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I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
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| This
Ethiopian cafe is a very good restaurant to try Ethiopian food. I
especially recommend the combination plates which provide an excellent
introduction to the variety of contrasting styles and spices used in
Ethiopian restaurants. Although some fine Italian restaurants
have existed in Ethiopia from the days of colonization, this restaurant
specializes in traditional Ethiopian dishes with only one Italian pasta
on the menu. I started with a soup, which I very much
liked. Unfortunately when I was there, the restaurant was out of
its veggie sambusa appetizer, which I had wanted to try. The full bar offers some surprises. If you have never had Ethiopian beer or wine, I recommend that you try it. Among the beers and ales, the Harar light and the Hakim stout are outstanding. The Gouder red wine is unusual and interesting, but at the price you could do better with a California cabernet. The house wine, Copperidge (Gallo), is usually one that I avoid. But it is priced right (very low) here. The service is efficient but far from dignified. If you are planning to entertain guests whom you would like to impress or wish to have a relaxed evening in a formal atmosphere, this is the wrong place for dinner. |
|
Aladdin Cafe 1821 Massachusetts St. 785-832-1100 |
This restaurant has the best Middle Eastern food in Lawrence. They have a buffet at lunchtime along with table service from their menu at lunch and dinner. But if you would like wine or beer with your Middle Eastern dinner, you either will have to bring your own, or walk up the street to the Mad Greek. |
| This
restaurant fills a huge hole in Lawrence's restaurant scene. It
is the first serious seafood restaurant in the city. Strangely,
there isn't even a Red Lobster restaurant here, with the nearest one
being in Topeka. At the Lawrence restaurants that do not
specialize in seafood, the quality of the nonfrozen seafood, when
available, usually is lower than
at comparable restaurants in Kansas City. The reason seems to be
the delivery time delay produced by the"middle men," who transport
seafood from the Kansas City Airport to Lawrence restaurants. Angler's is an exception to the rule. While fresh seafood is received at Angler's only three times a week, unlike some restaurants in Kansas City that receive fresh seafood daily, the quality of the fresh seafood received at Angler's is astonishing. On the days when the fish arrives at this restaurant, the quality of the seafood is comparable to the best in the Midwest. I don't know how this restaurant has arranged those deliveries, but ff you order just-delivered fish at this restaurant on one of those days, you'll think you are at a restaurant in Seattle, not Lawrence or Kansas City. I've been told that the three days of delivery depend upon availability, so are not entirely predictable. But Wednesdays and Fridays seem to be good bets here, with Mondays probably also being good. While the seafood usually comes in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I've nevertheless been very happy with the fish here on Sundays. I guess that says something about how long the fish is with the middlemen who deliver to some of the other restaurants in KC. Regarding quantities, the restaurant sometimes provides small portions of fish (and especially scallops), but the large portions of vegetables make up for it. The dining room is very pleasant with comfortable booths in the room facing the street. This is a very admirable restaurant in many ways: their sources of fish and vegetables are environmentally friendly, they have whole grain bread (if you ask), good quality olive oil, some organic wines, a pepper mill, very fresh ingredients, etc. To meet the standards of a really upscale restaurant, about all that is missing is espresso. Regarding their salad dressings, they make them themselves, but they do not include my preferences in salad dressing styles. However, that is not a problem for me, since I can use olive oil and vinegar, which is hard to beat with the good quality olive oil that they have available, along with the pepper from their pepper mill. The often serve seaweed salad with entrees. It is fine, but you might want to see if you can substitute the side house salad, which is larger and better. Their green