The campus itself is worth going to see as it is an oasis in the middle of downtown.  When you go into the restaurant, if feels like you are in a time warp with beautiful wood floors and stone walls.  Being a restaurant on the campus of an art school, there are awesome paintings that flank the walls of the dining room.

I went on a Friday and got the lunch special of a grilled poblano and turkey sandwich served with almond squash soup.  The sandwich was very tasty, and I am going to have to start putting poblano peppers on my sandwiches at home.  However, what really stole the show was the almond and squash soup.  While I marginally like both almonds and squash, combined together they form a really tasty soup.  It was nice and thick with a hint of sweetness, and I can see just ordering a big bowl of it on a cold day.

The almond squash soup is worth the price of admission; I do wish they gave me one more side, like a little salad or something.

Even more fun was the atmosphere.  The restaurant is very conducive to sitting down, relaxing, and visiting with a friend.  There are no TVs blaring, or even piped in music, which is a nice reprieve from our world in which we are constantly being bombarded by media.  While it would be a great spot to bring a book and relax, I think having someone there to have a good conversation was even better.

One of the best atmospheres in town to eat; take a good friend or a good book and enjoy it.

Value: 8/10 (Wish they would have thrown on another side with my meal, but my friend got the Friday fish special and had a ton of food on her plate)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (My favorite part of the meal; you are on a beautiful building on a beautiful campus and feel quite removed from the hustle and bustle of the world)
Service: 7/10 (It is cafeteria style service so nothing amazing; one of the younger servers was giving an older server a little lip that put me off a little bit (even if it was in jest))
Taste: 8.5/10 ( Pretty tasty food; the sandwich was solid but not out of this world, however, the almond squash soup was really good)
Website: http://www.swschool.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=68

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There were all kinds of recipes ranging from Hatch Puppies, Meatballs, Rice Soup Dish, Tomato Bisque, Chili, Cupcakes, and Chile Chocolate Chile Bread.  But it turns out that the winner and grand champion was a Hatch Chile-Avocado Ice Cream!  Be sure to check out Michael Saiz’s (the Meatball guy) blog for way better pictures than I could take on my iPhone!

Some of the contestants at the cookoff.

I received Honorable Mention, but it really meant a lot the SA Police Chief McManus and Tanji Patton both came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed my recipe!  I ended up getting a $20 Central Market giftcard, and upon leaving the store and smelling the green chiles roasting, I used it to buy a box of hot roasted chiles.

SAPD Chief William McManus an Tanji Patton at the judes table.

Overall, it was quite a day!  Thanks to all the judges and congratulations to all the contestants and winners!

The winner and champion, Adele Williams!

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I found out today that my Mom’s Famous Queso recipe was accepted to The 4th Annual No-Holds-Barred Central Market Hatch Chile Recipe Contest!  Needless to say, I am pretty excited.

I will be going to gather all the ingredients tonight, because I want all the flavors to really mix together before the contest tomorrow (9/14).  If you are out and about and want to cheer me on, be sure to stop by Central Market on Broadway at 2:00PM; many of my friends are leaving town for football games this weekend, so I am hoping I can get a few folks to help put together a cheering section!  Thanks so much!

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Their latest CD is entitled Pardon Me, and other than the title of the CD that kindly asks the listener con permiso, the record is full of raucous guitar licks, fast tempo lyrics, foot stomping, hand clapping, harmonizing rock n roll.  If you are tired of being yelled out by hack musicians with no guitar chops that dominate the rock radio stations, you will appreciate a band who believes that a guitar was meant to play more than three power chords or angry arpeggios.

While it may be easy to say that the band has a classic rock sound, their sound is too fresh to be restricted to that era.  They are the perfect embodiment of rock, roll, and soul that is sure to make you have a good time.  I would classify them as roadhouse blues meets rock n roll in the spirit of the Rolling Stones and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

I caught their show at Gruene Hall, Texas oldest dance hall, this past Saturday night and, from start to finish, they put on a show.  It was a hot and humid South Texas night, and being in a hall without air conditioning and people packed liked sardines doesn’t help much.  Despite these conditions couple with hot stage lights zeroed in on them, the band played a solid 2.5 hour show; the only thing that took them off the stage after a three song encore was the fact that the house lights came on and the Gruene staff was ready to go home.

