Uncategorized – The Saboscrivner

Sushi Rock and Grill

Last time I donated blood in Altamonte Springs, I was feeling quite empty, so I decided to drive across the street and treat myself to an all-you-can-eat sushi lunch at Sushi Rock and Grill (https://www.sushirockorlando.com/), one of the many recently opened all-you-can-eat sushi spots in and around Orlando. On the weekends, lunch is the same price as dinner: $35, but I feel like I got my money’s worth. Plus, there are more options on the dinner menu than the weekday lunch menu, which normally costs $22. There is also an a la carte option for people who don’t want to eat all they can eat.

I started out with two of my all-you-can-eat sushi standards: some smoked salmon and mackerel sashimi, my tribute to Ashkenazi Jewish appetizing stores that specialize in cold-smoked nova salmon and pickled herring. I love mackerel sashimi, because it is usually lightly vinegary and slightly sweet, just liked pickled herring in wine sauce. You get two pieces per order of each, so I got two orders here.On the a la carte menu, an order of smoked salmon is $7 and an order of mackerel sashimi is $5, so this along would cost $24 ($7 + $7 + $5 + $5). I’m going to keep a running tally so you can see what a great deal this is.

I followed that with some small plates from the Sushi Bar Appetizers menu. This is another dish I love at any Japanese restaurant, even though it was created in Los Angeles in the 1980s: spicy tuna crispy rice. These deep-fried mounds of rice are topped with spicy tuna, masago (the bright orange, salty fish eggs), scallions, and a sweet chili cream sauce. These are always perfect bites of food with so many great textures as well as flavors.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $10, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $34.

This was salmon passion, thinly sliced salmon in a mango-passion fruit sauce.
This isn’t listed on the a la carte menu on the website, but very similar appetizers like the salmon tango are $12, so I’ll use that as a guideline. Now everything I ordered so far would be a total of $46.

This is the spicy tostada: an order of three crispy wonton skins topped with spicy tuna or salmon (I think I asked if I could get a little of each), guacamole, fresh jalapeño curls, masago, sweet chili cream sauce, and eel sauce. These were more perfect bites of food.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $11, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $57.

Then all four of my rolls came out at the same time. Hopefully I can remember them all!

This was the Captain America roll, which was labeled “BEST” on the menu. I’m not sure of the connection, but I couldn’t resist a roll named after my second-favorite Marvel superhero. This roll contains tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and avocado and was topped with “white fish” (probably escolar) and miso sauce. To paraphrase Steve Rogers, I could eat this all day. There is also a Spider-Man roll, so you could always have a sushi superhero crossover.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $14, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $71.

This was the tropical salmon roll (also labeled “BEST”), with salmon, cream cheese, and mango inside the roll and topped with more salmon, sweet and tangy mango sauce, and “rice crackers” (those tiny round spheres, which added a really pleasant crispy crunch).On the a la carte menu, this would be $14, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $85.

This was the summer crunch roll, with spicy tuna inside the roll, topped with spicy salmon, jalapeño, eel sauce, and “crunch” — referring to the crispy tempura flakes. I loved everything about this roll.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $13, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $98.

This was my last choice, the crazy combination they call the Buffalo jalapeño roll. It contains a deep-fried stuffed jalapeño with spicy tuna, escolar, and cream cheese inside the roll, and it is topped with eel sauce, chili sauce, spicy mayo, and more crunch tempura flakes. I love spicy food, but for me, this was delicious rather than challenging, uncomfortable levels of heat.
On the a la carte menu, this would be $13, so everything I ordered so far would be a total of $111.

Since I didn’t get a good angle earlier, here’s a close-up of the cross-section so you can see all the good stuff inside.

So I paid $35 (plus tip, of course, always!) for what would be $111 worth of food, had I ordered everything separately. I was starving and regaining my strength after donating blood, so I came to play and played to win. But you can see what a bargain Sushi Rock and Grill and similar all-you-can-eat sushi establishments like Sushi Yama and Sushi Island are. How would I compare them? Even though everything was good here, I don’t think I enjoyed the experience as much because the restaurant was almost empty, and I still got seated right next to a really loud, obnoxious table, so that affected my enjoyment of the meal itself. But the sushi was super-solid, so I have no doubt I will return.