beans, when available, also are outstanding. I am a big fan of this restaurant in all ways but one: I think the oysters on the half shell in some Kansas City restaurants are better than at Angler's. But oysters are a specialty with many choices at some of those restaurants, such as Bristol's, and are not at Angler's. They have chiopino on the menu, and their version is excellent. But it all is shell fish, including a large crab leg, and is better as an appetizer than an entree. I am less enthused by the California sea bass that they sometimes have. If you are expecting a large, thick filet, as you would get from Chilean sea bass, you will be disappointed. Evidently California bass must be a much smaller fish, since it often is served with skin on the side. The crab stuffed trout is one of the most popular dishes on their regular menu. But I usually prefer their daily special fish. They currently have a guitarist performing in the dining room on Friday and Saturday evenings, starting at 6:30 pm. |
|
[format (private room)] Cafe Beautiful 728 1/2 Massachusetts St. Second floor Lawrence.com web site 785-843-7423 |
This
new restaurant is a stunner. Although it characterizes itself as
being Asian Fusian, this restaurant is very much a Japanese sushi
restaurant. But the sushi here and the decor of the small dining
room are simply wonderful. Lawrence has no shortage of sushi
restaurants, but this one raises the bar --- way up. To find
better sushi, you would have to travel far west to Tokyo or far east to
Nobu in the Tribeca area of New York City. The restaurant has
only four tables, so it is best to arrive at an off hour or to acquire
reservations. Unfortunately Chef Suken does not have a liquor license. There is a corkage charge, if you bring your own. The lowest corkage is for sake, then red wine, and then white wine. But they have excellent teas. They plan to have live jazz entertainment on Thursday evenings, and possibly on Sunday evenings. If you are just walking along Massachusetts Street looking for restaurants, you most likely will miss this one. It is upstars on the second floor of a building that once contained apartments and most recently was being used for storage. What Chef Suken has done to the second floor storage area is something you must see. The building's most famous brief resident was arguably the greatest basketball player of all times: Wilt Chamberlain, when he was a student at the University of Kansas. But most of the time that he was in Lawrence, he resided in the former Carruth O'Leary dormitory, which now houses university offices. You may find the following terms to be helpful. Sashimi is raw fish without any rice. Nigiri is seafood or vegetables on top of a piece of balled rice. Temaki is a hand-rolled cone, most easily picked up and eaten in your hand. Makimono is a sushi roll sliced into pieces. The spicy scallops with crab makimono are as good as I have ever had anywhere, and in fact I have been very pleased by everything else I have had here as well. When the first opened, there was a menu as well as the "chef's choice" multicourse meal. But the menu is no longer offered, and the usual chef's course dinner is 7 courses. The chef's course lunch and dinner change regularly. If you have dietary restrictions, it is best to inform the chef in advance. Although not inexpensive, the food is terrific. As you enter the restaurant, you will see a note saying "chef in residence." The reason is the following. Chef Suken also started both the Japanese restaurant, Wa, a few doors down on the same street and Sushi Station on Clinton Parkway. But only at Cafe Beautiful do you get Chef Suken himself in the kitchen. This restaurant is a jewel. |
| EightOneFive (Formerly the Velvet Room) 815 |
Now closed. |
[format (24bar)] Eldridge Hotel Dining Room (Ten) 701 www.eldridgehotel.com info@eldridge.hotel.com |
This
restaurant in the historic Eldridge Hotel has had its ups and
downs, in accordance with the swings of the Eldridge Hotel. In
its
previous incarnation, it was Shalor's, which was one of the city's most
underappreciated continental restaurants. The restaurant now has
reopened, following the hotel's renovation, as Ten, which is an
American restaurant devoid of sophisticated preparations, with prices
much lower than those at the former Shalor's, but with very good
quality food. The Ten
menu also is available in the hotel's bar (called the Jayhawker).