The band opened with a funky version of “Honkey Tonk Women” that immediately grabbed the attention of the audience and went into the upbeat song off their new record “Hot Sake.”  That song has a driving rhythm and a hand clapping pattern that is quite addictive.  Early in the set they played my personal favorite, “Time for Love,” off of their first album “Hot Trottin.’”  The harmonies really came out as Emotion (‘Mo) Brown and Nick Jay provided the backup vocals.  The lyrics of “There’s a time for love/There’s a time for pain/There’s time for letting go/of everything” are reminiscent of the Byrds “Turn Tun Turn.”  I love how the guitar fits in with band (and audience) singing sustained notes much in the same way as the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”

As they night went on, the band got really hot (temperature wise) but would only stop briefly to get a cold towel and a pull from the handle of Jack Daniels.  Tyler remarked, “Do you guys get nervous? I find that when I get nervous, I drink a little of my friend Jack Daniels and I don’t feel the nervousness as much.”

They played a good mix of songs off both of their CDs with a blues standard of “Rock Me Baby” that turned into a full out jam.  You could tell that Jonathan Tyler was having a blast when he went to go get his Flip camera to film the crowd and each of his band members as they soloed.  At one point, he remarked, “How many of y’all are goin’ to church tomorrow?  Well for all you sinners that aren’t going, we’re about to take you to church!”  They ended the improv session with a rollicking gospel beat that got everyone stomping their feet and shaking the Gruene Hall dance floor.

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights rockin' out at Gruene Hall

As an encore, they started out playing “Something in the Wind” with just Jonathan Tyler on guitar and Nick Jay on the keys.  As the band came in, the song picked up steam.  In the spirit of going to church, Jonathan Tyler had some inspiring words.  He told the audience to “Take each minute and make it worth it; you gotta love one another because this life is short.  Money and fame is gone quickly and what’s important is family and we got that here.”

The band then launched into “Pardon Me” and rocked it fairly unapologetically with Tyler just belting out the lyrics in spite of a bunch of folks leaving before the encore started (NOTE: Never EVER leave a Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights show before the encore).  At this point, the house lights were turned on and they finally ended with a cover of Tom Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” that brought the house down.  I am firmly convinced that they would have continued playing if the lights had stayed turned off; I always love a band who encores because they WANT to encore instead of just walking through the motions.

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights prove that rock n roll is not only alive but kicking.  I look forward to them getting some radio play because I would rather listen to true rock music instead of being yelled at.  I don’t expect that they will have to ask us to pardon them in the near future, because they are here to stay.

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights Website
Buy Pardon Me CD from Atlantic Records
Download Pardon Me on iTunes
Follow Jonathan Tyler on Twitter

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Here’s what you are going to need:

*1 Fully Cooked Chicken (I can find these are my grocery store; if not you can cook 3-4 chicken breasts on your own)
*1 lb grated cheese Mexican Blend
*1 medium onion chopped
*30 pack of corn tortillas (you’ll probably only use 20)
*3 Hatch Green Chiles (6 to make it really spicy)
*2 cans of chicken broth
*1/2 cup butter
*4 TBSP flour
*2 cup sour cream (use the 16oz container)
*gang load of vegetable oil

Here's all the ingredients that you are going to need.

Go ahead and get your oven preheated at 350F so it will be ready when you are done rolling all your enchiladas.

Now the first step can be difficult if you are a gringo like me and don’t really make enchiladas on a regular basis.  You might think that corn tortillas are like flour tortillas and are ready to go out of the package.  Not so.  You actually have to dip them in hot oil so that they don’t break.

Pay careful attention to these directions and you’ll be cool (and have a bag of flour nearby in case you start a grease fire).  Get a skillet and fill it up with oil where it will completely cover a tortilla.  Heat up the oil a little bit more than Medium High; you are going to want it to get hot enough that when you dip the tortilla in with tongs it immediately starts bubbling up.

Two Scoops is showing you how to cook the corn tortillas in the hot oil. Be careful not to burn down your house in this step.

When the oil is nice and hot, have a plate with a paper towel square on it.  Dip the tortilla in the oil for a couple of seconds, flip it to the other side, hold it above the oil and let the excess drip down, and then place it on the paper towel.  Put another paper towel square on top of it and repeat the process.  You are eventually going to have a stack of tortillas alternating with paper towels (kind of how you you get cheese slices separated by paper from the deli).  Do this with the exhaust fan on high (so you don’t trip your fire alarm) and BE CAREFUL.  The oil is VERY HOT!  Remember that if a fire does happen, use flour and NOT water to put it out.

