Japonais

Thank you all for the input on my restaurant week post! Last night’s meal at Japonais was great.

My friend Lauren was my dinner buddy for the evening. After checking out the poll for the appetizers, it looked as though the Crispy Shrimp & Salmon Maki or the Lobster Rolls (I’m looking at you, Erica!) were your top choices. Thanks again for voting.

Lauren decided to go with the former, and since she offered to let me try hers I decided to forgo the sushi (on Megan’s advice) and chose the…crab cakes! I know, not the lobster rolls. They were an extremely close second but I was really in the mood for crab cakes, as evidenced by my goofy grin.

Lauren’s maki roll was very good. I wouldn’t say it was the best sushi I’ve ever had, but you can’t really go wrong with shrimp, salmon and wasabi in my opinion.

My crab cake, on the other hand, was fantastic! It was served with a soy mustard sauce that I gobbled with every bite, and the orange slice garnish was a sweet touch.

When I left for the restaurant, the Salmon Japonais was your favorite entrée choice. That has since been eclipsed by the Chestnut Chicken and Soy Braised Short Rib, but I’m glad I stuck with the fish because it was incredible. I loved the nori skin crust and horseradish flavor. The fingerling potatoes, leek stew and curry oil underneath also provided plenty of intensity with every bite.

Lauren had ordered the short ribs but they accidentally brought out the Japanese Ribs instead. No worries, though – to compensate they brought her another maki roll! Either way, the sweet potato fries these ribs were served with tasted incredible, and she was nice enough to share. They were served with a slightly spicy mayo-mustard that was delicious, too.

Then came dessert! An overwhelming majority of you chose the Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse Cake, and I was really excited to order it. Unfortunately, the menu they had online turned out to be misleading (it has since changed to the correct one). They still had the assorted ice creams, which Lauren chose. Here is the honey vanilla. I didn’t try it, but she said it was excellent.

As for the other option, well…instead of chocolate mousse it was Kabocha Cheesecake!

I have to say, I think the cheesecake was even better than the mousse would have been. It was made with pumpkin (yum) and served with five-spiced pineapple mousse and an almond cookie crust. When I was finished, I was wishing for the whole slice. 🙂

Even with the dessert mix-up, we were very happy with the result of our restaurant week experience. I would recommend Japonais. The prices are a bit on the steep side, but it’s a fun treat meal.

After dinner, Lauren and I went and saw Safe House with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.

Source

It was a great, action-packed movie, though I will emphasize action. There was some sort of fighting or thrilling adventure sequence in every scene. My heart was pounding the whole time!

Today has been a day of catching up around the “house.” This includes stocking up on groceries. We visited Whole Foods and saw plenty of green, fitting because green is today’s #FebPhotoADay.

We bought cucumber, green pepper and spinach in honor of the occasion. 😉

What are you up to this weekend?

Hope you’re having a great one so far!

Abrazos,