The restaurant can be noisy. I initially preferred
Shalor's. But for what it is, Ten is
very good, and it tends to grow on you. In fact, I now am
convinced that it is an improvement over Shalor's. Although less elegant that Shalor's, the new dining room's booths are a welcome addition. Also the candles on the tables in the dining room add to the atmosphere. Despite the basic preparations, I have found the food to be very good. For example, the fish of the day tends to be much better than the usual quality fish in Lawrence. There is a reason. Their fish is delivered three mornings a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday---directly from Kansas City. There is no Lawrence middle man delaying the delivery to the restaurant. But of course, this is still the Midwest. The salmon (undoubtedly farm raised) is likely to be fresher than the seabass, perhaps frozen and sent from Chile, etc. The asparagus could not be better, when they have it. They have real olive oil (the substitute oils at some other American restaurants are awful, with the worst being cottonseed oil), and they have sweet potatoes, which are much healthier than regular potatoes. The shrimp Eldridge is among the best appetizers on the menu. But I've ordered it too often and now prefer the crab cakes appetizer. The houses salad is rather ordinary, but the spinach salad is excellent. I find the salad dressing on the spinach salad to be a bit sweet for my tastes, but you can request any of their other dressings. You will especially appreciate this restaurant, when you get the check and see what you got for the money. There is a good wine list, including many wines by the glass. The Los Cardos Argentinian chardonnay is now one of the better buys on the menu. In fact it is one of my favorites, and at a modest price, but available here only by the bottle. Their best red wine buy is the Guenoc cabernet. You can pay more for Liberty School cabernet, but it is not worth the higher price. On alternate Wednesday evenings at 8 pm, they have live jazz in the bar area (the Jayhawker Bar). They also have two for one martinis. I skip the martinis, which I view as overpriced to start with, and stick with the wines. The dining rooms menu is also available in the bar, so you can have dinner while enjoying the jazz. I view the jazz on alternate Wednesdays at this bar to be one of the highlights of the city. I particularly like Ben Graham, when he is there, and I also very much like Key West Jazz, and Harry Miller and Tommy Johnson; but if you like amplification, you might prefer Trio Pera (not my preference). The chef at this restaurant and bar is exceptionally accommodating. He'll change just about an preparation on the menu any way you want. For example, shrimp scampi is not listed on the menu as a separate entree; but you can request it, if you want, and then choose whatever vegetables or sides you would like, all a la carte and at very reasonable prices. In addition, you can request a side of salsa, and they'll provide it for free. If it helps this wonderful, historic hotel succeed financially, the transformation from Shalor's to Ten will have been good for the city. Now that I have told you the positives, I'll tell you the negatives. The management of this hotel is astonishingly inept. Three times in a row, I made reservations for dinner in the bar area for a particular table on nights when they had jazz. All three times, we arrived and were told that someone else had been given the table, and that the people at that table were very slow, so we could not be seated at the table we had reserved days in advance, even an hour after we had arrived. In short, table reservations are not honored here. In fact, when I asked the name of the manager, no one would even tell me his/her name (it is Scott Valentine). I have no intention of returning to the Ten restaurant or the Jayhawker bar. I prefer restaurants and bars that are competently run, and there are many in the Lawrence/KC area. Sadly this historic hotel's restaurant and bar are not among them. If you should wish to walk in without a reservation and take your chances, you might want to give it a try. But don't waste your time making reservations. They won't honor them here. |
| Genovese 941 Massachusetts Street 842-0300 genoveseitalian.com/ |
This
Northwestern Italian style restaurant brings to Lawrence the food of
the Italian Riviera. The chef had previously worked at an Italian
restaurant in San Francisco and is related to the owners of the nearby
La Parrilla and Zen Zero restaurants also on Massachusetts St in
Lawrence. Unlike the style of Italian food from North Central and
North Eastern Italy, which makes heavier use of butter and cream than
the southern Italian style, the food of the Italian Riviera shares with
the French Riviera a lighter style of Mediterranian preparation, which
