Repeats and a Promise

I haven't been going anywhere new for a while--that's my excuse.  I've been to the Wasabis on the east side every Friday for the last few weeks.  I even took a whole group there--I can't help that I need a sushi fix every week.  I'll tell you I've set on a couple of dishes as the perfect combo for the winter.  I can't remember the name of the dinner Japanese bento boxed meal.  It typically comes with tempura, fish or meat, pickles, sushi, shashimi, sweet fruit, and rice.  A bento is a lunch meal in a box (typically cold), while the dinner is a typically hot and cold mix.  To make one at Wasabis you just order the sushi combo A and one of the boxed dinner meals.  I like teriaki beef--ask for it medium rare and it comes close to a real Japanese dinner.  Wasabis could be more of a "yes" restaurant, but it is not bad.  For example, they won't make special rolls or allow mixtures of shashimi on their main shashimi set.  So, I'm stuck in a rut.  I like hot and cold especially for dinner in the winter and of course, I must have hot saki.  The Japanese culture is fantastic at keeping the hot and cold part of a meal in balance.

I also had steak tartar at the Candle Club again during Cigar Night.  I confirmed that a small brut Flexinet is the best with steak tartar and the Candle Club's steak tartar is one of the best.  I smoked a couple of high end Partagas that night and I'm smoking a Partagas number 10 right now.  Plus, the Candle Club does a great job making drinks just the way I like them.

I will be going to Oklahoma City soon and will try some dining there.  I hope to give a report on some new restaurants.  That's my promise.  I'll get to some other restaurants in Wichita soon--that's the plan.  Until them--great eating, drinking, and cigars.

Cigar Night 3 Nov

4 November 2011, Cigar Night at the Candle Club

We have out cigar night out the first Thursday of every month.  We've been congregating at the Candle Club.  This is a private club in Wichita, Kansas.  Kansas has passed laws that prevent business owners from exercising the private property rights on their own property--the legislature has prevented the use of tobacco products in non-private clubs.  Someone should take these legislators to court for taking the value of property from property owners.  Our country is doomed as long as property owners can't determine the legal activities they will allow on their own property.

In any case, we had cigar night at the Candle Club--there we can have drinks, cigars, and dinner.  The food at the Candle Club is outstanding.  I brought cigars. 

The usual bartender wasn't in the smoking bar.  I ordered a vodka martini with grape based vodka (I like potato based vodka because I don't like the sweet flavor of grain based vodkas).  She came back with a vodka martini made with grape flavored Sky vodka--yuck.  Okay, reload.  She had a discussion with the regular bartender and came back with the right drink.  I thought it was funny.

I brought a bunch of cigars, but started with a Partagas number 10 (my favorite), but my buddy brought a special Cohiba torpedo.  The Cohiba was a great cigar.  It was tightly wrapped with the usual great Cohiba flavor.  A nice gentle chocolate and cream.

For dinner, I ordered the Steak Tartar.  There are only two places (that I know of) where you can get Steak Tartar in Wichita Kansas:  the Candle Club and the Newport Grill.  The Steak Tartar at the Candle Club is wonderfully fresh with very little spice or stuff mixed in.  It has a raw egg yoke on top.  It is excellent.  I looked forward to it all day.  With it I had a Flexinet Cordon Negro half bottle.  I wanted to have another--Steak Tartar and Fexinet.  The bread with the Steak Tartar was a thin sliced French style with a brush of oil.  All in all this was a very pleasant meal.  I recommend it.

My bud recommends the chicken fried steak at the Candle Club--that's what he had.  After the Cohiba, I went back to the Partagas number 10.  That was my limit and I got almost 3 hours out of the cigars--wonderful.  The flavor of a Partagas 10 is slightly sweet and honey with cream.  Very close to the Cohiba but a gentle cigar that doesn't stay with you for two days.

That was my planned end of the evening, but another friend offered me a Nub English Wrapper.  I ordered a Jamison on the rocks to match the Nub.  The Nub cigar was nice and not too long a burn.  It is a similar cigar to the other two.  It is a light and sweet cigar with a nice flavor.

So, the end of this cigar night.  We had 13 members and a great evening of conversation.