While you are cooking your tortillas, place your chopped onion in a skillet nearby with a little bit of oil and saute them where you get a little bit of brown edges.  This will probably be done around the time you are finished with the tortillas.  Place the onions to the side and go and shred the meat from the chicken.  If you buy a cooked chicken from the grocery store, try to get all the meat you can off of it and shred/dice it up using both the white and dark meat.  Otherwise, cook your chicken breasts through and shred the meat.

Mix the chicken, onions, cheese, and diced green chiles (that you have defrosted and de-skinned) all together in the bowl.  I found that the best way to do this is with you hands so that you can get everything mixed up really good.

The chicken, onion, cheese, and green chile mixture. Your hands are a much better mixing utensil than a spoon (just be sure to wash them).

You are now ready to get your sauce going.  Melt the 1/2 cup of butter (one stick) in a pan and mix in the 4 TBSP of flour on Medium High to get good mixture.  You are then ready to stir in the chicken broth for a little while followed by the sour cream.  You will notice chunks that appear in the sauce, keep stirring until you get a nice thick sauce without any lumps.  This is crucial and will make a good sauce; if you rush it will be kind of runny and the ingredients won’t blend together.

Do you see any lumps in the sauce? Nope. Be sure to take your time and you'll get a good, thick, and consistent sauce.

While your sauce is simmering, start rolling your enchiladas with a handful of chicken mixture in each.  Line them up in the pan, and once you are through you should have a 9×13 pan and a 8×8 pan filled with them.  Pour the sauce over both the pans and place them in the preheated 350F oven for 20 minutes. Once the time is up, get ready to eat some of the best enchiladas in the world!

The finished product. Enjoy!

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Anyone expecting something similar to Munich’s Hofbrauhaus would be remiss, the inside is more like a hunting lodge on a Texas Ranch.  I have to admit, given the name I was expecting something more German (there is not really any German food on the menu), but the owners really went all out with the atmosphere and put a lot of work into it.  There are a lot of bucks and other wildlife mounted on the walls and a huge stone fireplace that ties the restaurant together and gives it a nice feel.

The server started out by placing a basket of bread with butter that had fruit and nuts in it.  I have to admit, the taste was a little foreign at first, but it really grew on me.  However, if you don’t like it, just be sure to ask your waiter for a side of plain butter.

I was in the mood for a hamburger and ordered the Pepper Jack Bacon Melt.  The burger comes with pepper jack cheese, honey chipotle bacon, jalapeños, and a jalapeño cheddar bun.  When I got the burger, I was immediately impressed, and one bite sold me on the fact that this is one of the best burgers in San Antonio.  The bun was sweet and had a nice soft texture and those fried jalapeños provided a good kick while providing a crunchiness that I really liked.  This all mixed well with the thick slabs of bacon that were cooked perfectly for a burger, not too crispy and not too soggy.

Sorry the picture is a little dark, but don't worry, the burger was really tasty.

Equally good was the fries; they were thick cut and you could tell they were fresh.  Yes, $10 might be a little much for a burger, but I tell you what, this burger is worth it!

Finally, while I didn’t get to try one (I had ordered a Shiner), I want to mention something that looked interesting.  They serve these huge schooners of margaritas with an upside down beer in them.  I saw this as I was finishing up my meal and had to ask my waiter about it.  I forgot the name (just ask your server), but he assured me that they were awesome and the best kind are made with Dos Equis Amber.  He said they are quite potent, something like being equivalent to 3-4 drinks, so if you get one make sure your group has a Designated Driver!  Needless to say, I am DEFINITELY getting one the next time out there.

Hopefully the Quarry Hofbrau and Beer Garden will overturn the curse of that building, but be sure to do your part and get out there and snag one of the best burgers in town!

