Ocean Prime, Orlando

Ocean Prime is a fairly high end steakhouse/seafood restaurant, generally a special occasion kind of place, although it is a chain, with 18 locations, in most major cities in the US (but, not the one I live in).  I actually had never heard of Ocean Prime until I visited Orlando for a conference, but, apparently it is relatively well known, and does get rave reviews.

"OCEAN PRIME is a nationally acclaimed, modern American restaurant and lounge from the award-winning Cameron Mitchell Restaurants. There is a warm and vibrant energy at all times. Stunning settings, an impressive menu of seafood and steaks, and genuine hospitality make Ocean Prime the ideal place to socialize, talk business, celebrate and indulge." 

I didn't actually visit in person, because, in addition to being in Orlando for a convention with sessions all day long, I also had to do my regular job, and dial in to meetings remotely in the evenings.  Thus, no going out and exploring Orlando for me, and, I had to rely on delivery, as my hotel didn't have a restaurant.  Now, I know a high end restaurant isn't normally what folks pick for delivery, but, it got such great reviews, and had such a stellar menu, that I really did want to risk it.  I ordered several times, and was generally quite pleased, although, the prices are a bit hard to swallow.  The seafood surprisingly actually wasn't the star, but the side dishes were good, the complimentary bread and truffle popcorn very good, the cocktails great, and, the dessert, phenomenal.  I'd love to visit in person sometime to really get the full experience.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Cocktails

Ocean Prime of course has a decent wine list, as it is a high end steakhouse / seafood restaurant after all, but they also have a lengthy, and interesting, cocktail menu.  In the restaurant, they have more than a dozen offerings, but on Door Dash, they only offer 6. The options were still great, and I was happy to be able to order a high end cocktail, delivered.  Door Dash prices for cocktails were $1 more than in the restaurant.

Prime Manhattan.  $19.

"Woodford Reserve, Carpano Antica Vermouth, Amaro Nonino, Rosemary Grapefruit Peppercorn Bitters."

The cocktail menu did have a few that sounded good, but, I was feeling classic, and thus, their version of the Manhattan it was.  I was certainly curious how the rosemary, grapefruit, and peppercorn flavors would come through.

I'll start with the packaging.  OMG, how cute was this?  Yes, it came in a mason jar.  Nearly every other takeout cocktail I've gotten has either come in a plastic soda fountain style cup, or, at best, a plastic bottle.  This was far classier.  It also was full to the brim ... and seemed bigger than what I'd get as a single serving in the restaurant?  Anyway, major points for the mason jar.

The cocktail itself was good.  Very balanced, yet clearly boozy.  I didn't taste rosemary specifically, nor grapefruit, nor peppercorn, but it was quite complex.  I liked it, quite a bit.  A wonderful treat to have delivered to me.  And the price actually seemed right for a cocktail of that quality (and portion!).  ****.

Pineapple Picante. $15.

"Pineapple Infused Corzo Silver Tequila, Picante, Fresh Lemon, Regan's Orange Bitters."

The next time I ordered, I was drawn in by this one.  Not by the pineapple exactly, but by the spice and the tequila.  It too came in a mason jar.

I tried a sip, and was quite pleased.  It was a bit sweet, but, the rest of the flavors were complex, there was clearly a decent amount of acidity, a bit of heat, and, tequila, which I do really enjoy from time to time.  It was a little warm when it arrived from being in with my warm food, but I poured it over ice, and that helped dilute it a bit too, which helped with the sweetness as well.

I enjoyed this, it was a fun cocktail, just a touch sweet, but I think that wouldn't be a problem as served at the restaurant, as it would come on ice there too.  I was glad I mixed it up to try this.

****.

Update: I liked it so much, I got a second one with another order.  I didn't take a photo, but it was slightly different - a touch more fruity, more pineapple, and it came with a lemon round in it.  I liked it too, but I think I preferred the first, less sweet, more spicy, version.

Berries & Bubbles. $19.

"Belvedere Organic Lemon & Basil Vodka, Marinated Blackberries, Fresh Lemon, Domaine Chandon Brut, Dry Ice Smoke."

For my last order, I decided to really go out on a limb, and try the "Berries & Bubbles".  I don't usually go for champagne, nor champagne cocktails, and I knew it would suffer a bit in being takeout, because, well, dry ice smoke I didn't exactly see them including in my takeout order, but I had enjoyed the other cocktails so much I wanted to give it a try.   It sounded fun!

It was less fun than I expected, as it didn't really have any bubbles left when it arrived, it was definitely a flat beverage.  I also didn't taste any basil, which I had hoped to detect, as I thought that could be quite interesting.  It also was not quite as described.  My drink did not have blackberries in it, but rather, 3 *blue* berries.

So, flat, smoke-less, basil-less, blueberry vodka drink it was.  Which, was fine, it was nicely fruity, not too sweet (one I added ice), but it wasn't as standout as the others.  I wouldn't get it again, especially not for delivery.

***. 

Food

To get things started, Ocean Prime has a variety of options for you. They have some very high end sushi rolls (think: a $26 spicy tuna roll?), a selection of oysters, shrimp or crab cocktails, seafood towers, and of course, an assortment of soups (lobster bisque, french onion) and salads (available with seafood add-ons), and *also* an entire appetizer section of hot items.  I tried several of these.

