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.

Come on Erin and Ryan, be bold...

This is what I said after our dinner we had tonight at Wild Ginger.  This is our second time at Wild Ginger, a great Vietnamese bistro in Hyde Park in Cincinnati.  I have been really craving Asian food lately, I think I've had it 3 times this week so when Ryan asked where I wanted to go for dinner, I decided on Wild Ginger.  The place is always busy and the decor is very modern and "green." For example, our chairs are woven with recycled seat belts and bamboo.  

Ok, back to our dining experience.... The menu at Wild Ginger is really large so it took us forever to decide what to eat.   My method for deciding what to eat is to pick my top 2 or 3 favorites and then close the menu until the server comes back. When they ask me I want I just decide spontaneously between my choices, that way I feel like I get what I really wanted all along.  I had my choices narrowed down to vegetable stir-fry with shrimp, Pho or the fisherman's hot pot.  Pho  (pronounced F-uh) is a Vietnamese dish with white rice noodles in a light beef broth with thinly cut steak garnished with onions and bean sprouts and other seasonings.  I've not had it, nor am I very knowledgeable about Vietnamese dishes, but I read a post on Amateur Gourmet  about his experience with Pho and I was very intrigued.  I was very close to ordering this, but I chickened out and ordered the vegetable stir fry with shrimp.  And don't get me wrong it was good, but pretty standard.  The same with Ryan's dish, he ordered the spicy shrimp stir fry (with a 10 spice level) and it was good, but pretty standard.  And, according to Ryan, not spicy at all (the plight of the white man continues).   So when we got home I kept thinking, "I should have gotten the Pho or sushi, or something new!"  I was getting angry at myself for not being more adventurous.  Especially in light of the fact that we do blog about food and it would have been a much more interesting post if I talked about a new dish or a new sushi roll I tried.  blah.  Next time I vow to be more bold!!  What have I got to lose!?