in orders in advance.

stak shak
1950 e. divisadero
fresno, 93701
p:559.497.5101
f:550.497.5102
m-f, 7a -3p

tuesday lunch

who makes ny strip w/grilled mushrooms for lunch?

this guy.

scallop lunch

i was at fresh and easy on monday doing some grocery shopping and i saw that they had a package of scallops on reduced price. you know, the whole sell by date thing. i enjoy eating scallops, but have never cooked them before and decided that this would be the time.

i had a few days to decide on a recipe, but also wanted to go with something somewhat basic to allow the scallops' own flavor to be dominant. i settled with salt & pepper sauteed in butter with a little bit of garlic.

scallops are surprisingly easy to cook. basically, you allow the butter to melt and and brown and then drop in the scallops. allow them to cook for two to three minutes, and then turn them over. cooks for another two to three minutes and your done.

the scallops turned out great. at that time they're a sort of medium done-ness and aren't rubbery or too stringy. and the simple seasoning worked out nicely.

lunch experiment

i do enjoy to experiment a little in the kitchen when i have some time. today was such a day. i had been kicking around several ideas for lunch, and settled on this one.

we bought these noodles the other day for some sort of spicy asian salad thing. they sucked in that capacity.



you see, these noodles are a mung bean noodle that are rather bland when you boil them as prescribed. so i figured that i would try something different with them. the package says you can fry them, and i thought i'd give that a try.

but what to put in them? let's think veggies. ah, we have broccoli!



you soak the noodles for a while, and then i boiled them a bit. you can see in this pic how transparent and sort of nothing these noodles are.



i let the noodles boil a bit and then added the broccoli to let it cook a little.



after boiling, i drained my noodle/broccoli concoction, put a little olive oil, pepper and garlic powder in the pan to let it all warm, and then dropped in the noodles. i also added some teriyaki sauce and some soy sauce, which gave the noodles a little color and flavor.



i let it all fry for a bit to get that pan fried noodle feel and taste. this was a bit tricky because i didn't want to burn the noodles, and i also didn't want them to stick to the pan.

here's the finished product:



post meal thoughts: nothing special. the noodles still sucked texture wise, although the stuff i added gave it a decent, familiar taste. i can't say i'd make this again. not exactly a lunch fail, but not a win either

steak and broccoli lunch

some days when i'm home for lunch i think, "i just don't want another quesadilla or sandwich. i think i'll make something different and better." today was one of those days.

so, as i did things this morning, i decided to thaw out a steak i had in the freezer and to grill it up. i had recently heard adam perry lang on both the adam carolla podcast and the b.s. report talking about bbq so i had some ideas and techniques i wanted to try out. i also had recently been to lowes and bought some grill prep pads that you use after cleaning the grill but before you put the meat on.

after thawing the meat, i rubbed in salt, pepper and a little garlic powder on both sides. i then took the meat to the grill and put it on. in the past, i've stuck to the idea that steaks you don't want to turn a ton of times. in fact, i usually would turn a steak like this once. adam perry lang disagrees, and does it more than i do, and did today. i seared one side of the meat for 30ish seconds, then flipped it to let it cook on the other side. in the mean time, i went back inside and grabbed a few things to put on after the next flip. when i came back, it had been a minute or two and was ready to flip. i turned the meat, and on the up side gave it some more salt and pepper, and a few slices of butter. i let the meat cook a short while, and repeated this process once more on the next flip.

as the meat progressed, i wondered what in my fridge would go well with this and still not be an overly big lunch? i looked and saw a bit of leftover broccoli that we had steamed for dinner two nights ago. i popped it into the microwave and let it heat back up. as that finished i went out and pulled the meat off the grill and onto a plate to rest. i then came back inside and paired the steak with the broccoli florets.

i felt it needed one last thing, and remembered some blue cheese crumbles that we bought for use with salad. admittedly, i am not really a big fan of blue cheese, but often enjoy it on steak. and, this particular cheese has ended up being pretty mild, which is good for me, not so good if you like it sharp. so, i took a handful of blue cheese crumbles and applied it liberally to the steak and broccoli. see here:



wow. this ended up being a really flavorful and enjoyable lunch. the one drawback was that the steak ended up being cooked a little longer than i generally prefer, but that could be remedied by having all my ingredients ready before and not doing minor prep work during the cooking. whatever. it was still good. and now i'm full, but not too full, and ready to get on with the rest of the affairs of my day.