From there, it is time for mains.  Obviously, given the restaurant name, there is a selection of steaks (available with additions like black truffle butter, Oscar style, surf n turf, etc), and a huge range of phenomenal sounding seafood items (twin lobster tails, scallops, blackened snapper, local Florida grouper, etc), all of which come with fantastic sides like gnocchi, corn spoon bread, whipped potatoes, etc, and then some token chicken and pork dishes too.  The I would have happily order basically any of the seafood mains, but, note that they range from $49-$60.  I think most of the menu is common across locations, although they have some local variations (e.g. blackened Texas redfish instead of Florida grouper in Texas, Atlantic cod on Boston, swordfish in Phoenix - ok, that one makes no sense, etc).   I didn't splurge for any of these though, as I was getting delivery, and it just felt like a waste.

Then there are plenty of sides to pick from, items I knew would hold up better for delivery, so I opted for some of them too.

And don't get me started on the dessert menu.  I obviously had to get at least one.

So, overall, a menu I couldn't wait to dive into, but, gulp, the prices.  And ... I really wasn't sure how good of an idea ordering such high end food was for delivery, as clearly, these dishes would suffer in transit.

Appetizers & "On Ice".

The Ocean Prime menu has many categories of starters, I skipped the sushi and the soups and salads (although, really, the lobster bisque and the lobster and shrimp cobb salad both did call out, and I thought would fare well for delivery).

The appetizer lineup is where I started, thinking these dishes had a better chance of surviving delivery than the mains, and, well, they were more reasonably priced ($22-30).  Options here include your classics: steak tartare and fried calamari, along with something for the vegetarians (goat cheese ravioli, truffle deviled eggs), and an appetizer version of surf n turf (scallops and short ribs!) and tempting looking Tabasco cream shrimp saute.

I also went for something from their "On Ice" section, knowing it wouldn't come on ice exactly, but, a chilled dish was good for takeout. 

When you dine-in at Ocean Prime, your meal starts with two complimentary items in addition: a bread basket and ... truffle popcorn!  Um, be still my heart.  I didn't expect any of that with delivery though.

Bread Basket & Butter (Complimentary).

I absolutely was not expecting my takeout order to come with the bread basket!  But it did, with two each of two types of bread, still lightly warm, and whipped butter.

The soft pretzel sticks were fairly average - they were soft, definitely fresh, but lacked any real pretzel flavor, and could use more salt.  I think I was spoiled in Munich in May where even my hotel breakfast buffet had soft pretzel sticks/buns/rolls/etc that I think were better than this.  ***.

The other bread though was really quite good.  It had a slightly crunchy crust, was really moist, great chewy texture, and it was really, really good warmed up and slathered with the butter.  Far above average, even for fresh bread.  ****.

And then of course, the butter!  Fluffy, whipped, tasty.  Like the pretzel roll though, I think it could use a touch of salt.  ***+.

I was very pleased to unexpectedly get a bread basket, and enjoyed the non-pretzel bread far more than any other bread in recent memory.  That said, when you dine in, they also give truffle popcorn, which, if you know me and my popcorn obsession, you know I would have absolutely adored!

Bread Basket #2.

The second time I ordered, my bread basket did not have the pretzel rolls, just the nice crusty bread, and that didn't bother me at all - I liked it after all!  The portion was 3 big pieces this time.

Again, above average bread, great butter.  ***+.

Truffle Popcorn: Complimentary (by request).

The next time I ordered ... I, um, called and asked for the truffle popcorn to be included, instead of bread.  There was no way to do this via Door Dash, the restaurant choose not to allow any modifications or special requests, so, I had to actually call (gasp!).   The hostess who answered the phone was definitely amused, but went to check with the kitchen.  After quite some time, she came back saying they could do that for me.  I thanked her profusely.  Zomg, truffle popcorn!

The popcorn was very, very good.  Clearly freshly popped, big fluffy pieces, no unpopped kernels remained.  Not a one.  This was certainly not a light popcorn though - very clearly saturated in butter and oil (or maybe just oil?).  It was highly salty, which just made it that much more addicting.  And of course, the truffle (oil), fairly mild, but enough to keep you wanting more of that too.

It was the kind of popcorn you knew you shouldn't eat more than a few handfuls of at a time, but, no matter how hard you tried to resist, it was impossible.  So bingeworthy.

It was quite enjoyable to munch on (er, ok, devour in no time flat) later in my hotel room, and the truffle flavor definitely gave it an upscale feeling.  ****+.

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake. $29.

"Kale, Pickled Fennel, Horseradish Mustard Aioli." 

The first thing I ordered from Ocean Prime however was the crab cakes.  I love crab after all (hence, the label on my blog), and I was actually totally craving crab cakes.  I also thought this would be reasonably easy to heat up if I needed in my hotel room (I had a stove top in my kitchenette, so I could quickly pan sear it if it wasn't still warm).

I was glad to have that stove top, as, yup, it wasn't even mildly warm still.  The bread had fared better!  I quickly heated it up, and dug in.  The crab cake was just a single cake, but, it was thick, and loaded with big chunks of lump crab meat.  It had some filler, breadcrumbs I assume, but no herbs.  Mostly just lots of crab, although the outside was fairly bready.  It had a good sear on the outside, and was very moist inside.    Certainly a quality crab cake, but I felt a bit let down by it.  I think I actually would prefer some herbs or something in the filler, something to give it additional flavor.  It also tasted a touch fishy (mostly when it was lukewarm, it was better heated up).  ***.

The appetizer version came with chilled sides -  some (marinated?) shredded kale and pickled fennel, basically a little side salad/garnish.  The pickled fennel was good for a touch of acid.  I guess this was nice if you were thinking of it as an appetizer, but I was eating it as a main course (alongside some other leftovers I had), and I wanted warm sides.  That's my own fault for getting the appetizer portion.  Still, the garnish/side wasn't all that exciting.  ***.

