Good-Bye Ichiban, Restaurant Review

Style: Asian
My Rating: 4.5/5

Website: http://www.ichibannewtown.com/

Likes: Different Asian Varieties, Best Sushi in Williamsburg, Gorgeous Asian Themed Décor, the best All-You-Can-Eat Maki Lunch

Dislikes: Can be a little pricey, Service is sometimes slow

Brad and I have been going to Ichiban since it has opened up in New Town a few years ago. When you first walk in to this restaurant, the décor strikes you as elegant and calming. It has an Asian feel with pagoda door frames underneath a rose glass ceiling. It is simply stunning.

Once we are seated and have overcome the stunning décor, we sit down to order. There are so many different choices. They have a small amount of Thai dishes, some Chinese, and others Japanese. In my opinion, their most impressive menu section is their sushi. They have cooked, uncooked, sashimi, nigri, seaweed wrappers, soy bean wrappers, and so much more! Even better, they have a maki lunch during the weekdays, and you can get all you can eat sushi from a pretty decent variety. See the menu below.

When we walked into the restaurant this evening, we had a bittersweet notion that this was to be our last time before we moved. Since it was the last time, we ordered our favorites and had some large portions. I ended up taking home half of a meal.

We started out getting one roll of sushi each. Brad ordered the Godzilla roll, which is a deep fried roll with salmon and tuna inside. It is cut to six pieces and topped with fish roe, spicy creamy sauce and scallions with special tammy sauce on the side.

I ordered a Phoenix roll, which has shredded crabmeat with Japanese mayonnaise, avocado, and rice then deep fried.

As a main course, Brad ordered the House Special Duck. We have found that this entrée is tastier than the Kow Loon Duck, and it is also less expensive. We like this dish because the duck is quite savory, and the sauce is spooned over the textured and deep fried crust. The vegetables that are served with it compliment the taste of the duck and are always crisp without being overly crunchy.

I ordered the Mu Shu Beef. I always thought it was odd that they offer this in beef or chicken, but not pork. Anyhow, I love this dish. The texture of the vegetables provide a slight crisp to the beef and the plum sauce to spoon over it gives it a sweet, tangy taste that tickles the tongue when the pancake wrap has been bitten into.

We did not order the Firecracker Beef at Ichiban tonight, but this also one of our favorites.

Although I praise this restaurant, the customer needs to be patient. The service is often slow, especially when sushi is ordered. It is fine when there is time to kill, but this is definitely not a restaurant to go to if you are trying to grab a bite quickly before a movie, the theater being next door. 

Bombolini Pasta

I was so excited to try Bombolini Pasta that I placed on my Bucket List for this summer. In order to prepare for my excursion, I checked out their website (http://www.bombolinipasta.com/) and read the biographies of the couple who founded it. I looked at the products and created some ideas of what to purchase. Then, I called my grandma and asked her if she wanted to have an Italian fest the next day. It was pizza and Bombolini Day!

When we drove up, I cheered because they had a mini parking lot. YAY! Next, walking in, I saw that two people who were working behind the counter were the owners. Immediately as we walked in, they greeted us with a large welcome and began telling us about the shop after asking if we had been there before. John Kreckman, one of the owners, even offered us a sample of a red wine he was selling.

Bombolini Pasta has fresh pasta that comes with different flavors and cuts. You can purchase the long cuts in the store by choice, and they will cut it there for you! The smaller cuts, such as the ravioli and penne, come prepackaged. I ended up purchasing Sausage Ravioli and Black Pepper Fettuccine.

Since we are preparing to move, we used these purchases to help clean out our fridge. We made our Sausage Ravioli just from things we had in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. The Black Pepper Mushroom Fettuccine was more of a masterpiece that was created from many thoughts and careful planning. The recipes are below.

Black Pepper Mushroom Fettuccine Recipe

Ingredients

4 Tbsp olive oil

4 large Portobello Mushroom Caps, thickly sliced

½ yellow onion, diced

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

¼ cup butter

3 Tbsp cooking sherry

Juice from ½ lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 lb Black Pepper Fettuccine, cooked (or any cooked pasta)

Method

1. Heat olive oil and garlic in a large frying pan

2. When oil is hot, add the mushrooms and onion and cook on medium low heat until the mushrooms reduce in size and become soft

3. Add the sherry and lemon. Continue cooking until flavors have combined, about an additional three minutes

4. Serve mushroom mixture and sauce over cooked pasta

Clean out the Pantry Sausage Ravioli Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb Italian Sausage

1 lb Diced Canned Tomatoes (Redpack Preferred)

1 jar Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce (I used Classico)

1 lb cooked sausage ravioli

Method

1. In a large frying pan, cook the sausage, then drain the fat.

2. Add the sausage back to the pan. Add the tomatoes and sauce. Heat the mixture until desired warmth.

3. Spoon sausage and sauce mixture over ravioli. 

Proper Pie

Style: Pie!

