Dragon King's Daughter

Neil has a lot of family members, and the other day I started working on a family tree for both our families so I could try to get a handle on some of his extended relations. If you take a look right here you can see the tree starting with Albert Andriot, Neil's great-grandfather, also known as Pop.

When Neil's great-aunt Betty passed away a few months ago, the funeral turned out to be a bit of a family reunion, and it was decided that everybody should start trying to get together for dinner once a month. In honor of Pop, the Andriot family patriarch, the group named itself the Dining Popitos (which people keep accidentally calling the Flying Popitos, which is awesome).

The Dining Popitos met this week at Dragon King's Daughter. This place is owned by the same folks as my beloved Maido, but it's very different, with a lot of fusiony stuff; there's sushi, but also sushi-inspired pizzas and tacos, as well as a variety of other Asian-flavored small plates. (Although I haven't had it, I love the fact that there's a tako taco.)

Neil and I had been to Dragon King's Daughter twice before, and the last time the service was pretty bad. Not so bad that I refused to return, as I did with Third Avenue Cafe for almost two years, but bad enough to put me off of the place a little bit. Still, I was excited when it was announced that this was the Dining Popitos' selection for April, and I looked forward to trying it again.

I want to love Dragon King's Daughter the way I love Maido, but the fact is, it's just pretty good. The food is tasty, but it doesn't totally blow my mind, and the service is friendly but remains inattentive.

We started with some edamame, which is more or less the same wherever you get it, and that was fine. Next we had tuna tataki (which we didn't photograph until we'd already dug into it):


Slightly seared ahi tuna slices on a bed of fresh organic spring mix, served with Hawaiian pink salt, avocado-wasabi and fried garlic chips.

Neil didn't care for the fried garlic chips, assessing them as "just little bits of burned garlic," but I did. I actually thought this whole thing was pretty divine; the tuna was fresh and perfectly seared, and the avocado-wasabi mixture was a nice complement, although it could have used some more wasabi. I was a little sad we had to share this with the rest of the table.

Next up was a sushi roll, Sushi and the Banshees. Neil didn't email me a photo of this, so I'll have to check with him later and see if he has one. Cream cheese, garlic, avocado inside... salmon and basil outside. This was just okay. I thought the basil was an interesting flavor to encounter in a sushi roll, but there was a little too much cream cheese and it overwhelmed the roll's other components.

Then we had the unagi pizza:


Unagi, avocado, scrambled eggs and cheese—topped with unagi sauce.

In the last, oh, six months or so, I have realized that I am totally batshit in love with unagi. I remember trying it and not liking it at some point, and I didn't eat it for years. But then I tried it again and it totally rocked my world. I admit that I was a little unsure about the scrambled eggs and cheese on this pizza, but the idea of an unagi pizza was too compelling for me not to try it. So we did. Neil really liked it, but for me the flavors just didn't work together very well. The baked avocado was especially off-putting; I would have preferred for that to be added after the fact.

We ended the meal with a tempura fried Snickers bar with red bean ice cream. Yes, really.



What can you even say about a tempura fried Snickers bar? It's a fun novelty of a dessert, not orgasmically delicious, but worth trying at least once.

We also had tastes of a few things that other people were eating, and I especially liked the wasabi salsa: Fresh wasabi, diced tomato , avocado, mango, jalapeños, red onions, garlic, cilantro and lime juice mixed together and served with fried wonton chips. The wonton chips were outstanding, although for something with wasabi in the name, the salsa didn't have much of a kick to it.

Our server was friendly (and didn't make condescending comments about our beer choices the way our server did the last time we were there), but he disappeared for long stretches of time, and we had to wait quite a while before he came back to take our dessert orders.