And then, the sauce, which I appreciated being served on the side.  This was a horseradish mustard aioli, which sounded great, but strangely, I didn't love.  The mustard was very strong (grainy style mustard) and I felt it kinda clashed with the more delicate crab.  I really just wanted some tartar sauce, or even just cocktail sauce.  Or maybe, even just a lemon to squeeze over, so I could really appreciate the lump crab.  I made due with some hot sauce from Sweet Green that I had leftover from lunch, and actually thought that went really well - the red pepper really worked.  **+ for the mustard aioli though.

The menu also has an entree version of the crab cake, served as a pair, with more entree appropriate accompaniments (brussels sprouts, corn, tomatoes, fingerling potatoes), and a different sauce (mustard cream, instead of mustard aioli), for $49.   I actually liked the sound of these sides more, and the sauce, but, since this was my first order from Ocean Prime, I wanted to play it safer, and get the smaller dish, in case I didn't really like it.  And $49 for two crab cakes ... felt pricey for sure.  I do have regret though, as I suspect that would have been far more successful.

So this was a mixed bag for me - clearly a quality item, just, not one I loved.  With my own warm veggie sides, and my own sauce, I had a nice meal, but, oops?  Perhaps a bad order on my part.  ***.

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. $26.

So this was certainly a splurge, although, one of the cheaper proteins on the menu, as it was just a starter.  Jump shrimp cocktail, likely served more elegantly in the restaurant, but actually, a dish that worked absolutely fine for takeout, as it was chilled.

The shrimp were clearly quality, large shrimp, succulent, well cleaned, not chewy, almost akin to lobster.  But they were, at the end of the day, just cold unseasoned shrimp, and weren't about to blow my mind.  The provided cocktail sauce was fine, some horseradish to it, but again, not particularly remarkable.  I was also given a lemon to drizzle over, which I did use and appreciate.

Overall, this was certainly a quality product well prepared, but, didn't have any unique touches to it.  The portion of 4 for $26 was in line with their pricing, but, certainly pricey.  ***+.

Other "On Ice" options were oysters (meh), or crab cocktail, but since I'd just had crab, the shrimp was really the only one I was interested in (they also have a whole lobster, and a "smoking" shellfish tower, when you dine-in).

Sides

What steakhouse is complete without additional a la carte sides?  Ocean Prime has them too ... in spades.  The usual potato suspects are there (roasted garlic mashed, regular whipped potatoes, loaded baked potato, twice baked potato, parmesan truffle fries) or more fun ones like jalapeno au gratin or smoked gouda tater tots, and then the not-so-healthy veggies like bacon creamed spinach, "chophouse corn" (which looked to be creamed?), asparagus with hollandaise, and more, and, of course, black truffle mac and cheese.  

Sides range from $15-20, and are designed to share.

I couldn't resist ordering a few, even with these prices.

Asparagus & Hollandaise. $18,

Ok, I was really, really craving asparagus.  It was mid-September, and San Francisco menus stopped featuring it weeks ago.  I was seriously craving it, and, many places around Orlando still had it on the menu (or, maybe they aren't quite as hyper seasonal in their menus as SF is?).  Either way, nearly every menu I looked at had asparagus in some for - grilled, roasted, steamed, whatever.  

Also, um, I love hollandaise.  My hotel had a chef that cooked one dish to order every morning (you never knew what it would be, it might be omelettes, it might be pancakes, it might be eggs your way).  I was really hoping we'd have eggs-your-way the next day, and, swoon, I could bring some hollandaise to drizzle over it, and make my own little benedict-like.  I had whole wheat english muffins and a toaster in my room too!  Or, I had leftover swordfish from the night before, where I ordered swordfish piccata that came entirely without a sauce.  The fish was fine, but it really needed a buttery sauce.  The hollandaise could do the trick!

So, it might sound ridiculous to order $18 asparagus, but, I really wanted both the asparagus and the sauce.

I'll admit I was a bit let down when I saw the asparagus.  Fairly thin stalks, I think just sauteed in butter or oil, not roasted nor grilled.  I tried one, barely warm due to delivery, and it was very, very salty.  I like a high salt level, but, wow, salt.  I heated the rest back up (my room had a microwave), and added pepper (while it had plenty of salt, it had no other seasoning), and of course drizzled with hollandaise, and enjoyed it, but, it wasn't particularly great asparagus.  I would have liked some char from a grill, some deeper flavor from roasting, or, if really just simple sauteed asparagus, a bit snappier, a bit, well, more flavorful.  It was fine, but, just not exciting.  And yes, salty.

The hollandaise was provided on the side.  It definitely didn't love standing up to delivery, slightly split, but I saw that as a good thing since I knew it was legit hollandaise, not a powder.  I didn't try to heat it up, as I knew that would split it further.  It was creamy, and good, but fairly plain - no real lemon nor anything more to it.

Overall, I did like this, but, it wasn't anything special.  ***+.

Jalapeño Au Gratin $18.

At last minute, I decided to throw another side on to my order.  I had leftover swordfish and octopus to eat for dinner, and was getting the asparagus to go with it (and the rest of my leftover veggies too), and knew my order likely would come with bread, so I certainly didn't need any other carbs, but ... there were so many great sounding potato carbs, how could I not?  And if I was going for it, why not go all in?  And thus, jalapeño au gratin it was.

Like the other food I ordered, it was barely warm when it arrived, which did surprise me a little as I thought this would hold the temperature a bit better.  This was easily fixed though with my little portable oven.

So, yeah, this was good.  It had far more jalapeño than I expected, really a nice heat.  It was creamy, it was rich, it was really cheesy.  It had cheese baked on top, it had cream between the layers, and it was horrible for me, no question, but it was good.  The potatoes were nicely cooked, not too soft, not too al dente.   I'm not sure what cheeses were used, but I think there was gouda in there (just like their tots), as it seemed to have a good complexity to it.