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Website: https://www.facebook.com/ProperPieCo

Likes: Wide versatility of pie flavors, both savory and sweet; Awesome taste; Friendly workers who give compliments

Dislikes: Needs more seating inside

My colleague, Jill, had mentioned a place where you could purchase hand pies in Richmond and that they were absolutely “yummy.” As a vegetarian, she spoke about one vegetable pie and it sounded fantastic. I was determined to go so I added it to my summer’s bucket list. When Jill and I spoke about what to do on our outing this afternoon, the first thought that came to my mind was Proper Pie.

Proper Pie is a super cool “hipster” type of venue. They had the menu written on a chalk board above the registers, with many pies on display. It all looked so good. It was a feat to walk in and just order one pie. There were a lot people packed into a tiny space, which of course is a sign of good business. I wish there were more tables and seating in addition to the counters and few tables they had, but will make do because my pie was awesome.

Jill ordered the Vegan Mincemeat Pie (the one with the poppy seeds in the picture below) and I ordered the Pork Verde Pie (the one without poppy seeds). Their savory pies seemed to be all the same shape and size, which made for a very hearty lunch. I would also be satisfied with one for dinner, but people with larger appetites (ahem, husband) might want two. I also saw some pies in a half moon shape, which might be sweet ones. There were also delectable treats in cake domes. I really could not inspect further because I was tempted to purchase the entire menu.

While taking a bite of the pie that I ordered, the Pork Verde, it seemed that my palette had been infused with flavor. The juices from the verde sauce and the pork soaked into the buttery crust. The crust, even when not absorbing the filling’s flavors, had a fantastic homemade flavor and texture; crispy and soft in places where it needed to be. It was fun to eat it with my hands and bite into it! They also had forks available for more delicate people. I tried the fork, but lost some pork. That’s a no go.

The next chance I have to return to Proper Pie, I am going to do it properly and order a few to take home with me. They are just too tasty to pass up!

Sticks Kebob Shop

Style: Middle Eastern

My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Website: http://www.stickskebobshop.com/

Likes: Sauces were full of flavor, interesting taste pairings, décor was inviting and peppy, hummus was not overly seasoned and was creamy

Dislikes: Portion size was small for dinner, there were no vegetables on kebab, sirloin and pork tasted quite similar (tasty, but somewhat sketchy…)

This restaurant is in the same strip mall as the Fresh Market in Williamsburg, We buy our coffee at that grocery store, so every time we drove by the shop to get some coffee, my husband, Brad, would be delighted to torture me by exclaiming, “Let’s get some rat on a stick!” Well, today we did just that.

As I walked in to the restaurant, I was brightened by the deep hued multicolored walls and paintings for decoration. There was jazz music playing in the background, which immediately made me think of Panera Bread. In fact, Sticks had a very similar set up to Panera Bread.

There is a process when ordering most of the dishes. First, the type of meal must be chosen from a sandwich, salad, or platter. Then the type of meat that is skewered is chosen from chicken, sirloin, pork, lamb, shrimp, vegetables, or falafel. The next step is choosing the sauce to be accompanied with the meal, and last step is choosing a side. It seemed a little overwhelming at first, but the girl at the register was very happy to assist us.

When Brad first brought our orders to the table, I was surprised at how unappetizing they looked. The kebabs did not have vegetables on them, and the meat was in very dry, small pieces. My first thought was that as a dinner, I was going to need more food. I found out later that you could order an extra side or kebab skewer, but the prices seemed rather steep.

 Brad ordered the Sirloin kebab platter with cilantro lime sauce and sesame green beans. The sauce was very tangy and full of flavor. I think that it paired well with the sirloin. His green beans were also different and not what I imagined they would be. They were cold, intentionally cold. They were good though, I’m not complaining.

I ordered the pork loin kebab platter with lemon sesame sauce and a hummus side. The pork was dry, but when I mixed the sauce with it over the rice, I did not seem to notice much. The sauce was outstanding. I had never thought to pair lemon and sesame together. The two tastes brought a sense of Asian summer to my tongue, both sweet and savory. I highly recommend it as a choice. There was an exceptionally large scoop of hummus on my plate, which I used to wipe my flatbread in. There was so much hummus that Brad also swiped his flatbread in it. Then, there was still more left over. The hummus had a cumin taste, not spicy, and was very smooth.