old school lunch

so, i was thinking about hitting up one of the many new restaurants downtown, but in the interest of the bank account, i decided to make something at home for lunch. the other day, while grocery shopping, i saw a bit of a throwback item and decided that i would pick up some to have at lunch occasionally. i'm eating lunch like a little kid in the cafeteria:



that's right, fish sticks. properly eaten with ketchup. yum. these particular sticks are made by van de kamps, who have a really nice website. seriously, check out their website. the sticks themselves are alright, with maybe a little too much breading and not quite enough fish, but still decent.

fortunately, the box of 44 sticks was like $3, so i pretty much had lunch for about $1 today. and, i've got another meal or two out of the box.

lunch review savannah's brazilian soul

so, this morning i woke up and thought, "it's going to be a nice day in fresno." i think i've been proved right. as i got ready, i listened to local musicians rademacher. soon, i was ready to figure out what i wanted to eat for lunch.

i decided to head downtown, and see if i spotted anything new, or at least someplace i hadn't been before. i took wishon south, and ended up on van ness avenue. from there, i headed east on kern street. this was a good decision, as it helped me find something new. as i drove down the street, i spotted a bbq going, and knew it was for me. savannah's brazilian soul. located @ 901 L St, it used to be something different. currently they're only open m-f from 10-2, but they have plans to be open from 6-2, with a friday night fish fry from 5-9.



i parked @ a meter spot and was fortunate that it had time on it. i plunked in a nickel to give it the full 30 min for the area. 30 min is the meter limit on most of the meters in this area. it could be a drawback.

anyhow, i went in the restaurant, and it's got pretty nice decor. it's sort of a mix between african and brazilian art. the service was very nice and friendly. it seems to be a family run business. i like local businesses.

as i was at the counter ordering i noticed that they have a deal worked out with i.r.s. workers. show them your irs badge and they'll rush your order so you can eat and go within your alloted 30 min lunch. i thought this was cool because there's an irs office right by there. i don't work for them, but this is a good recognition that your "neighbor" needs to eat fast, and if you can help them out they'll frequent your establishment.

anyway, i looked over the menu. and decided i would go with the 3 rib meal. it comes with bread or cornbread and 1 side. i chose cornbread and the black eyed peas. with a soda (1.29) my total was $8.29. the restaurant seats probably 30, and they have seats for maybe 5 or so on their small patio. i ordered and sat inside about 12:48.

so, my food came a little over 10 minutes later, which isn't bad for a small operation. it seems that they probably have most of the meats precooked, and heat them up on the bbq. that's cool, especially if they don't get dried out.



so, to the meal. the black eyed peas were good tasting, and were nice and warm. maybe they could have been just a tad warmer, but not bad. i appreciated that they weren't soggy, which let me know that they weren't just sitting on boil all day getting mushy. the cornbread was good. it was simple and tasty. could have been a little warmer to help my butter melt.

now, to the ribs. phenomenal. so tasty. the sauce that they gave me was just alright, but the ribs themselves were great. and, they weren't dried out at all. in fact, they were nice and tasty. did i say tasty?

overall, i had a very good experience at savannah's. i imagine as they are open longer things will run a little smoother in there, and they cooks won't feel as rushed. but dang, they know how to cook.

birthday post 1

today's my birthday, and i'm going to try and hit sporadic, short posts during the day.

for lunch, i'm going to popeye's chicken. i love popeyes. the spices, the sides, so good. there's only one location in fresno, and it seems like it's always packed. which is sorta weird for a fast food chicken place.

then we're going to target. you know, busy saturday. got to run some errands

lunch review joe's steakhouse and grill

today, i was driving around downtown and decided i would get some lunch. i thought i would sort of drive around the galleria area and see if anything jumped out at me to eat. well, not literally, of course. i saw the new olive press and thought i would give that a try. unfortunately, i didn't have any change on me, so i couldn't fill a parking meter. riding a motorcycle does have the drawback of not having a ashtray full of change. so how do you park in an area that is almost exclusively pay parking without $? you go to a place that validates!



enter joe's steakhouse & grill. i've eaten there once before and had enjoyed my experience. that time, i had the lunch buffet ($7.95). it was good, but i wasn't feeling in the buffet sort of mood. instead, i wanted to order off the menu.

menu 1


menu 2


menu 3


as you can see, they have a pretty decent menu. good selection, from salads to steaks, burgers & sandwiches. my first thought was, "i'm at a steakhouse, why not get a steak?" well, although i could always go for eating a steak, i didn't really feel like paying to eat a steak. to me, they seemed a little pricey for lunch. then again, a good steak is worth the money, and a good lunch is worth the money. but not today. today, i was feeling like paying a little less, and was in the mood for a sandwich or burger.