Overall, I like Dragon King's Daughter, and I think to a big extent it just requires some tolerance for trial and error; I won't order the unagi pizza again, but I know from previous visits that I like the sashimi pizza. The tuna tataki was a big hit, and I could totally make meal out of that and some salsa and wontons. I'm also looking forward to trying their happy hour; that sounds like just the thing for the band of food- and booze-loving freelancers I hang out with. (The best thing about freelancing is - by far - drinking beer with my self-employed friends while the rest of you poor suckers are at work. Too bad I'm about to give all that up this fall so I can go back to school and become a social worker!)

Anyway, Dragon King's Daughter, final verdict: Try it. You might like it!

Zen Tea House

A few weeks ago I lunched with a couple of my fellow freelancers at Zen Tea House. It was my first time there, and I was so impressed with it that I decided to take Neil there for my birthday lunch on Thursday. He loved it as much as I do. I could easily see this becoming one of my favorite restaurants.

Before we get to the food, let me say a bit about the experience. Because it does feel like an experience, rather than just a meal. The decor is soothing and sparse, tranquilly Asian. I understand that farther back in the restaurant there's pillow seating, which, in retrospect, we should have tried, since it was my birthday and that seems like a fun thing to do. But we opted to sit up front, next to the window, where we could watch the cool rainy day outside. It was quite cozy.

The other defining characteristic of the Zen Tea House experience is the service. It's definitely leisurely and not always quite as attentive as it maybe should be, but the folks who work there are extremely welcoming and knowledgeable. There's no need to be intimidated by the lengthy tea menu; they will be happy to help you choose, as well as enthusiastically answer any food questions. It's a pleasure to be served by these people.

So, the food! On both visits we started with the mushroom pate, "A delicate combination of fresh mushrooms, mixed nuts, spices, cream cheese and olive oil blended together and served with toasted bread." Oh. My. God. This stuff could almost pass for real pate. It reminds me a bit of liverwurst, and I mean that in the best way possible. Delish.

On my first visit I had the Roasted Portabella & Caramelized Onion Panini, "A creamy spread made from Boursin cheese, sun-dried tomato and garlic layered on our herb focaccia bread, topped with roasted portabella mushroom, caramelized onions, fresh Mozzarella cheese, mesclun greens and sliced tomatoes then pressed and grilled to perfection." That was really good, but good panini are pretty easy to come by. One of my dining companions that day had the Steamed Banana Leaf with Lotus Seeds & Vegetable Rice, "Vegetable rice cooked with tofu, veggie meats, and lotus seeds is wrapped in a banana leaf, steamed, and then topped with a drizzle of olive oil infused with roasted garlic and scallions." To be honest, on the menu I thought it sounded a little boring. And watching my friend eat it I thought it looked a bit bland. But she insisted that it was fantastic, so on my second trip I tried it for myself. And it was just as good as she had promised. I know a lot of people aren't huge fans of fake meat, but the way it was mixed in with the rice and other stuff made it very subtle and rather believably meat-like, which is something that this reluctant vegetarian appreciated very much. The garlic-and-scallion-infused olive oil added a real depth of flavor to the whole thing. When it arrived in front me I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish it, but I had no trouble with it.

Neil had a cup of the soup of the day, a compilation of veggies in a light ginger broth. It was a very simple, clean-tasting soup, and he slurped it right down. For his entree, he chose the Curry Tofu & Carrot Salad Sandwich, "Tofu and carrot salad seasoned with mayonnaise and curry spread on a toasted baguette and topped with green leaf lettuce, tomato, pickled carrot & daikon and fresh basil leaves." This was sort of a cross between a carrot salad and curried egg salad, both of which I love. I will have a hard time choosing between that and the banana leaf the next time we go. Both our entrees and the pate were served with crisp pickled vegetables, which were a nice complement to the meal.

To drink, I had the Keemun Imperial, a strong black tea that felt just right for a gross rainy day, while Neil chose the GenMai-Cha, a brown rice tea with a wonderful smoky flavor.

With appetizer, two entrees, two cups of tea, and one (amazing) vegan chocolate cupcake, the bill came to a little over $40 with tip. A bit on the pricey side for lunch, maybe, but worth every penny. I can't wait to go back.