Dallas Sushi Tour - Kona Grill

We went on a sushi tour to check out the best sushi restaurants in Dallas Texas.  We only had time to check out the top three.  We perhaps picked a poor weekend for a sushi tour, but we had a great time.

Our first stop was to take N17979 (Tammy Lamb) from Wichita to McKinney Airport on the outskirts of Dallas.  We had a rental car waiting us, so we went car to car with no TSA involved.

From McKinney we headed for Kona Grill.  We had a reservation through Open Table for 1200.  We really didn't need a reservation, but we should have.  Kona Grill was outstanding.  The restaurant is in a mall and has an outside seating area.  The seating was very nice.

We were impressed from the beginning when we could order saki bombs from the menu.  They were Kirin and Kirin light in 22 oz. bottles each with a small container of hot saki.  Talk about a great start to lunch.  The Kirin was chilled nicely and the saki was heated well.  In an open courtyard seating under the trees, the spot was idyllic.

The menu at Kona Grill is a mixed polopolesian and sushi.  I chose the restaurant because of its ratings and because it was the only nice place with sushi open for lunch on the 4th of July.  Kona Grill isn't rated in the top five or ten for Dallas, but it should be.  For the purist, Kona might not be the best, but we had a taste of Southwestern shashimi that will bring us back next time.

We were sharing shashimi and sushi for the weekend, so we tried the jalapeno yellowtail and the jalapeno salmon from the shashimi menu.  We also ordered spicy tuna hand-rolls, and tuna and eel nigiri. 

The shashimi was excellent.  It wasn't classic, but the fish was fresh and the spices were natural and not overwhelming to the fish.  The yellow tail had a piece of jalapeno and cilantro on top.  It was excellent.  The salmon had a puree of jalapeno on top and something tasty in the middle.  The presentation was beautiful.  The nigiri was classic.  The spicy tuna hand-rolls were pretty typical.  They were surprisingly not too spicy.  The birth-day girl is on a search for the perfect spicy tuna hand-roll.  To her, that means chunks or slices of tuna with hot sesame oil and other spices--she'll know it when she tastes it.  It was the way one of our favorite sushi places did it before it shut down.

Kona Grill was a great start to our Dallas sushi tour.  We will return.     

Hangar One, Wichita

I have been eating out, and I have been smoking cigars.  I just have not reported for a while because I'm busy.

I have a couple of positive places to recommend in Wichita.  The first is Hangar One.  The first couple of times I visited this restaurant, I wasn't impressed.  That changed with the last visit.  Hangar One is a flying motif restaurant and bar.  The bar is at the top, like a air traffic control tower.  The Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) had a monthly beer call there.  I can report that the selection of draft was excellent.  It wasn't as numerous as some specialty bars (like Fox and Hound), but the selection was great and varied.  I was impressed with the Moose Drool (a dark ale).  It wasn't too bitter.  I also ate a KC Strip there.  The steak was good quality and properly cooked.  This was a distinct improvement over the last couple of times I had been there.  I can recommend the atmosphere, the beer, and the food.  The music in the bar was a little loud, but it didn't prevent conversation.  Prices were also reasonable.

I'll also mention the new Lakeside club.  I had a meal and a Martini there with the regular copilot.  The meal was great and the prices very good for the quality.  This is a private club.  The know how to shake a drink and the drinks are large.  The portions were large too.  In addition, the Lakeside club has live music and a place to dance.  The music was very danceable.  I was impressed by the bar tending at Lakeside--the bartender mixed my Martini wrong, but corrected it right away.  Very good bar tending.

I'm smoking a Baccarat cigar, a box I won at a Texas Hold'em tournament.  The cigar is pleasant, but is very sweet.  The taste of the tobacco is especially sweet.  I suspect it is a flavored cigar.  It isn't unpleasant, and doesn't have a flavored taste to the draw.  It's an unusual cigar.  I likely wouldn't have bought it for myself, but any winnings are pleasant.

O&O

Osaka and The Doughnut Hole, Destin, Florida

I'll give you two in one: Osaka and The Doughnut Hole.  I've been to Osaka many times.  Osaka is an outstanding Japanese restaurant on the Emerald Coast.  It has both a hibachi and a sushi area.  We ate in the sushi area on this visit.  Even if you don't like sushi, Osaka has Japanese food you will like.  Everything I've had there has been excellent and authentic.

Almost everyone drank hot saki, and we all reported that it was pleasant.  About half had sushi and half had a hot meal.  One of our group ordered the beef curry and reported that it was excellent.  Another ate the beef terriaki and gave that a thumbs up. 

I had the Chirashi sushi.  I've had it before, and it is consistently the best Chirashi I've had on the east coast.  A Chirashi is shashimi (raw fish) and other sushi toppings served over sushi rice.  Actually, the rice is the sushi.  The stuff on top is the topping on the sushi rice.  This Chirashi has always been excellent.  I've never been disappointed.  The prices at Osaka are at the higher end, but everything on this side of the bridges is more costly.

Visit Osaka, you will enjoy it.

