A month or so back, I was in Orange County, CA on business. On a previous visit, our waitress at the California Pizza Kitchen was kind enough to give us a list of restaurants to try out in the area, mostly Asian, though one was Cuban.

We found a Korean BBQ she recommended and it was really, really good.

I won’t lie, I like the Japanized version of Korean BBQ but it was still really, really good. I want to order the beef tongue, but my colleague wasn’t interested and it would have been too much to eat by myself. As it was, we barely finished everything.

See the reviews of the place we went on Yelp. I think the reviews on it are lower than I would have given as I thought it was good, service was friendly etc. Next time around, I think I’ll try some of the other ones in the area too.

Last night, Mom took us out to celebrate Arisa’s birthday.  We went to Umami Asian Kitchen in Chagrin Falls.

The menu says that Umami is the “fifth taste”, as in sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.  Umami is a Japanese word.  See the wikipedia article for a description.  Also see the “basic tastes” article too.

I see why they call it Asian Kitchen as it’s not really a Japanese restaurant.  They take some Japanese foods and make it all their own.  For example, they have an Udon Noodle dish, but it’s not what one would expect from a Japanese restaurant.  It was really very good.  We had Seared Red Tuna, Spicy Tuna Rolls, and Calamari.  I had the halibut with sweet potatoes and ginger, Arisa had one of the specials which was scallops (hotate) on Jasmine rice.  Ken had the Seared Salmon, and George had the curry chicken entree.  Elly had Calamari and Assorted Sushi appetizers as her entree.  Mom had crabcakes.  I tried everything except the crabcakes and it all was very, very good.

Oh, and Chagrin Falls looks great at night.  The whole town is decorated in Christmas Lights.  If you get a chance, I’d check it out.

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