Campfyre Stories

There’s this Vietnamese restaurant right around the corner from my house that I’ve been wanting to check out, but I didn’t want to go alone - at least not the first time, you know?  I knew that only one of my friends has a cast-iron stomach, and he’s my usual first choice for checking out new places.  Where I can always find ONE thing on the menu (and, in many cases, not more than that) that I can eat due to food allergies and (bad) vegetarianism, he’s generally hard pressed to find one thing he won’t eat.

Of course, he’s also the hardest person to pin down, in my experience.

But we made it to the restaurant last night and OMG was it ever worth the wait.  I first checked the Metroland Dining Guide, more to see what it was going to cost than anything else, but the blurb got me completely excited about dinner when it mentioned the Ginger Salmon dish.  You have to understand.  I LOVE salmon, and I love ginger and this just made me really look forward to this dinner.

I got there and to my great surprise, I could eat many of the things on the menu.  There was even a decent-sized vegetarian section - most of which does not contain the foods I’m allergic to!  It was then I knew I had found my new favorite restaurant and that I was going to have to come back to try more of the dishes that they offer.

Our waiter was excellent and attentive.  And, frankly, I don’t know how long we waited from the time we ordered until the food came - I hadn’t seen He of the Iron Stomach since right around when I moved into my apartment, so we had plenty of catching up to do, but when it did finally come the presentation was gorgeous.  There was a little superfluous garnish, but not to the extent of most restaurants.  It was nice to have a plate full of things to actually eat instead of the useless additions making it pretty.

The first bite of the Ginger Salmon made me not want to ever have any other taste in my mouth.  Ever.  For the rest of my life.  It was amazing and I just savored the flavor and let it melt in my mouth for a while.  It was really so good that I can’t do it justice with my words. 

I will certainly be going back there to try quite a few of the other dishes.  It’s my intention to bring out-of-town visitors and probably take Spawn out for a nice dinner there as well.  I obsessed about it for days before when I found out about the salmon.  Now that I’ve had it, I think I’ll obsess for a couple more