For breakfast, we went to The Doughnut Hole.  This place was packed on the weekend.  It was packed this morning (Monday).  It is small but wonderfully decorated with real wood everywhere.  The coffee is freshly ground and excellent.  I had a doughnut and coffee.  Everyone else, except Bun had a real breakfast.  When I say a real breakfast, I mean a real breakfast.  Even the diet plate was heaped full.  Here is a photo proof of what a "real" breakfast pastry looks like.

The photo is Bun and the Apple Fritter, or Bun and the Very Large Bun.  My doughnut wasn't this large.  Still for a hearty breakfast, check out The Doughnut Hole.

Hog Heaven, Shalamar, Florida

Okay guys if you are looking for an unbelievable amount of food for a lunch time price, you have to visit Hog Heaven in Shalamar, Florida.  This is a barbecue joint of unparalleled quality.  It has character and the food there is of a superior character.  Now, I have to warn you, this is man food.  If your sweet love doesn't mind man food in a man food joint, go for it, but otherwise...don't take them along.

We ordered the onion rings and the jalapeno poppers.  The onion rings were the size of Phillis Diller's bracelets.  A country girl might even use them for bracelets.  There were enough to feed all five at our table and each one was like eating a whole onion.  The were perfectly fried and excellent man food.  The jalapeno poppers were filled with some kind of good gooey stuff.  The point of identification isn't important, the taste is--they tasted great and were hot (fire and spice).

I had the pulled pork sandwich.  It was "can't put down food."  That is, it was so packed that once I got it together, I was afraid to put it back down, because I wouldn't have been able to get my hands around it again.  Definitely man food.  I had the fried okra with it.  The made it a side for me.  It was about the best restaurant okra you are going to get.  I was pleased all the way around. 

I need to mention the sweet tea--perfect sweetness and lots of it flowing.  Your kidneys will be happy.

I'm going to feature my buddy's lunch too.  Here's a picture of the Home Wrecker Dog:

The dawg is 12 inches long.  We aren't sure why it's called a home wrecker:  the gas production, the comparisons, the man food?  We aren't certain, but it's gooood.  And this is a real representative of Hog Heaven at the extreme.

Aegean Restaurant Miramar Beach Florida

Now we are talking.  At the Aegean in Miramar Beach, Florida.   Back to my stomping grounds and a restaurant I haven't visited before.  This place is really good.  We ordered a couple of bottles of inexpensive Greek wine.  There were four on the "by the glass" menu.  The Greek house wine was very nice, very fruity, and very Greek.  It was like a taste of the country.

The food was likewise very good to excellent.  I had the special, Lamb Souvlaki.  It came on rice with spiced yogurt and flat bread.  An Americanized-Greek salad was included in the meal.  The lamb was tender, cooked exactly the way I like it, and especially tasty.  It was the best quality lamb I've had in a long time.  The other parts of the meal were fresh and properly spiced.  I was impressed and highly recommend the Aegean.  For a tourist area, the prices were excellent and the service was good.

Yamoto Fort Walton Beach

I'm going to lose track of all the places I've been eating, but I'll try to keep up and keep you apprised.  I've been going to Yamoto for 15 years or so.  It is a Sushi and Hibachi Japanese style restaurant on the Eglin Parkway in Fort Walton Beach.  The sushi is the best, but you won't go wrong with the Hibachi.  The prices are home town and not vacation subscription.

We ate at the Hibachi and had a great chef.  I had the Hibachi steak and a spicy tuna hand roll.  The Hibachi was less than $20 and the food was overwhelming.  It was good quality.  The spicy tuna hand roll was perfect with firm fresh tuna and a nice spicy sauce.  I want another one right now--that's how good it was.  I think I'll go for the sushi next time and tempura to check that out.

No one had a bad meal and the company was pleasant.  Even better, Yamotos is really trying hard to create some atmosphere, all their waitresses wore Yukatas with sashes--kind of fake Kimonos, but most Americas won't notice the difference.  The effect was nice.  Yamotos is a great restaurant.

Arnold Palmer's in Palm Desert

Still reminiscing about my trip.  We went to Arnold Palmer's for dinner on our last night.  The atmosphere was upscale and pleasant.  The walls are covered with pictures of Arnold Palmer and his greatest moments.  My BiL is a real golfer, so he knows all the stories and was a wealth of information about Arnold.  The bathroom has a score card of Arnold's best game ever.  It's golf stuff. 

Still, if you don't like golf, the food is great.  The wine menu is adequate and the wines are good with a great variety.  I had a Brut split with my appetizer.  The split wasn't that bad, but it wasn't as good as the split I can get back in Wichita at WCC or the Candle Club.

I had a bowl of crab bisque for an appetizer.  The bisque was great, but the crab was sparse.  I can get a great bisque anywhere, but one with sufficient meat is rare.  Enough said.

I had the lamb chops as an entree.  They were excellent, but only two and the plate was bare.  I also shared a plate of mashed potatoes.  They were very good, but mashed potatoes are mashed potatoes.  If you mess them up, you are an idiot.

So, I liked Arnold Palmer's.  I'll go again, but they aren't that special.  The meats are well prepared and properly prepared, but don't expect anything special or unusual.