This went wonderfully with my leftover swordfish and the asparagus, and the portion was quite generous (as it should be for $18!), so I was able to enjoy it over several meals.

Definitely above average gratin, interesting complexity from the jalapeño and cheeses used.  ****.

Dessert

Oh, man, this dessert menu.  All heavy hitters, I'd gladly order any of them (ok, I'd skip the sorbet).  Chocolate peanut butter pie, warm butter cake with berries and ice cream, classic creme brulee, and, zomg, even the carrot cake sounded epic: 10 layer carrot cake!  Of course, these will run you $15-20 too.

10 Layer Carrot Cake. $19.

"Cream Cheese Icing And Pineapple Syrup."

Ok, so this carrot cake was certainly made for show.  10 layers.  Served in a towering upright slice when you dine in.  I had seen plenty of photos, and knew it was massive (as it should be for $19!), and, very, very Instagram worthy.  But would it be any good?  I certainly enjoy carrot cake, more than most other cake really, but, I do have preferences: I want it moist, loaded with nuts, and great cream cheese frosting.  I had my doubts, I won't lie.

But, um, wow, that Ten Layer Carrot Cake ... I assure you, this is *not* just for show!  

The cake was light and airy, well spiced, and had a slight buttermilk-like tang to it, almost like a red velvet cake.  It was less dense than most carrot cake.  Sure, I prefer nuts, but, this was a fairly remarkable cake on its own.  And then, all those layers made for every bite just being perfect - no need to work to craft a bite with proper amounts of frosting and cake, every bite just naturally is that way.  And the frosting, not cloying sweet, so you *do* want all of it!  This cake just ate so, so well.

The pineapple syrup to drizzle over it just pushes it up a notch, adds a little fruity quality and moisture should you prefer (I grew up with my great aunt's "famous" carrot cake that had plenty of crushed pineapple in it, so, pineapple and carrot cake certainly go together in my mind).  I don't think it needed it though, and I actually may have preferred just some fresh sliced strawberries.

It also came with a small side of fairly generic whipped cream to add to it, fine, but also not really necessary as the cake was just so good.

One of the best carrot cakes I've ever had, and yes, $19 is a lot for a slice of carrot cake, but this one is massive, and clearly more work than your average carrot cake.   And really, truly worth the splurge.  ****+.

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Big Crunch Sushi

Wholesale ... sushi?  Yup, that is what I'm here to review today.  Pre-made, packaged sushi (and other Asian dishes) that you can find in grocery and convenience stores in Australia, from Big Crunch Sushi.

"Deliciously fresh food to go."

There comes a point when traveling when you get a bit fatigued from eating out all the time.  Where you just want something simple, and easy, particularly when you are on the road for a long time.  While I'll often get takeout from a restaurant, or go eat in a mall food court during these times, sometimes I also just go to the grocery store, and get some basics: fresh fruit, cereal and milk, pre-made salads, and, um, yes, sometimes sushi.  Like, Big Crunch Sushi.

"Our philosophy is to create deliciously tasty, honest and healthy fresh food. All of our products contain wholesome nutritious ingredients with no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours."

Big Crunch Sushi aims to create healthy and fresh items, many of which are gluten-free and even offers some vegan items.

Assorted Items.

I tried a few things, and had mixed success.  I mean, after all, it *is* pre-made ...  did find their logo at least entertaining?

Rolls

The first thing I went for was a sushi roll.  Big Crunch Sushi makes a variety of Roll-Your-Own sushi  rolls, with either brown or white rice.  The offerings are your classic tuna/spicy tuna/California, along with, um, more non-traditional choices like teriyaki chicken or beef, chicken schnitzel, and smoked salmon.

California Roll.

The rolls are Roll-Your-Own style, which means there is a diagram on how you are to pull the wrapper back to reveal the nori, which is separate from the rice so it doesn't get soggy, and then magically turn it into a hand roll.  This is much like the sushi found in convenience stores in Tokyo, where, uh, I struggled to properly form them, but at least I could claim to not be able to follow the non-English instructions.  I had little excuse here, as they were in English.

I oped for the white rice California roll, which I expected to be crab stick, rather than real crab, but I like crab stick, so this was no problem.  I also assumed there would be avocado, that I'd need to remove, due to my allergy.  The white rice was decent, not dried out, lightly seasoned, reasonably sticky. 

DIY ... not so great!

Clearly, my rolling skills need some work.  That said, I did love the crisp nori, and this technique for keeping it separate is very effective, even if I didn't make the prettiest roll.

This was a really, really odd California roll.  I was confused as I ate the filling.  I was glad to see no avocado, usually part of a California roll.  But the texture seemed wrong from crab or crab stick, and it really seemed like there was shredded carrot in it.  Crab stick usually has orange die, so, I still believed it must be crab stick, but, with every bite, I was more convinced that it was carrot, and, definitely not crab ... it was too firm, it seemed like shrimp.  The filling wasn't very good, even with the mayo mixed in.   I wished it came with a soy sauce packet though, and ideally some wasabi or ginger, as it was very plain without.

I dug the wrapper out of the trash (it was right on top!) and took a look at the ingredients.  Um, yes.  It was, indeed, carrot and shrimp.  No crab, no crab stick.  Carrot and shrimp.  What?  How is that a California roll?  This was such a confusing item, and, besides the nori, I didn't actually like it at all.

*+.

Rice Paper Rolls

Rice paper rolls come in twin packs or singles.  Options include chicken, prawn, beef, sriracha pork, veggie, or vegan beef all of which come with sweet chili dipping sauce, or duck with a hoisin sauce.