I would recommend this restaurant for lunch. It is something different for the Williamsburg, VA area and I applaud its diversity. It is nice to have Middle Eastern food available. However, I think that a few minor improvements, such as adding vegetables to the kebabs, would further my liking. 

Anokha

Style: Indian

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Website: http://www.anokha.us/index.html

Likes: Every dish I have tried from here is excellent; the service is patient, helpful, and friendly; they bring more rice to accompany the dish without a fight or having to ask, tranquil setting

Dislikes: The amount of dishes severely cluttered the table, but then again we ordered a lot of food.

Brad and I were late meeting our friends Brent and Whitney for dinner. It was about ready to downpour, the clouds heavy with charcoal gray lining. Pulling into the parking lot to Anokha, we jumped out of the car and I opened my trunk. Brad put his work computer in the trunk and tried to close it. I heard the latch click, but it released again and flew up. As we were rushing because we were late and trying to get indoors. Slam after slam, my trunk just did not want to cooperate. After five minutes of stress, different tries, and profanities, my trunk finally closed. We walked into Anokha stressed, but thankfully dry.

Luckily for us, the stress dissipated once we were inside for a minute. The tranquility of the dark room, candles, and soft music was enough to quell any jitters. We walked to the table where a server was helping Whitney find something that she could eat. She was recently diagnosed with a slew of food allergies, and it was nice to see that the server was assisting her and cordially answering questions.

We ordered drinks. Some glasses of red wine were ordered and I had a King Fisher beer, which was surprisingly better than I thought it was going to be. It was a little grassy, but it went well with what I ordered. It was brought to me in a cold glass, already iced which kept the beverage cold throughout the meal.

The picture of the drinks is below. You will note how dark it is. This restaurant was a fabulous push for me to work on examining the features of my camera phone. After toying around with special programs and the ISO, I finally started to get it right. You’ll note that this picture is horrible because I used it as motivation to try and figure it out!

After drinks, it was bread time. The bread on the table upon arrival was a plain naan that was served with three types of chutney and sauces to place on top. There was a bright green cilantro chutney, raita (an Indian yogurt sauce), and an ginger-garlic sauce. Each choice was tasty, but my personal favorite was the ginger-garlic sauce. Another table favorite was the cilantro chutney.

To go with dinner, Whitney and Brent ordered papadums, or a thin crisp made of lentil and chickpea flour. They had some mango chutney to put on the side. Brad ordered Peshwari Naan, or a type of bread that has coconut and cherries baked into the middle. He likes to order this when going to Indian restaurants because the sweet pairs nicely with the spicy. Once, a waiter at this restaurant even complimented him on the taste pairing. I ordered Garlic Naan, because I was going for savory. What can be more savory than garlic?

Each of us ordered something different as a main course. Brent was brave and tried the Goat Curry. Yes, GOAT. He said it tasted like a beef and lamb mixture, but that it was also difficult to put into words. That is fine with me; I’ll take his word for it.

Whitney had a shrimp basmati rice stir fry in coconut milk. It looked super tasty.

Brad ordered his favorite, chicken chettinadu. It is a spicy chicken dish that comes in a red sauce. It does become difficult because many of the dishes look similar, but the taste is always different. Usually when Brad orders, he specifies that he wants it Indian Hot, meaning they should make it spicy concerning the Indian palette, as opposed to just hot in the American vocabulary. This time, he just said to make it hot. When we tasted the dish, there was a notable different. It was not nearly as spicy as in visits past.

Then it was my turn to ask questions. I had ask the server how to pronounce something new. I have ordered Paneer Korma, Chicken Tikka Masala, and Chicken Patia from here before, but I wanted something less creamy and more aromatic. I ordered the Chicken Kadhaiwala, which is pronounced Kahd-hi-wall-ah, which was was pretty straight forward actually. Then I was embarrassed because I could have figured that out for myself. The dish was well prepared, with large pieces of bell pepper mixed with the chicken. The sauce was deep, with hints of coriander, lentils, and cumin. It epitomized the different tastes of Indian food, which I enjoyed, because no other ethnic food grouping will taste this unique.

I know that most people who have not tried Indian food are hesitant because of the spices or the curry. What I want to impress upon them is that not everything is spicy in this cuisine. I suggest trying something like a buttery korma sauce or a mahkni tomato cream sauce. Anokha is a wonderful place to experiment and I look forward to returning faithfully.