Excellent Find!

  

This was a great before the movie place. I’m still shocked that during happy hour they were empty except for us and a few folks at the sushi bar. The place is immaculent, well appointed, has a designated hibachi and sushi area (I hate when the smoke permeates the place and you can’t breathe) and the service was attentive and even put in my order early so it would ready and waiting for arrival.

We had the Tuna Roll, Spider Roll, California Roll, Vegetable Roll, Chef’s Special Roll and a Texas Express roll. Everything was super fresh if not a little big for being sushi! Rolls never fell apart, everything had an abundance of fillings. I’m usually a bit picky about my vegetable roll. This may have been a slight disappointment, I had alot of avocado and peanuts, but no discernible crunch of a carrot or cucumber. The tuna roll was spot on, fishy but not overly so – just a hint of sea. Both the spider and texas express rolls were presented beautifully and either could have been paired with soup for a light lunch.

I enjoyed a few glasses of the house white wine, $4 at happy hour, and it was a fantastic end to a rough work day. The service was immediate when we needed something, stayed out of your area as conversation was going on. When we ordered another two rolls towards the end, it was prompt and polite. Everything was easy about this meal as it helped send us off to the theatre not needing popcorn!

Tao Japanese - http://taojapanese.com/ - (281) 277-2877

Rating: spoon, fork & knife: they’re on a roll!

My Sick Soup

Pho Tai (as this American girl knows it)

In a greased pie plate, half a yellow onion (skin and all), half a red onion (skin and all), slice a 4 inch piece of ginger length wise) - place in oven for 45 - 60 minutes at 400 until the onion and ginger are charred.

Meanwhile, boil 2 lbs of beef neckbones in a 12 qt stock pot for 10 minutes to remove impurities. Drain.

Refill stock pot with 6 quarts of water, add back in the boiled neck bones. Add in 5 star anise, 1 3" stick of cinnamon, 1 T sugar, 1.5 T salt, 2 T Fish sauce, 6 whole cloves, and 1 lb of beef chuck, sliced so thin you can almost see through it.

Once the onion and ginger are charred, remove from oven. Remove the more papery bits of the onion and place soft onion into stew pot.

Simmer all day. ALL day. A L L day.

Boil 1 pack of rice noodles. Slice 1 yellow onion paper thin. Slice the green parts of 3-4 scallions into small 1 cm pieces. Chop 1/2 cup of cilantro. Have ground black pepper ready.

Prepare a plate of 1 cup of mung bean sprouts (the white crisp kind, not for salads - those are alfalfa), a few stems of mint, a few stems of basil, lime quarters and small fresh jalapeno rings. Have hoisin sauce and sriracha sauce (asian hot sauce) for serving.

When ready to serve - remove the large ginger and onions from the broth, remove the neckbones. Add the yellow onion, scallion, pepper, and cilantro. Allow to boil just until heated through.

Top with the items on the plate - leaves of mint, basil. Squeeze lime juice. Add jalapeno and sauces.

THIS is not your mom's soup for a cold. And I'm apologizing to my mother personally NOW for saying this - but this soup will kick your mom's soup's ass.

I grew up in high school with alot of Vietnamese kids who introduced me to noodle shops here that serve this soup. I've had many versions - chicken, fish, beef. meatballs, white meat, dark meat, etc...you name it. I've never turned a type away - it's quite possibly the most fantastic soup you'll eat in your life.

I'm sorry for the scattered way of writing this recipe. But the order is simply required and whilst the measurements are approximate, you'll want to play with these as you find your own "zen" with this dish.

It's NOT Chinese

Banh Mi Thit Nuong

2 cups very thinly sliced roast pork
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 baguette, about 24 inches long, split lengthwise
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 small cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced or shredded
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño chili, seeded and thinly sliced or minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In a small bowl, toss the pork with the soy sauce, garlic and fish sauce. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Spread the cut sides of the baguette with the mayonnaise. Layer the pork, cucumber, carrots, onion, chili and cilantro on the bottom half of the baguette. Close the sandwich with the top half of the baguette and cut on the diagonal into 4 individual sandwiches.

This is one of my favorite sandwiches. It's all the ingredients you know and love in a new and fantastic order. I highly suggest all the work that it takes. This is a fantastic new twist on flavor!

Banh Mi Thit Nuong translates into Bread with Grilled Pork. I grew up in a neighborhood with a large Vietnamese population. This is actually one of the languages I picked up - nothing extensive - but enough to get me politely through ordering it in the restaurants where english was definitely not a first language.

Course, you have to laugh, I'm a tall white girl in an Asian only sandwich shop. I stick out like a sore thumb. So when I say "Hai Banh Mi Thit Nuong, Mot Pho Tai, Mot Pho Ga, Kham Un"....it always garners a cute twittering laugh of surprise. I love it. It's a nice bridging of the culture gap.

One time the store owner brought me a dish of what was similar to Egg Foo Yong. I don't know what it's called to this day. It wasn't on a menu. But my God, it was heaven. They tried telling me, but I tell you what, you say one little inflection wrong in Vietnamese, and you're telling someone bad things about their mother and you're no longer welcome! ;)

I highly suggest making Pho for the side of this. That's traditional Vietnamese soup. I'll post my recipe for that sooner or later. It's a lovely beef broth and rice noodle soup. Again, complicated flavors from simple known ingredients and voila! impressed all over again.