Vegetarian Rice Paper Roll.

I was actually pretty excited for the rice paper roll.  I was craving something light and healthy.  

Inside the rice paper wrapper was lettuce, rice noodles, carrot, red cabbage, thai basil, mint, and fried bean curd.

It wasn't very good.  The rice paper wrapper was slimy and hard, the fillings kinda slimy too.  It had no sauce with it, and I definitely needed to go get some sauce sauce and duck sauce to jazz it up.  The twin packs do come with sauce, but the singles don't.  The fried bean curd was lightly seasoned, but otherwise, it was just bland.

Meh. **.

Salads

"Salads" come with two bases, neither of which are mixed greens.  Instead, base options are rice noodles or brown rice.  Toppings include poke style raw salmon or tuna (or, um, chicken?), along with teriyaki chicken, Thai beef, and Vietnamese chicken.  They come in two sizes.

Salmon Poke Brown Rice Bowl.

I really wanted a salad with a base of greens, but, I opted for the brown rice rather than rice noodles.  I went poke style, salmon.

I was impressed with the toppings - there was a little bit of mixed greens on top, plus shredded carrot, cabbage, and ... oddly, zucchini.  I appreciated the lemon wedge to drizzle over it, the seaweed salad, and the sprinkle of sesame seeds on the salmon.  The poke sauce/dressing was in a separate packet to mix on.  Actually all fairly fresh, and very poke-appropriate.

That said, I wasn't really into the salmon itself.  It was reasonable quality for grocery store sushi I suppose, but, raw salmon from a grocery store pre-packaged item isn't really ever going to be great.  It wasn't fishy, the texture was good, and the cubes were a nice size, but, it didn't taste particularly fresh.

Overall, not the best item for me, although I was happy to use the toppings, minus most of the salmon, with the dressing and my own salad base to make a nice creation.  ***.

Soups

The soups are "Fresh Noodle Instant Soup", you must add boiling water.  These come in many styles: ramen (chicken, veggie), pho (beef, chicken, veggie), laksa (chicken, prawn), udon (beef), and a few others.

Veggie Pho.

Inside the bowl was rice noodles, shitake mushroom, pickled carrot, red cabbage, onion, celery, thai basil, and fried bean curd, along with the veggie stock.

Much like the poke bowl, the toppings for this were actually quite good.  I liked the pickled carrots and cabbage, the shitakes were flavorful, everything else was fresh and crisp, and the fried bean curd was juicy and marinated in tasty sauce.  The rice noodles were kinda meh, and I actually ended up just taking all the toppings, including the sauce, and threw it on top of mixed greens and quite enjoyed a salad instead.  

***+ toppings, *** pho.

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Virtual Teakup

It was an unusually warm day in San Francisco, and a group at work was having a social at Spark Social, the food truck park not that far from the office.  Hot weather called for many things, like some excellent onion rings from the Sarap Shop truck (review coming soon!), paired with a lighter platter from Rasa Rasa, but after I was done feasting on savory food, it was time to seek out something sweet.

I had many options, ranging from fresh donuts, to deep fried cheesecake, to hand pies, but, I was more in the mood for something refreshing and cool ... like, bubble tea.  Luckily, Spark Social had just the place: Virtual Teakup.

"Here at Virtual Teakup, we don’t take any shortcuts when it comes to your boba. We take pride in cooking our bobas daily in small batches and serving them warm with the right amount of sweetness. Our teas are brewed fresh and our toppings are made from scratch in house. In doing so, we’re able to offer our customers high-quality drinks on-the-go at reasonable prices. Follow us and find out our next creations!"

The truck is a regular vendor at Spark Social, and had quite the line, again, likely given the weather.  Drinks were prepared quickly.  Unlike most of the trucks, they did not have a tablet or other digital ordering system, which I thought was ironic given that they were the "Virtual" one.

Food Truck.

The menu at Virtual Teakup trends heavily in the "dessert" direction, only one is really a classic bubble tea.  The rest are things like the "Cheesecake Spundae" with cheesecake and crema and berries, or a Instagram worthy "Cloud 9" with cotton candy and butterfly pea flower, or the seemingly very popular Creme Brulee.

Boba, jellies, cheesecake, and a few other things can be added in, but there aren't that many mix-ins available.  Only regular dairy, no soy or alternatives offered.

Pink Dragon (Less Sweet). $6.45.

"Dragon fruit puree, milk, brown sugar and yogurt. (contains dairy, no caffeine)."

I kinda randomly picked the Pink Dragon. For some reason, dragon fruit called out, as did the yogurt.  I've been kinda into yogurt drinks lately.  I got it less sweet.

My order was prepared very quickly.  It looked nothing like the image on the menu, with the base of dragonfruit, the topping dripping down  ... it looked like homogenous pink milk.

And it tasted ... like homogenous pink milk.  I did not taste dragon fruit.  I did not taste yogurt.  No tang, no thinkness.  I just tasted milk.  That happened to be pink.  I'm still quite confused, as I certainly didn't get the wrong drink, there are no other menu items that would be just pink milk either.

This was, hands down, the most boring drink I've had from a bubble tea shop, and I'm still curious if something just went wrong ... shouldn't I have at least tasted yogurt?  It was, um, fine for milk, but, totally and completely not what I was expecting.

** because it was fine milk?

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Sushi @ Kabuto Sushi

Update Review, September 2022

10 years ago, I went to Kabuto sushi.  I was drawn in by the creative menu, but, didn't really love it, as you read in my original review.  And yet, here I am, 10 years later, getting the sushi again, and this time. delivery of all things.  You see, I was on a quest for good uni.  This was the 3rd sushi restaurant I had ordered from in a week, seeking out uni everywhere.  I also wanted to give one of their signature items, the baby lobster, anther chance.

