Food Friday

Even though I miss the mural, Andy Nguyen's does look way better inside. Classy. The crowd was completely different than it used to be. There was this one party of twentysomethings with tattoos, etc. that really made it seem like I was in SF or something. The menu has embarassing names for stuff (like "Everlasting Goodness Salad" and crap like that) but every single thing seemed intriguing. This was a great feeling, because there are so many types of meat that I'm either not fond of or that I eat only rarely because they are unhealthy that on any given menu I only want to order about 1/3 of the items. The place was packed and the wait staff was overtaxed and perhaps not used to this much business, so we had three different people serving us and our appetizer order of imitation shrimp toasts got lost in the shuffle. Too bad. This seems like a french-influenced dish (due to the bread involved) so I wanted to try it. We settled on a fake chicken spicy lemon grass dish, asparagus and black mushrooms, and a tofu and veggies with spicy peanut sauce. The dishes were all beautiful when they arrived. They have nice square white plates that beautifully frame the glossy sauces and crisp, brightly-colored vegetables. The asparagus was done perfectly, just slightly steamed and bias-sliced, and the black mushrooms (I didn't catch the type) were delicious. The peanut sauce dish was my least favorite, it was just so-so. My favorite was the fake chicken. It seemed more like fake beef, it had that appearance and texture. It was salty and tasty. We devoured our servings, which are not large enough to have leftovers, but are perfectly portioned at one dish per person. They have a million things that sounded great. I want to try all the different fake meats and fish, and the soup, and fucking everything! Although this is not the kind of revitalization is not what the mayor has in mind, this kind of shit is what Sac needs. Oh yeah, as far as prices go, I'd say it's probably a buck or two more per dish than it used to be (like 7.50 per entree), and you won't get a massive pile of food to take home, but it is definitely worth it.

I have gone food crazy lately (and my bank account reflects that). Next week I am going to both the Waterboy and Chez Panisse!