Doraku Sushi

First, visit Doraku Sushi's website.  (Wow, right!)  Next, visit Doraku Sushi.  You can feel the trendiness oozing out of all its pores.  Hip, Hop, Happening.  All this aside, the food is pretty good, but looks quite impressive...

We ate the Hamachi Carpaccio:

New Style Doraku Roll:

Kagu-tsuchi Roll "God of Fire":

South Beach Roll:

Ono:  

Uni:

Hotate:

California Roll:

Bananas Flambé:  

The meal was nice.  A little pricey, but not too bad (and we did pay quite a bit because we ordered quite a bit).  The Hamachi Carpaccio, while not my personal favorite, ended up converting my wife to the concept of fish carpaccio.  She enjoyed it so much that she has since ordered it two more times at other restaurants.  For me, the fish was just a little fishy, signifying that the restaurant might have used product that was a few days old (since they were serving it with a healthy amount of acidic sauce).  This is not always the case with these type of preparations, but I am fairly certain it was at Doraku.  


My other gripe was that the South Beach Roll (our least favorite of the day) had too much liquid.  And we have had better "salsa" on sushi before too.  The result was the roll was messy and the bottom of the sushi would fall out.  This, coupled with the lack of punchy flavor made it a miss.  We would not order that roll again.  The Hotate were not the very best, but they were ok.  Of the three sushi types, I would be least likely to put in another order for the scallops.  


In the plus column, the Nigiri sushi's Ono was light and fresh, the Uni was creamy, and the California roll (while an industry standard) was nice. The best roll we ordered was certainly the New Style Doraku Roll, both my wife and I agreed.  The God of Fire roll was what you expected, a mixture of various spicy ingredients.  My wife made it through most of her half of the roll, but in the end the bit of habanero punch was just a bit too much for her and she knocked off her jalapeño.  I ate the balance -one piece or so.  


Overall, I think the restaurant got a bump from the solid 3.5 to 4 range based squarely off the kind and attentive wait staff, and the enjoyable open air venue.  My wife loves sushi restaurants which offer a plethora of distinctive roll options, which Doraku does beautifully.  I prefer sushi restaurant where you are bowled over by the freshness of the fish and daily special delicacies, while still offering a nice variety of unique signature plates.  For me, Doraku was not quite what I like, but exactly what my wife enjoys.  After all, Happy Wife, Happy Life...


Doraku Sushi 
2233 Kalakaua Avenue  
Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 922-3323
4 of 5

Book Club Applesauce

My wife ate some very tasty homemade applesauce at a friend's home during her book club a few months ago. She raved about it, and dutifully got the recipe to make for Thanksgiving. Well, the applesauce was dynamite. Bravo wifey, friend, and book club.

The recipe:

Ingredients -
15-20 apples, any variety
Apple cider
Cinnamon sticks, mulling spices, vanilla bean (optional), orange slices (optional)

Cooking Instructions -
Peel, core and chop the apples into pieces. The variety doesn't matter, a mix is nice (more on this in a minute*). Throw the apples into a pot or crockpot with some apple cider. Use enough cider to cover about half of the apples. Add some sticks of cinnamon, mulling spices, vanilla beans (other complimentary spices also work). You can add cranberries, cherries, etc and these options add deliciosity. Orange slices work too. Simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, mashing the apples as they get softer until you get the consistency you like. This takes about 2 hours, but if you don't have that much time, just simmer the apples until they are soft, 1 hour and blend.

*When my wife made it, she added orange slices (removed before serving), used three types of apples (Fuji/Gala, Granny Smith, and Macintosh). She did not blend it and the tree types of apples added different, and enjoyable textures to the dish. I'm sure it would have been great blended too.

taverna - best restaurant in tricities?

well, so far i have to say that taverna from tagaris winery served the best food that i have eaten in the tricities, those being kennewick, richland, and pasco, washington.

best is, of course, subjective. this is best period thus far. nicest, tastiest meal.  i might argue, if you get me on a good day, that a taco joint in pasco is also the best. that would be the best for the money. $1 a taco, you can't beat that. especially when they're amazing.  but...

tagaris winery's unassuming little grotto called taverna is the best food going in richland.  it's not cheap, but it's also not terribly expensive (especially when considering counterparts in seattle). lunches range from $10-15, dinner from $15-30. the ingredients are fresh and the menu is seasonal. that, clever flavor combinations, along with reasonable prices, is why this is the best restaurant in the area.

the fare is mediterranean. flatbread pizzas, calzones, fresh pastas, meats and seafood. i can personally vouch for the patatas bravas app, roasted chicken calzone, lamb burger, and fresh pappardelle with basil and roasted chicken.  (i cannot provide any commentary on their wines.) the cheese plate, unfortunately, was a bit of a letdown. it was the one low light of the meal.  not because it was bad, but because it was average, and not worth the $14. service was what you'd expect for a very good restaurant - attentive but not invasive. (one ding on the waiter though, he came to the table before he knew the specials for the day. don't do that again buddy.)

maybe the tides will change, but as for now, go here on a special occasion and sit on the patio while the weather is agreeable to see if it's the best meal you have had in the tricities.

taverna
4.5 of 5
844 tulip lane
richland, wa

509-628-1619

(it's in the back, down the road that foreboding has a sign that reads "dead end")