I easily ordered on Door Dash, as Kabuto fully embraced delivery offerings during the pandemic.  That said, the Door Dash delivery wasn't great, as my Dasher batched up a bunch of orders, and thus picked up my sushi 1 hour before actually heading my way.  It made me question ordering sushi delivery in the future, as it was 84* out (yes, really, in SF), and that was a long time for uni to be out in that heat ...

Packaging.

My order came in a generic cardboard takeout box, with a very small amount of ginger (not nearly enough!), a tiny bit of wasabi, and a packet of soy sauce.  The uni was in its own little cupcake wrapper, which was a unique way of packaging that did work to isolate the pieces.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Signature Sushi

The "Signature Sushi" is what likely drew me to Kabuto years ago, and much of that menu remained unchanged.  10 years, and still signature!  And I was again drawn by so many of the options.

Baby Maine Lobster. $18.

"Seared lobster with spicy sauce."

Ok, so I have a thing for baby lobster sushi.  It started at Sushi Sam's, where they serve it with a spicy mayo and slivered almonds on top, and it used to be one of my favorite pieces of their omakase.  I knew from my previous visit that the baby lobster at Kabuto was an entirely different style, but, I still went for it.  I wanted to give it another try.

Let's just say, it didn't please me.  At some level, this was due to the long delivery time, I'm sure.  This is seared lobster, so it was presumably hot when originally served, but, an hour had elapsed, and it was cold.  Cold lobster is fine, some styles of lobster rolls are made that way after all, but this was just oddly chewy and really not very good.  After kinda chocking down the first piece, I took the second piece and threw it on my indoor grill for a minute or two, and it actually was much better that way.  That said, grilling it basically lost all the sauce, and the sauce really as quite tasty.  Not spicy as described, more sweet actually, but it was creamy and unique, and it did go well with the lobster.

The sushi rice was also a let down.  Again, perhaps something that suffered in transit, but it broke apart and was rather mushy.  It didn't seem particularly seasoned.

So, overall, besides the tasty sauce, this was not good, and I wouldn't get it again. *+.

Nigiri

The regular nigiri are priced per piece.

Uni - Japan. $17.

As part of my uni quest, of course I had to get the uni.  They had both local and Japanese on their online menu, but Door Dash only had the Japanese, so, Japanese it was.  This was a very pricey piece, $17 for the single piece, but, I hoped that meant it would be great quality.

This piece definitely suffered from my Dasher driving all around for an hour before bringing me my sushi.  I almost didn't eat it, as I really was worried about it being out in the heat for so long but ... uni!  The portion was my biggest disappointment.  This piece was majority rice, there was just a very, very little bit of uni on top as you see here.  There was no uni under it.  I ordered uni from several other sushi restaurants that week, and this one had remarkably less uni.

So, portion size aside, how was it?  The rice was again not very good - mushy, falling apart, not seasoned.  And the uni ... was fine.  It had a slightly odd taste to it, that I hoped was just my brain warning about warm uni, but, I couldn't quite ignore it.  It didn't taste bad exactly, just, slightly off.

This piece was definitely not worth the $17, particularly with such a small amount of actual uni. **.

Original Review, February 2012

We went to another new sushi restaurant tonight, as part of my quest to try out new sushi places. This one we knew was going to be an "interesting" experience, as the sushi menu was full of things like foie gras, lamb, duck, and fruits. I read through a bunch of the Yelp reviews and knew that the lamb and duck weren't supposed to be great, but reviews for all of the other unique sushi were good, so I had high hopes.

Protip: don't trust the Yelpers!

In all seriousness, I'm glad we tried this place, as it really was a unique experience. The presentation of the dishes was generally quite nice. They were trying very interesting things. And they take reservations!

Unfortunately, the quality of the fish was just not there, and all the creamy sauce just couldn't mask that fact. It was mostly mediocre quality, with one piece being actually good (the live scallop) and a few pieces being really awful (hamachi, oyster). The fruit was even lower quality than the fish. I know I'm spoiled by eating pretty much exclusively farmer's market fruit, but this stuff was pretty flavorless, and it just didn't go with the fish well at all. I also have no problem with fruit in my sushi, as I love a lot of the rolls at Sushi Zone that include mango and papaya, and one of my favorite pieces at Sushi Sam's has kiwi on it. So, it isn't just that I don't like fruit + fish. There were a number of execution issues as well, such as the fruit being sliced too thick and the ratio of rice to other ingredients being off in a few of the pieces.

The pacing of the meal was also off. The first 6 or so dishes arrived rapid fire, faster than we could finish the ones before it. Since some of them were hot/seared, this was overwhelming. The waitress recommended things to us that were really not good and did so unsolicited, definitely trying to upsell and get us to order more. And the price certainly was high for the poor quality, $70 per head for 12 pieces of sushi each. I don't mind paying a lot for good quality fish, but this was very high for what we got.

I most likely will not return here. See photos for individual reviews.

Hamachi jalapeno.

We ordered our sushi, and then the waitress talked us into ordering this. She said it would be a great appetizer.

It was the worst dish of the night. The quality of this hamachi was horrible, some of the worst fish I've had in recent memory. The little slice of jalapeno on it was nice, as was the dot of hot sauce, but this was pretty bad.

I sorta wonder if she was just trying to upsell us, I forgot to look on the bill to see how much this item was.

Gross.

Ceviche: Halibut and salsa wrapped with deep fried seaweed and served with lime and sea salt.