emphasizes fresh seafood and olive oil (as with Southern Italian food). In moving from San Francisco to the Midwest, the chef has made some compromises to Midwestern preference. One is to cook the pasta a bit more than the al dente style that I much prefer. But if you request al dente, he can provide that. True to the Liguaria Italian style, the chef provides some of the best seafood in Lawrence, with the mussels and salmon in this restaurant to be among the best in Lawrence. The shrimp also is excellent, but he has somewhat overdone that region style with shrimp. When in Italy, I've often been somewhat surprised to see shrimp in the shell served on pizza. But whether or not the shrimp is left in the shell or removed from the shell depends upon the dish and the preparation. However in this restaurant, you usually will not get the shrimp served without the shell in any dish, whether pasta, pizza, or whatever. For example, the seafood mixed grill is really excellent, but to enjoy the shrimp, you will need to use your hands and suck the sauce and spices off of the shell. If you carefully remove the shrimp from the shell, you will lose the spices that only are on the outside of the shell. This preparation is similar to that of cajun crawfish, which is of limited popularity outside of Louisianna. My preference would be for a different compromise with Midwestern tastes, including the option on the menu for pasta prepared al dante (i.e., the right way) and the shrimp removed from the shell, especially when served in a sauce or with pasta. If you request the shrimp to be removed from the shell, the chef may agree to do it for you, if he is not very busy. Even in Genoa or Portofino (one of my favorite places), the chef will remove shrimp from the shell for some preparations. In case the ominous name of this restaurant might seem significant, you might want to know that among the owners and chefs there are no members of the infamous Genovese family of New York. In fact at this restaurant, there are no Italians at all in the kitchen and the chef is originally Mexican. Northern Italian food can be very sophisticated, and I wish this restaurant well, since it brings to Lawrence a style not otherwise available in this city. But relative to the food of Northern Italy, I'd rate this restaurant to be third rate. In contrast, relative to Southern Italian food, I'd rate Teller's as second rate, so I much prefer Teller's, regardless of the regional style. If you want first rate Italian food, you can get close to that in Kansas City or really find it in St. Louis or Chicago. This restaurant has three levels and all three levels tend to become noisy, when crowded. If your preference is for a quiet evening with easy conversation, it is best to arrive early, since all three levels tend to fill later in the evening. |
| This is a rather average Americanized Indian
restaurant. If you prefer the real
thing, either ask for a tray of spices and add a lot, or head for Ruchi's. Relative to other downtown restaurants, At this restaurant, I request "spicy" for entrees, but "very spicy" for soup and somosa. Even after requesting extra spicy for the soup, the soup is only fair. Relative to what Indian soup can be, this is particularly disappointing. But adding even more spice from the requested tray of spices can pick up the soup a lot. In addition, the aloo mutter entrée is thin and soupy. The fish tandoori is frozen mahi mahi and only fair. Rice is included with all meals, but I would suggest also ordering the nan (Indian bread), which is good at this restaurant. The wine and beer prices are very reasonable. | |
| Ingredient 945 Massachusetts at 10th St. Lawrence, KS 66044 web site 785-832-0100 |
Ingredient
in Lawrence (also in Leawood) is similar in many ways to the trendy and
overrated Mixx in the South Plaza area of Kansas City. But
Ingredient is better --- much better. Ingredient is also a good
place to stop for a drink and dessert, since they have a separate room
with bar and desserts attached to the dining room. Although I
usually prefer restaurants with table service to those requiring you to
order at a counter, this is an exception. |
www.krausedining.com |
Krause
has closed his restaurant at this downtown address and has acquired
zoning permission to reopen at his former location in East
Lawrence. See the East Lawrence section of this site. |
| Mad Greek 785-843-2441. | This informal Greek restaurant can be very enjoyable. I particularly appreciate the fresh made pita
bread, which comes with the very good babougnooj appetizer. Another very good appetizer is the skordalia. The pasta ala greco is very good, and the
plake salmon is good. If you request it,
they will provide a bottle of hot sauce.
If you have been to |
Milton's 920 Massachusetts St. 785-832-2330 |
This
restaurant and bar are best known for their excellent coffee,
breakfasts, and lunches. Their dinner menu is modest, but
provides some pleasant surprises. They actually have Marinara
pizza (which contains no cheese), and it is vegetarian. They use
no chicken stock, and their flour is organic. As I've mentioned
regarding Teller's, the "authorities" in Naples (Napoli) recognize only
two varieties of pizza as authentic: Marinara and Margherita pizza. While Margherita
is widely available in the United States, Marinara pizza is oddly hard
to find, and is available nowhere else in Lawrence. While
Milton's version of Marinara pizza is hardly comparable to the
marvelous Marinara pizza in Naples, I nevertheless find it to be
admirable that this enlightened restaurant does include Marinara pizza
on the menu. While Teller's does not offer Marinara pizza on their menu, they will
do it for you upon request, and their version is better than Milton's.
