Wasabi Was Worth It!

There are certain restaurants I have on my list I know I want to try and review. Mostly, they are places everyone has heard of which is how I know about them. So, I love when people give me suggestions of new restaurants to try. Ali from work knows I love sushi. Every time our office orders they know to put me down for my fav, a spicy tuna roll. So she suggested I try Wasabi. A Chinese & Japanese restaurant in West Chester; a little off the beaten path. It is a two minute drive off of Gay street in a shopping center on Rt 322. Ali highly recommends the sushi and emphasizes her love of their BYOB policy. So I decided to give it a go. I have very little money as you probably know, so I was worried when I perused their prices on their on-line menu. But just my luck, they have a lunch menu with some great deals! My husband Shawn and I decide to go on a Saturday afternoon for lunch.

The place was empty, a ghost town. It was Me, Shawn and about 8 waiters in a moderately sized restaurant. It was pretty swanky and I felt a little under dressed in my trusty Angry Birds tee and jeans. It was cool, dark, and did I say empty? It was noon on a Saturday so maybe people were still waking up from the festivities that ended their miserable mundane work week. And since it is a BYOB, they probably get a lot of business at night. This would explain the three workers wrapping fortune cookies like crazy at a table toward the back.

Service
Obviously, we had phenomenal service since we're the only customers there. But judging by the troops dressed in black with aprons, I am guessing they could handle a busy Saturday night crowd just as easy. 

Menu & Food
We knew we had to try the sushi with their 2 for $7.50 lunch special. Who could pass it up? I ordered of course, the Spicy Tuna Roll so I could compare to the thousands I've consumed before. 

And feeling a little adventurous, we got the Negihamachi Roll which was yellow tail and scallions which we never had. After that it wasn't easy to order. The menu is so large it made actually deciding on something to eat difficult. Don't get me wrong, I love a menu with an extensive selection but this was almost ridiculous.  We spent 1/3 of our time reading their menu. Finally we chose the Pad Thai and the Four Season. We went with an entree which was a little more expensive, but they do have a great lunch specials available. For example they have a Japanese Lunch Box which contains either Chicken or Shrimp Teriyaki, Jasmine Rice, Chicken Satay, Salad in ginger dressing and Miso soup for only $8.95. Or everyone's favorite, General Tso's Chicken with your choice of Miso or Hot & Sour Soup and served with White or Brown Rice for only $6.95. The food we ordered was good, nothing that knocked my socks off. But we enjoyed it. Their portions were normal sized which I liked. Usually I end up with the "never ending noodles";  the meal you can eat for hours and it looks like you didn't even make a dent. It was nice not gorging myself to blotation and repeating my usual prayer of never having to smell Chinese food again.

Sum It Up

Service: Great service, lots of hands on deck helping out with clearing plates and bringing food.
Atmosphere: It had a really cool vibe. It looks like the inside of a hip Sushi restaurant you would see in Manhattan but without the price!
Food: Sushi = Awesome. Huge selection in both Chinese and Japanese Cuisine.
Extras: BYOB, need I say more. It's also not in the heart of town so you get a little extra privacy while eating some great food with a reasonable price. 

I'm glad Ali told me about this place. I hate noisy crowds, expensive prices and crappy food. Luckily Wasabi had none of the above. Also, it's always a different experience when you eat somewhere for lunch and then for dinner. So I plan on going back! But this time with a bottle of wine, maybe two, sit my ass at the sushi bar and go to town. 
 
Rating: 7 out of 10

 

Your cooking can taste good!

My cooking usually consisted of heating up an Ellios pizza and pouring a side of ranch to dip. The pizza's would never fill me up which means there is usually a half a sandwich or bowl of cereal added to the meal. I would just keep going to the fridge and grabbing whatever I could pop in my mouth just to feel full. I calculated the weight watchers points used for those dinners and its embarrassing how much I would use. The things I grabbed were for bad for me, and used up some serious points. If your not familiar with the system, weight watchers gives you a certain amount of points a day you can use and everything you eat has points. It's serious amounts of fun believe me.

I needed a solution to my problem.  What I came up with was that I needed to learn to cook. But for me, it's not worth spending the time and money on something unless its mouth wateringly delicious. So I  needed to learn how to cook good food and cook it well. Cook books help and so does lots of practice and knowing what you like to eat.

You can find these in any grocery store

Since learning to cook, or should I say prepare food, I've discovered a few staples I love and that are easy to make.
Mrs. T's Pierogies are amazing and so easy to make! This is how I make them:
1. Heat up some Olive oil in a pan on the oven.
2. Slice up some mushrooms and onions and saute in the pan for a few minutes until they start to brown.
3. Add the pierogies and cover.
4. Flip and stir the pierogies every few minutes until all the way heated through.

Depending on what flavor pierogie you buy, it is also delicious when you add some garlic to the mix. It so easy and looks and tastes like something you could get at a restaurant. 

These go great with everything; chicken, steak, fish you name it! I cooked these babies up with some flank steak and steamed broccoli. Soooooo good!