This was a cute idea, a play on ceviche. To eat it, you wrapped it in the seaweed and ate it taco style.

The halibut itself was decent, but I didn't really get any flavor from the salsa and definitely didn't get any lime or salt flavors. The strangest part was that the seaweed was dripping wet. I think it must have been with oil from being deep fried.

Cute idea, but was lacking in the promised flavors.

Hamachi Pear - Yellowtail sushi topped with sliced pear and kabuto fruity mustard sauce.

The "fruity mustard sauce" was pretty tasty and it worked surprisingly well with the pear and with the yellowtail. The hamachi was fairly decent, far, far, better than the hamachi used in the appetizer. The pear didn't work though - sliced too thick, and lacking any flavor, it just made it hard to eat and weird.

Foie Gras Sushi - Seared marinated goose liver served with balsamic raspberry sauce, raspberry, chives, roe.

The piece of foie gras was pretty tiny, particularly given the quantity of rice, so the flavor was drowned out by the rice. This is too bad, as it was decent foie gras and did go quite well with the raspberry and the raspberry balsamic sauce.

This either needed more foie or less rice. I guess there is a reason why you don't normally have foie gras sushi ... Still, it was interesting and I'm glad I got to try this one.

Baby Main Lobster - Seared lobster with spicy sauce

Very nice presentation!

I liked this - decent quality lobster, seared in a way that gave it a grilled smokey flavor. It was nothing like Sushi Sam's baby lobster though, which totally sets my standard for baby lobster dishes (at Sushi Sam's, it is not seared, a much smaller baby served almost whole, and covered with amazingly delicious mayo sauce).

I have no idea why there was a random piece of seared fruit on the plate. Or more dried cranberries. They so did not go with it.

Ono grape - Wahoo sushi topped with grapefruit and basal basil cream sauce.

I didn't like this one. The flavors just did not come together at all. Why was there grapefruit on my sushi? Why the cream? The grapefruit was pretty flavorless, poor quality. And the fish wasn't particularly good. Meh.

Shrimp & Crab Tartar sushi - Chopped shrimp and crab mixed with Kabuto tartar sauce served with egg yolk, capers, anchovy, cilantro, and grape.

This was probably my favorite dish of the night. Basically, a shrimp and crab salad, on top of some seaweed, on top of rice. It was kinda impossible to eat though. You can't see it in the picture, but there was nigiri rice under the nori, I'm still not sure how on earth you were supposed to do this.

Although I thought the flavors were great and really enjoyed the crab/shrimp salad, it didn't really make sense as a piece of sushi, and I'd just prefer to have the tasty salad on its own.

Live scallop - scallop nigiri, scallop chowder.

The scallop was just standard nigiri but very good, tender and fresh. My second favorite piece of the night.

The scallop chowder wasn't good. I couldn't really determine what anything was, just that it was probably some sort of chowder base and the somewhat chewy stuff in it must have been scallop, perhaps cooked?

1849 Oyster: Oyster, quail egg, 3 types of roe, uni, gold leaf. 

Close up of 1849 Oyster: Oyster, quail egg, 3 types of roe, uni, gold leaf. 

This is one of their special famed dishes. It reminded me of the "Spoonful of Happiness" we got at Koo a couple weeks ago (that was uni, quail egg, roe, ponzu), except the spoonful of happiness was MUCH better.

The name comes from the gold leaf, cute idea, but pretty gimmicky ...

There was a lot going on here. The uni was decent, but the quantity was so small you didn't get to taste it that much. I'm not a huge roe fan, so all this roe didn't thrill me, but it did add to the experience to have it popping in your mouth as you took this all in. The quail egg added a richness. I can't say I tasted or noticed the gold flake :) But ... my oyster was pretty nasty. Very fishy and not in a nice briny way. If the oyster had been better, I could see this being pretty ok, but as it was, it left a horrible taste in my mouth.

Hot Apple - Seared Scallop served with apple and fruity mustard sauce (says the description ... this was a creamy sauce instead).

This was similar to the baby lobster, seared with a nice smokey flavor. But the quality of the scallop was poor, and it was tough and way overcooked. It didn't go with apple at all.

The description said it had a "fruity mustard sauce", which the hamachi pear piece also said, but the sauce on these was not even remotely the same. The hamachi pear one did have a fruity mustard sauce ... this one had a fruity sauce and a cream sauce. I definitely did not taste any mustard. And like the hamachi pear piece, the apple was sliced too thick and was poor quality. You can't see it, and the description didn't mention it, but there was a piece of shiso leaf under the apple, that was actually really nice and crisp and refreshing, and went really well with the apple.

We had one of these left over at the end since no one wanted to eat it, and I deconstructed it to have just an apple-fruit sauce-shiso nigiri, which was kinda ok, and made for sorta a dessert ...

Wild buri

At the end, we wanted to give them one more chance, and decided to order nigiri off the fresh fish of the day menu. This SHOULD be the best stuff they have, and we were sick of the "special" sushi with its cream sauce and bad fruit. We ordered the butterfish, but the waitress told us this was the freshest thing of the day and the best.  So we got it instead.

Again, she led us astray. This was the second worst thing of the night for me (after the hamachi jalapeno she recommended).  Seriously, do not take her recommendations!

I didn't even bother trying the tamago.

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Rasa Rasa Food Truck

Singaporean food.  Not something I come across much in San Francisco, so I was really happy to find Rasa Rasa at Parklab Gardens, a food truck park in San Francisco.  I don't think they have any other locations.

Truck.

The "truck" is really more of a cart, a permanent vendor at Parklab Gardens.  When I visited, there were no other customers.  The staff was friendly, and my order was prepared quickly.

