Best Asian Cuisine on the East Side of Cincinnati

I started this post months ago and totally forgot about it. But I found it and decided to finish it today.

Once again, "Best" really means "our favorite". Another quick disclaimer, Asian is a really broad category. For purposes of this post, "Asian" means Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc. It does NOT mean South Asian (e.g., Indian- that gets its own post.) For better or worse, "Asian" gets thrown into one category for the purposes on this post and in American cuisine generally. At every Thai place, they have curry on the menu, at every Chinese place, there is sushi. It makes me wonder, in Tokyo is there a Italian restaurant that also has Greek Gyros and German sausages on the menu? I hope not.

BANGKOK BISTRO, Hyde Park: Probably our personal favorite, and likely the single restaurant we miss the most from Cincinnati. The biggest reason is that we simply don't have much Asain variety up here in Northern Ohio, especially in our small town of Sandusky. Bangkok features Thai food. Some great Pad Thai and varities of spicy Thai flavored noodle dishes. If you ask for 10 of 10 on their spiciness scale- you'll get it. Hit my threshold pretty spot on, in a good way. Erin enjoys a seafood noodle soup with a wide assortment of whole seafood in a perfectly seasoned broth.

DOODLES, Hyde Park: A chinese place that specializes in noodles. I enjoyed the Fiery Flat Rice Noodles and Cantonese pan fried noodles. Not nearly as spicy. Unlike generic chinese Restaurants, everything tastes so fresh and seasoned to order.

DANCING WASABI, Mt. Lookout: Little sushi place within walking distance from our old apartment. I enjoy sushi, but more as an appetizer than a meal. Although I never did it, I liked the idea that I could walk to a Sushi place from my apartment and order a spicy tuna roll at 3 AM. Just made me feel like I lived in a vibrant area; which Mt. Lookout was.

TEAK, Mt. Adams: Another Thai place. It is a little more pricy and elaborate than Bangkok Bistro. And their menu is even more vast and "pan-Asain" than the others.

Wild Ginger, Hyde Park: I think it started as Vietnamese, but has added dishes from all over Asia, especially Japan. They have also expanded since we left Cincinnati, I believe they now have Japanese steak house style seating along with a bigger sushi bar in addition to their normal seating.

Code Cracked: Bangkok Bistro

Tonight Ryan and I had a nice evening, we were productive before dinner and got the tuxes ordered for the wedding (check that off the list) and then we headed to dinner.  We were in Kenwood/Montgomery area, and folks if there is a great, local restaurant in this area of Cincinnati, please tell me, because all we ever seem to see is chain restaurants and the mall food court.  I'm sure there have got to be a few, but Ryan and I have even tried asking someone last time we were at the mall, and they had no idea where to send us, besides Max and Erma's or Macaroni's across the street.  Don't get me wrong, those restaurants are just fine and dandy, but I can eat there any time in any city in America.  We wanted something local and non-chainy.

So we headed back to the Hyde Park area. Of course I was wanting Thai food so we decided to go to Bangkok Bistro.  This is not our first time eating at Bangkok Bistro and I have always had a great meal here.   They have really good Paad Thai and pretty decent sushi.  Our dinner tonight was really good, we had a fun waiter, which is always nice and a few great things happened...1.) i had an awesome duck noodle soup that made me realize that Thai and Asian soups are my new best friend and 2.) I have cracked the code when it comes to ordering spicy food on the spice scale.  ha!

I'll start with my soup, I had the duck noodle soup which is new on the menu at Bangkok Bistro, and in this wonderful soup contained noodles, duck (duh, and duh) cooked lettuce, onions, tons of fresh parsley, and bean sprouts in a tasty beef broth.  The aroma of the soup when it was set before me was amazing, the fresh parsley brightened every bight and the duck (although a little fatty) was really tender and delicious.  I only wish I could have gotten a photo of it...but I forgot my camera. I've been very good about eating healthy and not going overboard because I'm trying to watch what I eat.  I've come to the conclusion that Asian soups are a really great option if you are a watching your diet.. I know the broth was probably super super high in sodium, but I ate my soup with chopsticks so by the time I was done (and stuffed) I still had 3/4 of the broth left in the bowl.  So, the other ingredients are not that bad for you and very filling! 

