Emperor’s Japanese Grill
Posted on May 1, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink, Reviews.
Emperor’s Japanese Grill was disappointing but only slightly. I think it’s because of all the hype. A bunch of people at work really built it up to be this awesome, stupendous place. It was just okay for me.
I guess I should specify which one we went to first. Well, Brian had to drop off a couple of German colleagues (Anita and Mattias) at the airport so we were on the West side of town. Since it was still really nice out, I managed to talk Brian into checking out this model home down the street from Darcy’s house. We ended up stopping by Darcy’s and chatting for a bit after that and then decided to hit Emperor’s on the way home. I didn’t know they had a location on the East side so I thought we were trying something special. Because, you know, East-siders never go West and West-siders never go East.
This place was pretty hard to find. We kept missing their sign on the building. I actually had to call the restaurant and ask how to find them. Even then, we drove around the parking lot a couple of times. Brian and I must have been out of it because it really took a lot to find it and we almost gave up.
This is Brian’s I-can’t-believe-how-long-it-took-to-find-this-place face. Actually, I take that back. Brian always looks like this. =P
Emperor’s is actually really good in that they have a pretty limited menu. Unlike most Oriental or Asian food places where you have over 100 options to choose from. I think having only a handful of offerings that can be combined to make various food combinations is actually the smart way to go. It’s great value for the money, too. They serve the kind of food that you would get at a Japanese hibachi steakhouse for a fraction of the cost. So if you feel like eating hibachi food, but want it quick and cheap, Emperor’s is the place to go.
Isaac absolutely loves their fried rice, so we ordered chicken fried rice to try it. It was good, but I didn’t think it was as good as the barbecue pork fried rice at Malaysia Cafe, which is one of my favorites. Actually, if we’re talking fried rice then Oh Yeah China Bistro probably has both restaurants beat. LOL. I will have to convince Isaac to give Oh Yeah a try.
We also got teriyaki chicken and rice.
Overall you get pretty good food for the price. It’s nothing spectacular, though. Definitely not a place that I would drive all the way out West for. Sorry, Isaac. 😉
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Run 4 a Reason
Posted on April 30, 2012 by Ching under Events, Food and Drink.
I was going to title this post, “Correr Por Una Razón y Los Vendedores Latinoamericanos” but Brian told me to knock it off. He’s tired of all the Spanish blog titles. LOL. Anyway, English titles are easier and quicker; and I’m at least a week behind on blogging so I guess he wins this round.
Last Sunday was pretty crazy. I had this wacky idea of taking the Zumba fitness class at West 13th (because Gina Ann was subbing for Andrea while she got licensed for Aqua Zumba), Amie’s Zumba fitness class, and then running a 5K. I figured that there would be enough breaks in between so it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, I started to feel tired from doing the two hours of Zumba prior so I told Brian that we should probably just walk. Brian wanted to run, though. So we started off running. As I suspected, he gave up a quarter of a mile in. It was pretty sad.
We weren’t even power walking. We were meandering like a couple of tourists. We even stopped to take photos at a couple of spots. And to think that Brian thinks he can complete Tough Mudder. He can’t even run a 5K. I have no room to talk, though. I’m not built for running either.
Oh the bright side, Brian and I had the most stylish shirts there. I customized our Run 4 a Reason shirts so ours were the most unique. I turned Brian into a sleeveless shirt, which he said he wouldn’t mind wearing to the gym, and I turned mine into a cropped, destroyed shirt fit for Zumba.
We’ve decided that we’re going to participate in the Bank of America River Run this year, and I doubt that cool t-shirts are going to cut it, so we better get training. LOL!
Brian’s work had their National Sales Meeting at the Broadview Hotel this year. The food was catered by Corporate Caterers and was better than in previous years. I think they may never return to the Hyatt. LOL.
Here’s a gigantic slice of cheesecake.
More food…
On the final night, Toby and Jorge took us to Wasabi.
We had this thing called rice crispy, edamame, fried dumplings, and some crab cakes to start. You get five delicious, little crab cakes.
This is a close up shot.
It was super good!
Here’s the stone henge and shrimp tempura crazy roll up close. These are two of our most favorite things to get at Wasabi.
I believe this one is called super tiger roll.
And then this one is the crunchy roll.
This last trip to Wasabi made me realize how much I’d missed the resto. Yum, yum, yum! I can’t wait to go back!
Anyway, Brian had some really late nights last week. One night he didn’t get home until almost midnight. I’m really glad that National Sales Meeting is over and have my husband back. I’m ready for our schedules to return to normal. I was having separation anxiety for a while there. Though, I think I handled it much better than Brian would have if the roles were reversed. Ha ha ha!
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¡Felicidades!
Posted on April 26, 2012 by Ching under Events.
Brian and I had the pleasure of attending Hai (pictured in the photo on the left with Brian) and Ricky’s baby shower last Saturday at Nativity Pines.
I’d never been there before so it was nice to finally have the opportunity to check it out. It’s actually much closer than we originally thought. I mean, when people hear “Benton” they usually think it’s going to be a drive, but it only took us twenty minutes to get there.
Anyway, I’m so glad that Hai and Ricky decided to have a coed baby shower. Brian and I are inseparable, so all-women events like baby showers usually make him feel left out. Plus, I think coed showers are so much more fun. Some of the shower games we played were utterly hilarious! Thank you to Hai and Ricky for inviting us.
Congratulations and best wishes to Hai and Ricky as they welcome baby Victoria into the world. ¡Felicidades!
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Comida Japonesa
Posted on April 26, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Our first time back at Japan Express in almost a year was last Saturday. Amazing considering I used to eat there almost daily back in college.
Here’s our favorite meal at JE.
We get the obento but sub a brown egg instead of the fried mushrooms and we order an extra helping of rice instead of the salad. Brian eats the teriyaki chicken and I eat the tonkatsu pork. It’s just the right amount of food for the two of us.
Except, I think we were extra hungry last Saturday because we got an order of fried dumplings. I was too stuffed to eat any, though. Brian had some, but couldn’t eat it all.
If you’ve never been to JE, you’re missing out. It’s good, quick, and a great value. Specially if you share a meal, which is what Brian and I often do.
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Lo Celebramos en Sake
Posted on April 23, 2012 by Ching under Food and Drink.
Brian and I had a wonderful dinner at Sake last Friday after my Zumba instructor training. Yep, I’m now licensed to teach Zumba and am officially part of the Zumba Instructor Network (ZIN). Woot!
Here are some obligatory food photos.
They always start you out with miso. Followed by salad.
I normally skip the salads at Japanese steakhouses because I don’t care for the salad dressing. Theirs was not bad, though.
I believe this is called the yummy yummy roll. It lived up to it’s moniker.
I had the filet mignon and shrimp, while Brian had hibachi chicken. I didn’t get a picture of his plate, though. Oh, well.
By the way, I’m not writing a full-on review of this restaurant because I think a friend of mine is reviewing it for the local paper. I just wanted to let you guys know what we did to celebrate the fact that I’m now licensed to teach Zumba. I can finally cross one more thing off the bucket list. Woot!
Speaking of Zumba, I will be doing Zumba after work tomorrow. Text, call, email, or Facebook me if you want to join me! 🙂
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