i was trying to figure out if i wanted the cowboy burger or the tri tip sandwich when the waitress came to take my order. since i wasn't sure, i asked her what she thought. she seemed pretty genuine when she told me that both were very good, and that was a tough decision. she said that if i liked spicy food, the tri tip sandwich would be a little better, especially with the option of chipotle sauce. i was sold. and, i even switched up the cheddar or jack cheese choice with some pepper jack. now, i was almost getting the cowboy burger in tri tip sandwich form. the only thing missing was the onion rings. i solved that by getting rings instead of fries. and for those of you outside of california, here's a little piece on tri tip.

i'm not sure exactly how much time it took between ordering and receiving my meal, but it was a good amount of time. not so fast that i assumed they had everything sitting in the back, ready to go, and not so slow that i was left wondering what happened to my meal.



ah, the food. very good. in fact, much better than the meal i had here on the buffet. the tri tip was tender and tasty. the chipotle sauce was nice, and the combination of spices between the sauce and pepper jack cheese had my lips tingling. it even opened up my sinuses a little, but maybe this is too much info. so back to the food. i even liked the bread. i was a little worried that the bread would be toasted, which i dislike. but it wasn't. instead, nice and soft with good texture & taste. held together well, didn't get soggy from meat juice, sauce, etc. the tomatoes on the sandwich were nice and fresh, and i really think the lettuce was top notch. i'm serious about that one. frequently, the lettuce you get on sandwiches at lunch places are wilted iceberg pieces or shred. i'm not positive, but this might have been romaine or looseleaf lettuce. good stuff. as you can see, i enjoyed the sandwich. one thing, i didn't eat the onions on the sandwich. i like red onions, but i'm not a big fan of raw onions (prefer them grilled). if i had realized that there were onions (should have read the menu a little closer) i might have asked for them grilled, but probably would have just told them i didn't want the onions.

the onion rings, good as well. seriously. the flavor was good, and they weren't over-battered like some places do. also, they weren't too greasy. i mean, they are onion rings after all. fried food is going to have a little bit of grease to it. the rings tasted great when they were hot. what surprised me was how they tasted after they had cooled down. you know how sometimes the last few rings you eat just taste gross because the oil has all cooled and the flavor changed? not these. after i finished my sandwich, i still had four rings left. i ate two of them and was happily surprised that they still tasted as they should. at that point, i was pretty full and left the other two behind. sorry guys.

to drink, i just had a soda. that was refilled 2 times. hey, it was warm outside, i was thirsty. whatever. but, i did skim the wine/beer list. i'm not a wine connoisseur, so i don't know how good of a selection it is. but, in looking at it, i thought it was cool that they featured california wines. i did think that the beer list was a good selection.

wine list 1


wine list 2


beer selection list


finally, i felt that the service at joe's was great. really, the waitress was very friendly and helpful. i appreciated that she gave me an honest opinion on the options, and that they accommodated my substitutions without any problem. also, she was on top of drink refills, something that is my unofficial measure of service quality. the restaurant was clean, the temperature in the restaurant was cool and nice. the music playing wasn't too loud, and although i don't really listen to new country, i didn't mind it in a steakhouse. and, as i mentioned before, they validate. let me say that a third time, they validate parking! that's really cool to me. and, since i decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator in the garage, i got to work off a little bit of lunch right away.

so, to sum it up, joe's good. food good. lunch prices fair (i don't know about the dinner menu). service great. validated parking. you should definitely go and eat there. honestly, next time you're downtown (an event on the fulton mall, a game or concert at the chuck, jury duty, the philharmonic, concert @ selland, need your marriage license, whatever) and want to get a bite, go to joe's.

Joe's Steakhouse & Grill
831 Van Ness Ave
Fresno, Ca, 93721
559 486-3536

(btw, this is cross posted here.)

lunch review milano

I was hungry for lunch and thought, "what would i like to do today? i think i'll go downtown and find something for lunch. ooh, i've been wanting to check out milano." and off i went.

loaded the meter with $1.50 in quarters, giving me the full two hours.



i wonder why this fountain is dry? did the crane drink all the water?



this one is good though



but this one's dry, and it's got a soda can in it to boot



walking up to milano



btw, milano has a snazzy website.

here's their hours.



the menu




the yum



the done



and now for the details:
i didn't think about the size of the slices, despite the fact that they call them large slices. so, i ordered a slice of pepperoni ($3) and a slice of combination ($3.75), and a soda to drink ($1.50). as the guy at the counter put each slice on it's own plate, i realized that i may have ordered more than i could handle.