But at Milton's, you need not ask for anything special. It's right
there on the menu. Also they have a fresh fish of the day (sometimes two!), off the menu, and it can be very good. For example, their preparation of breaded ruby trout is among the best in Lawrence, when it is available Regarding service, I have found it to be efficient, courteous, and helpful. But I have heard complaints from others. I have been there enough times to know, and I think those complaints are not justified. If you are in a big rush, you can acquire very rapid service by sitting at the bar. At this modest, but surprisingly enjoyable restaurant, you will be in the center of the Massachusetts St. downtown, and can easily stop for an espresso after dinner at the Bourgeois Pig at 6 East 9th St., and perhaps to browse through the colorful nearby shops. Unfortunately they do not have Perrier, San Pellegrino, or any other bottled sparkling water. Also their salad dressings could be improved, considering how good their salads are, and it can become rather noisy in this restaurant, when it is crowded. But on the whole, this restaurant is an amazingly good deal. In short, Milton's is real Lawrence, as opposed to the more upscale restaurant imports from California and New York. While not in the same league as Lawrence's best restaurants, Milton's has "character." Unfortunately this restaurant's summer hours are not the same as Milton's regular hours. In the summer, they close the bar at 10 pm and stop serving food at 9 pm. If you have not tried Milton's, you should. It is comparable to some of the well known cafe's in Harvard Square or on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. If you feel better spending more money, you can get comparable food for twice the price at many restaurants in the Lawrence/Kansas City area. |
[format (16)]
Pachamama's New World Cuisine
800 New Hampshire St. www.pachamamas.com info@pachamamas.com 785-841-0990 |
Pachamama's
is the best restaurant in There was some disappointment in west Lawrence, when Pachamama's moved from its former location in West Lawrence to its current location downtown. In many ways, the west Lawrence dining room had become a landmark of the city, with a unique Colorado mountains appearance overlooking the Alvamar Golf Course. There is nothing else like it in Lawrence or Kansas City, but unfortunately that dining room now is available only for private parties. In contrast, the new dining room has the appearance of an upscale "big city" restaurant and is less unique (consider, for example, the beautiful dining room of the American Restaurant in Kansas City). In addition, the prices increased when the restaurant moved, and parking became more difficult. But food, already excellent, became even better following the move, with the addition of some outstanding new preparations and menu additions. For example, the Pachamama's salad, that always has been excellent, has gotten even better. With its location a block from the new loft apartments on New Hampshire and two blocks from Krause's gourmet restaurant, Pachamama's has provided a major boost for downtown Lawrence. The new Pachamama's dining room is larger and more dramatic than Krause's (Krause currently is using only half of his dining room) and the menu is larger than Krause's. While Pachamama's is not an inexpensive restaurant, it is less expensive than Krause's, and now serves meals that often come surprisingly close to the quality and artistry of the stellar food at Krause's. The style of preparation is "new American." Pachamama's is an American Indian word meaning "mother earth." My very knowledgeable Parisian colleague told me that he "loves this place." I agree. In fact this is one of the few restaurants in the A few of the most interesting dishes that were on the prior west Lawrence menu are not on the current menu, but available upon request. In particular, I request the flash fried spinach. Regarding bread, they will provide the excellent Wheatsville Coop whole grain bread, if you request it. Otherwise they will choose which bread they will serve at your table. The water that they bring to the table in a flask may appear to be bottled water, but in fact it is filtered Lawrence tap water. But they have a high-end double-osmosis filter system installed, and their filtered water tastes as good as any bottled water. They also have Perrier, if you prefer bottled sparkling water. But they serve only the small Perrier bottles, and their club soda is made with their filtered water, which is more than fine. Some of the sauces are a bit sweeter than I prefer, but a few flakes of crushed red chile pepper convert those sauces into my view of perfection. So I always request that they bring out some crushed red pepper on the side, in case I might wish to add a little. The wine list is first rate, and changes frequently. They have a list of discontinued wines including the wines that they recently discontinued from their regular wine list. The discontinued wines can be a particularly good buy, but their regular wine list also includes some reasonably priced wines. They have live music, either jazz or classical, on various nights. Following their recent move downtown, the plans for live music are not yet clear. This is the only restaurant in Lawrence (not counting Krause's, with its more limited menu) that provides before the meal a serious "amuse-bouche" (literally "mouth-amusement": a small innovative "bite" before the meal, served as a greeting by the chef de cuisine). What Pachamama's chef provides for this purpose changes frequently and is far more interesting than the tiny scoop of sorbet (to "cleans the palett") provided instead by many of the best restaurants in the country. While a very minor part of any meal, a serious amuse-bouche will be understood by any "foodie" to say something about the chef. Although I am somewhat disappointed that the city has lost the landmark West Lawrence location for this restaurant, on balance the move to this restaurant's beautiful new downtown dining room and the improvements in the restaurant's already excellent food are a clear plus for Lawrence. |