The sauce on the steak was real simple too. All I did was chop up some olives and sun dried tomatoes and heat in some beef broth until the tomatoes become soft and your done!

I am so proud of myself for being able to prepare such a delicious meal. The best part is this dinner was about 12 weight watchers points and it fills you up good!

I am seriously one of the laziest people you will ever meet. That is why I hate to cook, mainly because I just don't feel like it. But believe me this meal was super easy and worth it because of how good it tasted!

I have a list of the ingredients below, just pick these items up and get to work!

Flank Steak
Broccoli
Pierogies
Onion
Mushrooms
Oil
Garlic if you want
Olives
Beef Broth
Sun Dried Tomatoes

Below are pictures of some ingredients so you know what to look for.

           

The Drafting Room Review

My 1st review at The Drafting Room

I decided to go to the drafting room for my first restaurant review. The main reason was because I pass it every day to work and I also had a $10 off coupon, which I ended up forgetting to bring. I brought Shawn along because he would have ended up eating an Ellios if I left him alone for dinner, but he ended up being a good source for a second opinion. We decided to sit at the bar so we could have a knowledgeable bar tender help suggest good beers to try since we are amateurs in that field. We told her we like IPA's, the hoppier the better, and she hooked us up!

Highly recommended, Hop Stoopid, 102 IBU

Beer 

We had 2 large bottles to share and 2 drafts. The large bottles were pretty expensive but they had a deal on drafts. Something like $3 a pop, and its not your typical Miller Lite and junk, its the good stuff! I had a Sly Fox Route 1113 IPA that will definitely keep me coming back, at least for a while. Drafting Room rotates their kegs regularly; they have a "one and

done" policy. When the keg is kicked, they'll bring in a different brew. They will rotate some popular choices back in on tap once in a while; they are called the Usual Suspects. This was all very tasty and affordable! Now we had a buzz going. We decided to get a little crazy and order another big boy! Unfortunately this beer ended up being $16 and it also said it

 10 days expired

was expired! I'm new in the restaurant review business so I don't have the balls yet to say anything to the bartender. I also don't know if it's even that big of a deal. I know some beers don't even have expiration dates because they can age. But this one did, and I couldn't say anything. So we sipped quietly and ended up not liking it anyways. When you are on a budget, its not the best idea to get drunk because you are not thinking about how much money you have to spend. All you can think about is the next GOOD beer to order. This beer kind of had a sobering affect on us. It's time to order some food. 

Food

Before 6:30pm, they offered a great deal on certain items costing only $5. We ordered the  Chicken Quesodillas, and Mussels at $5 a piece and splurged on some Fried Calamari.  The dillas were delicious; filled with pepper jack cheese and apple wood smoked chicken. They had a fresh house-made tomato salsa and sour cream covering the top. They were the first to go. The mussels were mussels, but the broth they were served in made all the difference. You have a few options to choose from, we chose the Belgian White Ale, Tomatoes, Garlic and Basil sauce. It was just our luck too that with the food you were also given a nice basket of bread that served as the lead dipper into our bowl of mussel residue deliciousness. As we slopped up what was left in front of us, and held our glasses to the light to see there was no more, we decided it was time to go. We would most definitely be back!

Sum It Up

Shawn sponging up the remaining mussel juice

Service: Great service, knowledgeable staff and very friendly. 

Atmosphere: Dinner time on a Thursday the scene was mellow at the bar. Soft jams in the background and sports shows on the flat screens. We were able to enjoy ourselves with no distractions. The dining room was divided into two sections, candles on tables and quiet. 

Food: Reasonably priced with lots to choose from. You can visit their website to view the menus.

Beer: Outstanding selection! So much to choose from and always changing. The reason for us to keep coming back.

Extras: You can sign up to receive special announcements and coupons by going to their website. Or you can text draft to 68856 and receive alerts through your phone. I got a free app with any entree sent to my phone! All you need to do is show the text and you are good to go. 
Rating: 8 out of 10

I know what your thinking, this didn't seem to healthy. True, if you over due it. I admit, I shouldn't have had that much to drink, but I couldn't help it. I was at The Drafting Room for Sasquatch Sake! You just need to learn self control and eat reasonable portions. It helped that we ordered a couple of appetizers instead of big entrees. We also got to try more this way, and spent less!

For more info on The Drafting Room visit their website: http://www.draftingroom.com
The Drafting Room is located in Exton, PA on Route 100.

 

Getting Started

What makes a good meal? Does it need to consist of the same qualities that define a great work of art: color, composition, creativity? Or does it just need to taste good?

I am a huge fan of food but it’s always been a habit of mine to just cram anything that looks or smells good into my mouth. But now that I’m over weight and poor I need to be more responsible with what I choose to eat, without compromising too much on taste and quality. It is my intention to find some great places to eat with reasonable costs and also learn to cook meals at a restaurant standard. Hopefully this will help others on a budget still be able to enjoy good food and good times! Anthony Bourdain wrote "That without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, moribund." Its time to make a move.