Value: 8.5/10 (a little on the expensive side, but worth the price)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (awesome Texas Ranch lodge kind of feel)
Service: 9/10 (extremely friendly, helpful at explaining the menu, and quick)
Taste: 9.5/10 ( they try to do something different with the bread and butter before the meal that is a little funky and initially it was strange but grew on me; if you don’t like the butter with fruit and nuts ask for a plain version of it to make sure you get off on the right step; the hamburger just busted out with flavor, from the meat, bacon, and jalapeños on it; really solid!)
Website: http://quarryhofbrau.com/
Facebook: Quarry Hofbrau and Beer Garden on Facebook
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While the namesake is located on Broadway in Alamo Heights, I often go to the one off of DeZavala and I-10.  I like this location because it is kind of tucked into a neighborhood right around Clarke High School, and it really has a strong neighborhood feel with a lot of regulars stopping by.  The owner of this location, Bryant, is incredibly friendly and will visit with you whether your are a newbie or a regular if he is not busy at work kneading dough.

One of the reasons that I like Broadway Daily Bread so much is that it is one of the few “Tech” businesses in town; both of the owners daughters attended Texas Tech and there is a lot of Tech paraphernalia on the walls.  Being in the land of Longhorns and Aggies, this is always a nice surprise.  Additionally, they source their coffee from Daybreak Coffee Roasters, a Lubbock company and coffeehouse that I frequented when I was growing up.

When you walk in, you will notice the bakers rack full of baked goods.  They have all types of bread (their Birdman is the most popular) alongside tons of different sweets: cinnamon rolls, muffins, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc.  You can even order a cake for that special occasion.  When I was working for a company, I would try to bring some muffins in for breakfast to my coworkers; this is always a good idea if you are running just a little bit late.

The bakers rack filled with all sorts of goodness.

I have three favorite breakfast items that are my standards.  If I am going to get a muffin, I am going either for their sour cream pecan or the cranberry.  The sour cream pecan muffin has more of a spongy type texture and the top is dusted with cinnamon and sugar.  In a way, it is like a cinnamon role without being too over powering and without the icing; it is the best item to pair up with their coffee.

The cranberry muffin is equally good in a different way; the best part is the muffin top which has a nice crispy taste to it and is really sweet.  The cranberries are plentiful and are warm/gooey (if you get it fresh out of the oven) and have a nice tart taste.  I decided to get the cranberry muffin this past visit.

The cranberries are plentiful in the muffins and give them a great tart taste.

Finally, if you are REALLY in the mood for something sweet, get the brownie cupcake with peanut butter topping.  While they don’t always have this, it is every sweet tooth’s dream.  Smaller than a normal cupcake, when you pick it up you will be surprised how dense it is; it is like they are packing as much sugar and goodness into as little of a space as possible.  To top it off, there is this peanut butter icing that they are quite generous with.  This concoction is best with an ice cold glass of milk.

Whether in North San Antonio or Alamo Heights, Broadway Daily Bread delivers the goods if you are looking for something sweet for breakfast.

Value: 9/10 (You are probably going to spend between $3 and $4 for a muffin and a cup of coffee which seems standard; the muffins are pretty big)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (Pertaining to the DeZavala Location: Really clean feel, the inside is painted with bright colors and the entire storefront is windows which lets in the natural light; you can watch the folks make the dough, pastries, and sandwiches; people always seem happy here)
Service: 10/10 (Very friendly people always greeting you with a smile)
Taste: 9.5/10 (Everything tastes really good and I like pretty much everything here – the bread, cake, cupcakes, muffins, sandwiches; only thing that I think falls short is the kolaches but, then again, what do I know as they are sold out pretty much every day before 8:30-9:00 in the morning!)
Website: http://www.broadwaydailybread.net/
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While this is all very true (especially the eggs part), you might be looking for something more concrete so I have decided to give you my Mom’s Queso recipe.  Nothing reminds me more of my childhood than this appetizer.  We had it for the big games (both tailgating at Texas Tech football games and for the Superbowl parties), celebrations (graduation, end of school, and birthdays), and family get togethers.  The smell of green chilis always makes me think of my Mom’s Queso and all the happy memories associated with it.

NOTE: This was an honorable mention recipe at the 2010 Central Market Hatch Green Chile Cookoff and is a featured recipe on Tanji Patton’s website!

To get started, you will need the following ingredients:

• 3 roasted hot Hatch green chiles (5-6 if you wanna spice it up) NOTE: Do not attempt this recipe without roasted Hatch green chiles – it just won’t taste right
• Box of Velveeta (32 oz)
• 28oz can of Hunt’s diced tomatoes (the big can)
• 14.5oz can of Hunt’s stewed tomatoes (the little can)

The ingredients - don't make this without the real deal Hatch green chiles!