Pochi Tea Station
125 E. 10th St. 785-843-2402 |
This
small tea house and restaurant serves Indonesian food in a modest
setting. It can be a pleasant and interesting place for lunch,
especially upstairs, where you may find the couches to be more
comfortable than the tables downstairs. But Pochi has no liquor
license, and a less than attractive atmosphere for dinner. If you
would like to have an Indonesian dinner, I suggest ordering take out
from Pochi to bring home. |
| [format (43,44,18D,52,53)] Teller's 746 Web site | This stylish, first class restaurant is the best
Italian restaurant in What is particularly impressive is the brick oven pizza, which is closer to the Italian real thing than the usual Regarding the rest of the menu, there are many high spots including the very good frutti de mare alla griglia, the orrechiette pasta, and the zucchini alla fritta appetizer. Vegetarians will be pleased by the pasta ncasciata, but the preparation is rather heavy on cheese for my tastes. Recent additions to the menu make this restaurant one of the most vegetarian friendly in the city. I am especially impressed by their vegetaliano (vegan) ravioli. Unfortunately for a fine restaurant, the salmon is farm raised. But they say that they have checked out the source, and they believe that the health risks associated with farm raised salmon do not apply to their source. I hope that they are right, since I enjoy Teller's salmon and order it frequently. As with any fine Italian restaurant, Teller's has roasted garlic cloves that are used in some of the preparations and can be requested on the side (as we always do). Also they have San Pellegrino bottled sparkling water, as should be available at any serious Italian restaurant. Among their appetizers, the olive della casa is one I cannot resist. The wine list is not unusually long, but exceptionally well chosen. For example, the Sicilian Cusumano Alcamo Italian white wine is excellent and reasonably well priced. The Ruffino chardonnay is priced lower, but not as good. The Alcamo is well worth the slightly higher price. Regarding dessert wines, in Lawrence it is not easy to find good ones in restaurants, but Teller's is an exception in that area too. The best of their dessert wine choices, at a reasonable price, is Graham's 10-year tawney port. But the best wine buys are on Wednesdays, when they offer a selection among a small number of bottles at $14 a bottle. This restaurant is in a central location on Massachusetts Street. Parking on the street near that restaurant can be difficult, especially on weekends. But there is a convenient parking lot at the corner of 9th St. and Vermont St. Late in the evening, after the Post Office has closed, it also usually is easy to park in front of the Post Office on 7th Street at Vermont. |
| Thai House 724 785-312-9991 | This
restaurant has moved from downtown to 711 W 23rd St in a strip mall
next to a hardware store, but its phone number is
unchanged. In the new location, I go for "medium" for the
spice level. But beware of the fact that my wife, who usually
does like spice, asks for only moderate spice at this restaurant,
especially with the salads. I especially like anything that has
shrimp or diced scallops in it. For
example, you can request the pad ped seafood to be served solely with
shrimp or diced scallops.
Their orange roughy is good, but most of the preparations are fried in
a batter. An exception is the pla nung manao fish special, which
is steamed and prepared with spicy lime juice. Although off the
menu, it can be requested. The lime sauce is even better, if you
ask them to omit the sugar. I like their
garlic sauce, as in the mapo tofu, much
better than their rather ordinary brown sauce (e.g., as used as the
"house sauce" with the gourmet tofu). The pad kra tiam stir fry
with garlic sauce is excellent, especially with shrimp and tofu, and
even better if you ask them to omit the sugar (they think Americans
have a "sweet tooth).
The tom yum soup
is excellent and does not use chicken stock. Only their egg-drop
soup does. They do not have seafood or vegetable stock, but water
base is fine with their vegetarian dishes, because of the spices they
use. Curry
sauce often contains coconut milk or oil, but the yellow curry tofu
does not, although it contains half and half, which you can
request not be included. Almost everything is served with rice,
but I usually request that they substitute the vermicelli rice noodles
for the rice or just extra vegetables. They usually use the
vermicelli noodles in soup, but they are an
excellent substitute for rice. They have wonderful spring
rolls. Unlike other oriental restaurants, this one include no
rice in them as cheap "filler." I haven't tried all of the
salads, but I've tried the Pattaya parade, which is very good, and the
"dancing shrimp salad," which is even better. The wine
list is small, but well selected.