i started with the pepperoni. it was good, but in an average sort of way. not too spicy, and the extra mozzarella i shook on soaked up the bit o' grease that pepperoni pizza tends to get.

next up, the combination. i'll let you know that combination pizzas have snuck into the spot of favorite pizza in my gut, and this didn't disappoint. there was a wealth of toppings and the flavor of it all was great. honestly, if you're going here and aren't doing some create your own whole pizza, get a slice of combination, you won't be disappointed, either.

the atmosphere in the restaurant was comfy and cool. I sat at the bar/counter but there were plenty of tables for bigger groups. had i wanted to pick up a stick, there was a pool table (i think it was a pay per play one).

the staff there was very friendly. they were quick to take my order, and serve my food. they checked in on me just enough, so i felt well taken care of. actually, when i was walking the mall later, i walked by one of the people and we exchanged friendly head nods. good stuff.

the time it took to get my food was great. as should be expected with pizza by the slice places, they had each variety ready, and they dished it right up. not sure how long it would have taken to get a pizza made to order.

so, i admit, i both of the slices completely. i didn't lick the plate, but i probably could have. now, i'm stuffed. i figured i should work off some of this good meal, and decided to stroll down the mall to tres hermanos. over there i picked up two shirts, good stuff. got a new western shirt and yet another guayabera for my never ending collection. i was hoping to catch a ride back to my vehicle with the pedicabs, but they weren't around. i had seen a few on the way over, but i guess they were all busy on my way out. so, i strolled back, and headed home.

total time of ordering, leisurely eating, strolling and buying shirts - 45 min. you could totally go and eat lunch there on your lunch break. and, they do stuff to go (in fact, several people got slices to go while i was there). heck, you can even phone your order in so it's ready for pick up.

finally, did i mention milano has a snazzy website?


*this is cross posted @ fresno famous.com

a lunch review - thaiphoon

the other day, i was talking to a friend about thai food. he was wanting to try it out, and i said we should have some thai food for lunch on saturday (before watching football). so, a couple of us went out for lunch. we first walked over to million elephant cafe. i knew that they had stopped serving lunch on weekdays, but thought that maybe they might have a weekend lunch. nope. but that's alright. so, we headed down olive towards thaiphoon.

now, i actually had wanted to go to thaiphoon, but figured that i'd check on million elephant because it's a little closer. i am glad that it worked out and we we able to make a first visit to thaiphoon.

we started out with the appetizer sampler plate (2 spring roles, 2 shrimp, 2 cheese crab crab dealies- i can't remember the actual name of the last one) served with a plum sauce. i think it was for $7. all the parts were good, but the crab won ton-ish thing stole the show. fantastic. i could eat those all night at a party. or, i'd definately have just that appetizer on its own.

all the meals came with a complimentary pepper soup. cabbage, chicken, and a little other stuff. delicious but spicy. not spicy hot, or overbearing, but definately had some kick from the pepper. but the taste was good. what made it even better was that we didn't even know we were going to have it. a pleasant surprise.

for entrees, we ordered a curry noodle w/beef, a pad thai w/shrimp, and a fried rice w/beef, broccoli, & snow peas. i think we all ordered medium (none of us wanted to weep right away from ordering some crazy spicy dish.)
-the curry noodle - came with a coconut curry sauce. it was mildly spicy, but did provide a bit of warmth on the tongue. overall, i think this was the best dish of the three. the beef was nice and lean, and worked well with the noodle.
-the pad thai - good, shrimp wasn't overcooked. the person that ordered it thought it was spicy, but the other two of us that it was fine. in fact, i think it could have used a little more kick. but, the combination of flavors was nice.
- the fried rice w/beef, etc. - i think this was the weakest link of the meal. it tasted fine, but it just didn't stand out. it really could have used more heat to it. my buddy that ordered it tried two of the different hot sauces on the table, and felt it was best with the really spicy one. i tasted the dish as well and thought it was good, but it just didn't stand out.

overall, we really enjoyed the food. everything tasted good and we were all happy with what we had ordered. i think we would recommend the spicier rice though. the portion sizes excellent as well. at first, i thought it looked a little small, but as we dished it all out it was actually quite a bit of food. we also had two sodas and a beer. i didn't ask, but it looks like they don't have their full liquor license and just had beer and wine to offer. i also appreciated the decor. very clean looking, with nice etched glass. i'll definately go back, and would love to have dinner there with some friends.


(this is also being posted on my fresno famous blog.)