Menu.

The menu is fairly small, only 8 dishes, but hits the Singaporean classics: beef (or mushroom) rendang, chicken satay, laksa, and a few others.  No sides, no desserts (missed opportunity there! I *never* see Singaporean desserts around SF!).

Gado Gado. $12.

"Vegan. Vegan lover, mixed steamed and fresh vegetables, pairing with fried tofu, tempeh, and crackers; topped with peanut dressing sauce."

I was looking for something healthy and light, and the gado gado called out immediately.  While I'm not vegan, and don't actually care for tempeh or tofu, I wanted everything else in this dish.  

It really was perfect for my mood.  Eating it felt healthy - which was great, as I also may have had an order of Sarap Shop's Dirty Onion Rings alongside {LINK}.  

The shredded purple cabbage, cucumbers, and bean sprouts were fresh, crisp, and colorful.  The other veggies were steamed (but cold), which was novel to me when I first had food in Singapore, but I'm accustomed to now, and I liked having the juicy cooked veggies to contrast.  I was a bit surprised that the shredded carrot wasn't raw though.

The protein portion was kinda skimpy ... just one piece of tempeh and two cubes of tofu, but, as I didn't actually want that stuff much anyway, I certainly didn't mind.  They were, as I expected, not anything I liked - tempeh had the fermented funk to it I don't like, tofu was tofu, fried and spongy.  Not my thing at all.

Everything came together with the peanut sauce, served on the side, and a pretty generous handful of roasted peanuts scattered inside for some crunch.  I really liked the peanuts in the mix.  The peanut sauce was delicious, but very thick, very rich, and actually a bit too sweet.  Don't get me wrong, it was very, very good, but, I didn't quite like it with the veggies.  I used the extra later at home spread on toast (delicious!) and with a leftover fried spring roll (also delicious!), both of which seemed like better applications of the sauce.

Overall, this was good, nothing extraordinary, nothing novel, but, nice to have Singaporean food for a change.  ***.

Vegan Garlic Crackers.

Every platter comes with crackers.  The non-vegan dishes come with shrimp crackers, the vegan ones with garlic crackers, although you could substitute either.  The portion was quite small.

The crackers were good though - legit hit of garlic, crispy, not stale.  I actually liked the vegan garlic ones more than the shrimp ones, which surprised me as I usually go for the shrimp taste, but, the shrimp ones were a bit too oily.

***+.

Extra Shrimp Crackers. $2.

I wanted to try the shrimp crackers too, so I got some as an add-on for an addition $2.  While the ones that came with the platter were a tiny portion, this most certainly was not.  A nice value for $2.

The shrimp crackers I think were actually house made, as they were kinda dripping in oil, as if they had been freshly fried.  They were good - crisp, lightly fishy, and colorful, and went well with the rest of the meal, but definitely a bit too oily.  

***.

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Nuncha Empanadas

Empanadas.  Definitely not something I care about.  Sure, I'll eat one if its what is being served or something, but, not an item I would ever seek out - the flavors just don't usually do it for me (although the ones from Piecemeal Pies had such glorious crust that they kept making me *want* to like them!).  Anyway, empanadas, particularly traditional ones, not really my thing.  And yet, I visited a empanada shop, Nuncha Empanadas.

"​Our empanadas are stuffed with a variety of delicious fillings & Nucha empanadas dough  is handmade from scratch in our local commercial kitchen using 100% butter (no beef fat) We also strive to use organic, local ingredients whenever possible. "

I've seen Nuncha Empanadas at a few farmer's markets, and, I remember looking them up at one point and seeing pretty lackluster reviews.  I haven't ever been inclined to seek them out, but, if they've been in business since 2010, surely, they must be decent, right?  Plus, I liked that they use local ingredients, etc. 

While I went the sweet rather than savory route, I did not enjoy my order, and don't really care to try another. 

Truck.

My visit was to the food truck location at Spark Social.  They also have a location at the Soma Street Food Park, and are regulars at several farmer's markets around town.

Menu.

Nuncha of course makes a wide range of savory, traditional empandas, served with chimichuri, along with many vegan ones too.  But I had eyes for one thing: the dessert sweet ones, dubbed "hand pies".  

The desert lineup of the day was peach cobbler, blueberry crisp, apple, or pineapple.

Blueberry Crisp Hand Pie. $5.75.

"Blueberries, sugar, Lemon juice, ​flour & oats."

I opted for the blueberry crisp, curious how the "crisp" part of this would translate into a hand pie filling.  Oats ... inside?  My empanada was warmed up, and served at a nice temperature.

I took one bite, and disappointment came fast.  While I care about the filling of course, I certainly care about the crust.  I'm totally a crust person, and thus, hand pies or double crusted pies are the best kind of pies, because I get so much crust.  And yes, all you crust haters, those who leave the back crusts behind, just, send me crusts!  That is, if they are good crust.  And this, as you may have guessed, was not.  It was not buttery, it was not flaky, it was actually quite hard, dense, and, seemingly a bit stale.  I didn't care for the crust.

But, perhaps the "blueberry crisp" filling would redeem it?  After all a fruit crisp doesn't need crust.  But, alas, I don't know where that crisp was.  The filling just seemed to be the berries, with I guess some flour and sugar.  The filling was not your standard gooey fruity filling, it too was very thick and dense.  It didn't seem to have any spicing.  I certainly didn't find any oats.  

I even tried warming up the other half at home and serving it with equal parts ice cream and whipped cream to attempt to enjoy it, but, alas, this just wasn't very good at all.

All dessert empandas are $5.75, a bit pricey for the fairly small item.

*.

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