For example, they have Bonterra chardonnay, which is organic. The
rest of this review is based on their previous
location, but the menu is similar at the new location, and has more
moderate prices. If you would like extra spice on the side, ask
for the hot oil sauce or the "num pla plik" (which means, "hot fish
sauce"). This restaurant has excellent Thai food. For American tastes, the spice level is appropriate if prepared "medium hot", but I had become accustomed to spicier preparations in In terms of fish, they have orange roughy, which is always safe in the Midwest or anywhere else. The reason is (contrary to popular opinion and erroneous statements on many menus), there is no such thing as fresh orange roughy on the North American continent. Orange roughy comes only from New Zealand, and is frozen before it is put on the plane. But orange roughy, being a deep sea fish living under high pressure at great depth, is not badly damaged by freezing. The preparation that I especially like at this restaurant is pla pad ped orange roughy, which is essentially stir fried with vegetables, and is excellent. Their Phuket fantasy mussels appetizer, using imported large green mussels, now are the best mussels in Lawrence, although not a match for the fresh mussels available in coastal city seafood restaurants. I also find the basil chili Mussels entree to be surprisingly good for the Midwest. The Thai House admirably has Pacific salmon that is not farm raised. But it comes in fresh only once a week on Thursdays, so is worth a try on Thursday or Friday. It was OK, but nothing special, when I tried it on a Saturday. I like the chef's preparation of the salmon, when requested to be "Thai hot." The bai gaprow is really outstanding. You can have it made with chicken, pork, or shrimp. I like that dish prepared "hot", but not Thai hot. For a Thai restaurant, this one's wine choices are surprisingly good. For example, they have both malbec and pinot noir by the glass (with their pinot noir being the better choice here). The manager, who is the most knowledgeable person here, is Will Soo. His parents own the restaurant. He is there Friday and Saturday from 5 pm to close, and M - Thursday, from 11 am - 5 pm. |
Wa
740 Massachusetts St. 843-1990 |
This
restaurant has the best dining room, decor, and service of the city's
Japanese restaurants. For a relaxing dignified dinner, with or
without guests, this restaurant is a good choice. If you need a
receipt for reimbursement of a business meal by your employer, you may
find Wa's primitive printed bill inadequate. Most recently, I
found that the printed bill was clearer, but contained conspicuous
errors. So at the very least, I would suggest that you read the bill
carefully, and if there is a mistake, I would recommend a very low tip.
The food here can be very good, but twice having had problems with the bill, I am hesitant about going there often. |
| Yokohama Sushi Japanese Restaurant 811 New Hampshire Street web 785-856-8862 |
This restaurant has two locations. See Clinton Parkway location listing for details. But it should perhaps be added that this restaurant has oysters on the half shell. Don't order them here or anywhere else in Lawrence. If you like raw oysters, drive to Kansas City. The nearest restaurant that has really fresh oysters on the half shell is at the Legends. |
|
| This Asian restaurant is very good. It is primarily Thai, but less authentic and
more casual than the nearby Thai House. Zen
Zero is very vegetarian friendly. My
favorites at this restaurant are the excellent
ton yum kung soup and the pad prick (dry red Thai curry). If you are a vegetarian, you should know that
the pad prick contains chicken stock.
But if you request that tofu be added to the pad prick, they will automatically
substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock without your having to ask. Other good choices include the Thai spring
rolls, the sautéed choy sum, and the grilled salmon. But the grilled salmon is served with a coconut curry sauce. Since coconut milk contains highly saturated tropic oil, you may wish to substitute another sauce. A good choice would be the spicy stir fry sauce or the pad prick sauce (which you might want them to make with vegetable stock, instead of chicken stock). The momos (veggie) and satay (portobella and eggplant) appetizers are good, but the spring rolls are better. If you ask them to add salmon to anything, they provide an entire salmon filet at surprisingly modest upcharge. You might want to try their interesting pakshi sake (with puffed rice in the sake). |
|
I can be reached by e-mail at barnett@ku.edu |