First, defrost your Hatch green chiles.  I will put them in the microwave on the defrost setting of 0.5 pound of meat and check them periodically.  You definitely don’t want to heat them up so much that you fry them and don’t have any of the meat on the chile left.

While this is happening, you can begin cubing the Velveeta cheese.  Chop them in cubes that are the same size that you see cheddar cheese served parties on toothpicks.  (A side note, this revelation was recently made by one of my mom’s friends from her Clinical Lab Sciences class; we always cubed the cheese in large chunks and it took forever to heat up.  The smaller the cube, the easier to melt!)  Don’t neglect your chiles.

Take the green chiles out of the microwave and remove the black/charred skins from the chiles and throw into the trash (don’t flush down the sink as they might clog it up).  Now you have a choice to make.  From what I am told the hottest part of the chile is the vein and not the seeds (though they are admittedly hot as well).  If you are afraid of how hot the concoction will be, go ahead and “de-vein” and “de-seed” your chiles before you dice them up and throw them in with the cheese.

See the stringy looking thing that goes from the top to the bottom of the green chile? That is the vein; cut it out if you want to tone the queso down.

Next up is to open the large can of diced tomatoes and put them in a colander and strain some of the juice out.  My mom uses the whole can, but I always throw away a handful because I don’t want to risk my queso being soupy.

After that, put the stewed tomatoes in the colander and drain.  Take out all the tomatoes and other vegetables, dice them up (I use all of these tomatoes) and throw them into the queso pot.

At this time, make sure your hands are washed and just give all the ingredients a good mixing.  A note on the queso pot, I use a piece of pottery that was actually made in New Mexico.  My mom had one, so I asked my grandparents for one for a present one Christmas because making my Mom’s Queso in anything else seemed strange.

Heat in the microwave for increments of three minutes and stir after the time is up; repeat this until the queso is smooth and all the cheese is melted.  Trust me, don’t heat longer than three minutes at a time as you might scorch the queso!  I know, I know, I am impatient as well, but queso 10 minutes later is better than getting scorched queso 10 minutes sooner.

If you leave the queso over night or refrigerate the leftovers, the heat from the chiles will increase; I really like it on the second day.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my paternal grandfather.  He always tells my mom, “Thank goodness you married into this family otherwise I would have never had this queso!”

The finished product! Enjoy with some tortilla chips!

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Hatch green chiles come from Hatch, New Mexico and are a staple of New Mexican cuisine.  If you have ever taken a trip through New Mexico, you probably noticed that you can get green chiles on practically EVERYTHING – pizza, sandwiches, eggs, and burgers just to name a few (on my last trip up there, I even came across green chile wine!).

While I was born in Texas and definitely have the West Texan accent, my mom is from Santa Fe, NM so green chiles were part of growing up, and I am thankful that they were.  Green chiles can pack a bite that is far different than a serrano or a jalapeño, and also have the possibility of being hotter too.

Central Market has an annual a Hatch Green Chili fest where they bring in green chiles to both Central Market and the other HEB stores.  Every year I have stopped by to pick up some of the chiles and I would be disappointed because it seemed to me like Texas got the “weak sauce.”  This happened to change this year when I went to the HEB Plus on Blanco and 1604.  I bought a couple of pounds of chiles (I mean, they were on sale for $1.29, I had to try!), and man oh man, those boys were the real deal Hollyfield.  My roommate of serrano pepper bet fame had one and it put him on the ground!  I knew I had to go back and get a bunch to roast.  I didn’t even chance going by the HEB closest to my house, I wanted to make sure I got some hot chiles so I picked up about 20 pounds from the Blanco/1604 HEB.

Anyway, since the chiles were good, I figured I would let you know how to roast them so you can enjoy them yourself without having to pay HEB a premium to roast them for you.

This is the site of deliciousness about to be roasted.

First, heat up your grill REAL hot.  Spread out some green chiles across it.  Close the lid and kind of listen for them to sizzle.

Chiles on the grill.

When you hear the sizzle, open the grill up and flip ‘em over.  You want to make sure that the skin is good and blistered.  When you open the grill, breath a deep breath in and enjoy the smell of roasted chiles!

Continue to roast the other side, and even the edges.  Get them where all the skin is blistered.  This will help you peal it off when you are ready to cook them.