OK- so here is the big news...Many blogs posts ago, Ryan blogged about the plight of the white man and spicy food.  He wasn't sure how he was supposed to go about getting the really spicy food that he so loves...Well, I told you about our fun waiter, Ryan asked him what he recommended and our waiter told him he really likes spicy food.  So he recommended the Drunken Noodles and Ryan challenged him by saying "10" spice level.  The waiter was like, "are you sure" and Ryan said yes and I  added my two cents by saying "give it to him good!" The gauntlet was laid..  When Ryan got his dish he was pretty impressed, it wasn't so spicy that it wasn't enjoyable for him, but it had enough heat to satisfy his taste buds.  so yay!  

But here is where the code was cracked, I heard the waiter talking to another table about spice levels and he said that if you want it really spicy and the spice level is 1-10, say you want a 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15, therefore challenging the cooks and letting the waiter know you mean business.  If you say 9 or 10, they might take it easy on your thinking you can't handle it...Another suggestion the waiter made is ordering a 1o spice level and then asking for more sauce on the side, so if it's not spicy enough, you can always add more.  

Quite a productive evening I must say!!  So next time we are at an Asian or Indian restaurant that has spice levels, I want Ryan to test this code... I'll let you know what happens. 

Struggles of a White Man

Last night Erin and I had dinner at Bangkok Bistro in Hyde Park. It is a very good and always busy Thai restaurant that isn't too expensive. I am actually impressed at Cincinnati's offerings for Asian food. There are a bunch of Indian options across the city, my favorite is Ambar India in Clifton, but Erin isn't big into curry. We also have our local Chinese places: Doodles and China Gourmet. Both are a step up from a fast food place you get your Moo Goo Gai Pan that sits in a shopping center or in the food court at the mall. But those places all deserve their own posts.

My complaint is the spiciness scale. After you order your Pad Thai, Chicken Jalfrezi or General Tso's chicken, the Asian person taking your order will ask "How spicy?" They will give you a scale: 1-5, 1-10, or like the shady, yet delicious Krishna Indian restaurant across from my school, maybe the scale is 1-6. Now, I'll eat the spiciest thing you can find, and I'll love it. but, for a whole meal there is a line, I want it to be outrageously spicy, but not so much that I can't enjoy the flavors. So, my initial response is usually to go one step below the highest: 9 of 10, or 4 of 5.

Now, I'm going for that comfortable eating sweat that should accompany eating hot wings or Asian food. Yet, I'm often disappointed at the mildness of my meals from these places. So, I've been erring on the side of my tongue bursting into flames recently. Last night I ordered a 10 on a scale of one to 10 (Erin ordered a 1 for her seafood stirfry). Once again, I was disappointed. Yet, I know that these Asian cooks have the ability to bring me the spiciness I crave, so what's the deal?

My only rational conclusion: I'm being discriminated against because of my race. My friend Craig, a lover of all things spicy and Indian food particularly, is a firm believer in this theory. And I now join him. I think the people taking my order see me and think "sure, this white guy thinks he wants a 10, but he can't really handle it, we'll go easy on him." It might be even more explicit, when they go to the kitchen, it wouldn't surprise me if they say, "one chicken Pad Thai, spiciness 10, its for a white guy though."

The solution? I'm not sure. I think I'm going to stop recognizing the number system. Instead, when they ask how spicy, I'll answer "as spicy as you can make it". Or, I'll just say, "pretend you are cooking it for your father, make it that spicy". Or, I just need to make some Asian friends that I can take to dinner so I can gain legitimacy at my favorite Indian, Chinese and Thai restaurants.