I can smell them now...

Prepare a cutting board with a wet towel on top of it.  As your green chiles are ready to come off, place them on this wet towel and then cover them up with another wet towel.  This is to get the steam to continue to cook them.  As I get a good stack of them, I will take the cutting board inside, pull the towels/chiles off, and replace with new towels so they can continue to steam a little bit.

Don't forget to have a damp cloth below and on top of the chiles to steam them when they come off.

Finally, after you are finished cooking the chiles, let them all cool down before you bag them and place them in your freezer.  I put around three to a bag because depending on who will be eating my dish (whether they like hot/medium food), I will use either 3 to 6 green chiles.  Some people choose to take the charred skin off right now, I happen to just wait to do that whenever I defrost them.  HEB says that they last 6 months, but I have been known to let mine freeze for way longer than that.

Get out there are grab some green chiles, because the next couple of days I will be posting a couple of recipes that use them that are family favorites!

Now that you have your roasted Hatch green chiles you might need some recipes:
Mom’s Famous Queso
Green Chile Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

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First and foremost, I should be fair and state that we went during their Soft Opening.  The three of us completely  realized this and knew that there would be a few minor bumps in the road as they work out their kinks.  This is completely understandable, but… Well, we will get to that in a moment.

The meal started out promising as we were given some bread with a pureed edamame dipping sauce that I really liked.  We decided to order drinks and chose three different ones: a cucumber drink (don’t remember the name), Geisha (an Asian themed cosmo), and a Zen-tini (lemon flavored with a popular zen green tea liquor).   The ladies I was with also ordered a spinach salad as an appetizer.

The drinks came out and looked nice, but man, two of them were pretty rough.  I liked the cucumber one as it was rimmed with a chile limon seasoning that caused you to pucker up and then be quickly relieved by the cool (as a cucumber) concoction.  To be quite honest, the Zen-tini that I got tasted like I was drinking Pledge and the Geisha smelled like some sort of bodywash and didn’t taste much better.   My friend couldn’t finish the drink, so I tried to gulp it down because I am not going to leave $7.5 on the table!

From left to right, Zen-tini, Cucumber, and Geisha.

We decided to order four rolls so we could sample a variety.  Since one of my friends is allergic to shellfish, we had to be careful in what rolls we chose.  I was interested in one of them that had shrimp, so we ordered it and she planned to avoid it.  We went with the California roll, Scorpion roll, Longhorn roll, and the Heart Attack roll.  One of the rolls had eel sauce on it, and my other friend (who is not as adventurous of a food person, but who will try most things at least once) exclaimed, “That’s friendship right there, eating eel sauce.” We made sure to throw in an order of pomme frites just in case the sushi didn’t sit well with her.

The order came out and was impressive looking.  Our server placed the rolls on the table, and it was at this time the meal started to go downhill.  We had asked her what each of the rolls were and, with a little hesitation in her voice, she went through and named them all.  We said thank you and started to eat.

As we were eating our rolls, I noticed that one of them had this pink sauce and I was pretty sure we didn’t order anything with a pink sauce.  We she checked on us, we pointed out this one plate of rolls and again asked her to confirm it.  She said that it was the Heart Attack to which I questioned the pink sauce on it (also the Heart Attack was fried (hence the name) and this clearly was not).  She decided to investigate further and found out that the rolls were incorrect and promptly brought us out the right rolls at no charge.  I was really pleased with the customer service and how our waitress handled the situation.

Let me divert from the experience and write a note on the food.  I have to say I was underwhelmed.  I have enjoyed Mr. Goro’s food in the past, but this just wasn’t that good.  It was as if they decided to simply pile a TON of stuff on the rolls purely to pile a ton of stuff on them.  The rolls were unmanageable and extremely difficult to eat.  When you did finally get one in your mouth, it was as if it just tasted like a bunch of mush and you weren’t able to really tease out the flavors.  I couldn’t really tell all that much difference between the rolls, which kind of plays into what happened next…

We couldn’t remember what roll had the shellfish in it, so we stopped another server and asked for another menu so that we could make sure that the friend who was allergic to it stayed away.  From the menu we identified the roll with shellfish as the Scorpion roll.  My picky friend was trying to eat part of the alleged Scorpion roll and was trying to half it (again, way to big to eat) and noticed something in the roll.  She picks it up on her chopstick and asks us what it is.  My other friend took a stab at it and replied it was a mushroom.  My friend was like, “There is no way that is a mushroom, it is an eel!”  Now, she is adventurous, but she definitely has no desire to eat or even try eel.  While this was happening, I was eating another roll and found a fair amount of fish bones.

When the server stopped by to pick up the menu, we decided to ask him what the names were of all the rolls.  He proceeded to name one as Roast on the Coast (the one with the red sauce that we knew was wrong), the Heart Attack (the one that we got back that was corrected), the Yum Yum (one we never ordered), the California roll (of course, easy), and one he wasn’t sure of but thought it might be the Widowmaker (the eel one, again we didn’t order).

Our original rolls, only the back left California Roll was correct. Don't know what the other three are? Don't worry, neither did anybody else.

At this moment all three of us were kind of laughing because we knew that of the four rolls we ordered, only one of them came out correct (California roll).  We also were just munching away and couldn’t really tell the difference.  One thing I will say for my friends is that we are a pretty easy going bunch.  I know that people make mistakes; heck, I make them all the time.  I want you to know that we were not being tacky, rude, or jerks in anyway.  We just let him simply know that 3 out of 4 entrees were screwed up.

Later, we were asked if we could have the plates picked up, but we wanted to wait until we got to talk with one of them so they knew we weren’t making a story up.  In all sincerity, we knew it was a Soft Opening, and if this restaurant is going to be successful they needed to know about this error.  After a while, no one had came to talk to us, so my friend stopped Mr. Goro.  We asked him to identify the rolls, which he did with the exception of the eel one (I thought this was curious that the owner didn’t even know what roll that was!) and apologized profusely.  He told us he would make it right and again, I want to reiterate that we were completely cordial while letting him know.

The restaurant manager later came over to apologize and to visit with us about the meal.  In this conversation, he said something like, “So we made a little mistake.”  Yes, we had been cordial and friendly and joked how know that no one could really identify our rolls.  However, at this point in time, I kind of felt like he was taking advantage of our friendliness and young age because he would have never said that to a staunchly dressed 40-something from Alamo Heights.  In a jovial manner (but wanting to make a point) I retorted, “Little mistake? I kind of see messing up 3 out of 4 entrees more like a major mistake.”  He immediately got defensive and said something about it “not being intentional; it’s not like we were in the kitchen planning to mess up your order.” I was kind of taken aback that he wouldn’t just let that slide and fess up to a mistake.

Soft Opening or not, you have to know your product.  That is the one thing that has to be right.  You don’t go to a soft opening at a steakhouse and order a filet mignon and are brought out a New York Strip.  The fact that 3 of the 4 rolls were screwed up was a pretty major infraction in my mind.

He did right the ship and said that he was going to cover the ENTIRE bill.  I have to admit, I was shocked.  I mean, I was hoping we could a little something but not the ENTIRE bill.  So I guess when it came to the rubber hitting the road, they really were interested in making sure they corrected the situation.  Major props in this area.

Soft Openings and screwed up orders aside, I have to say that I don’t plan on returning to the 1604 location.  While the location was sleek, it was pricey, and the food and drinks were not up to the quality that the price commanded (although the pomme frites were really good).  I’ll tell you what to do instead.  Save a little money, get better tasting food, and make the drive down to West Avenue and eat at the old location.  Hopefully they remain as good as they have been in the past in spite of this new location.

Value: 5/10 (thought it to be overpriced for the quality; $7.5 for drinks; specialty rolls in the $15-$22 range; go to the original Godai for value)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (Sleek and hip; they really got this right from the furniture to the holders of the bread and pureed edamame appetizers; captures the feel of an upscale sushi restaurant)
Service: For the first time ever I have to actually split this area out into two sections:
Service (Friendliness and Correcting Problems): 9.5/10 (really friendly and nice people; reacted to a bad situation quickly and made sure we were taken care of; for this I can’t thank them enough; would have been a 10 if not for the “little problem” gaffe)
Service (The Nuts and Bolts aka Getting Orders Out): 2.5/10 (really dropped the ball here; to this day I STILL don’t really know the name of the roll with the eel; they screwed up 3 out of 4 entrees, so they lose 7.5 points…)
Taste: 5.5/10 (edamame and bread, pomme frites, spinach salad kept them above 50%)
Website: http://www.godaisushi.com/

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