Chain Reactions: First Watch

First Watch (https://firstwatch.com/) is a chain restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch, named for the nautical term for the first shift of the day. My wife has been bravely and boldly undergoing physical therapy for most of the year, a few mornings a week, after a major surgical procedure. There is a First Watch location between our home and the outpatient PT clinic, so it has been nice to stop there a few times on our way home, almost like a mid-morning date before I have to start work.

I think our friendly neighborhood First Watch has only been open for a year or so, opening in a space that used to be a busy Panera, but the food is so much better than Panera ever was. It is a bright, open, spacious dining room with lots of natural light, always clean, with friendly service and a hands-on manager who runs a tight ship. Even though it’s a chain, we have never had anything but good food there, especially when our schedules are very limited by where we can go during the week (as in, hardly anywhere).

On our first-ever visit, my wife ordered this seasonal beverage, the Blue Booster. I was totally on board with it, due to my favorite superheroes being DC Comics’ Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, best friends and Justice League alumni who need their own movie and/or TV series. The drink was a blend of fresh blueberry, Fuji apple, and lemon juices, garnished with a basil leaf. She likes blueberries a lot, so it was a hit, but it didn’t stay on the menu very long.

She loves this “Million-Dollar Bacon,” baked with brown sugar, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and drizzled with maple syrup. I think it is her favorite bacon anywhere, and I like it too. Nothing beats the taste sensation when maple syrup collides with salty, smoky breakfast meats, and if you don’t believe me, Special Agent Dale Cooper on one of my favorite shows ever, Twin Peaks, agrees.
She has ordered this on each one of our return trips, but if you’ve seen one photo of Million Dollar Bacon, you’ve seen ’em all. Of course, we essentially get four servings out of it every time because she insists I have a strip of bacon at the restaurant, she has one there too, and then she takes the other two home and has them one at a time.

I ordered a seasonal special, the carne asada hash, with thinly sliced carne asada beef, crumbled chorizo sausage, and diced red bell peppers in a potato hash, topped with two cage-free eggs (I got mine scrambled), cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, house-made pico de gallo, fresh avocado, shaved radish, cilantro, and jalapeño crema, and served with two warm wheat-corn tortillas.

This was my wife’s avocado toast with two eggs over-easy. We might be Xennials rather than Millennials, but she sure appreciates good avocado toast.

These were called “Holey Donuts,” and they were essentially cinnamon-sugar doughnut holes with really nice textures.

On our second visit, she got this honey caramel crunch iced coffee, festooned with salted caramel and honey swirls and topped with a sweet cream cold foam and toffee nut crumbles. Like so many iced coffee concoctions, it is more like a dessert than anything:

I got an item off the regular menu this time: the chile chorizo omelet, a cage-free egg omelet with chorizo, avocado, green chiles, house-roasted onions, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, topped with all-natural sour cream and served with whole grain artisan toast.
It looks like I must have requested a side of Million Dollar potatoes to go with it, seasoned fried potatoes that were so good last time, now topped with crumbled Million Dollar bacon and what looks like some melted cheese.

She got raspberry ricotta French toast, another seasonal special that has come and gone. The thick-cut, custard-dipped challah bread was griddled and topped with fresh raspberries, whipped lemon ricotta cream, raspberry puree, and spiced with gingerbread cookie crumbles, then lightly dusted with powdered cinnamon sugar. Is it breakfast, or is it dessert? ¿Por que no los dos?

On our third visit, I tried a seasonal drink called the Pineapple Express, with pineapple and orange juices, coconut water, lime, and agave with a “mint crystal rim.” It was okay, but I should have just drank water, especially for the price. You live and you learn. I love straight-up pineapple and orange juices, but I’m trying really hard to not drink my carbs.

She ordered a seasonal spring special of wild berry lavender French toast, with thick-cut, custard-dipped challah bread griddled and topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries, warm mixed berry compote, spiced gingerbread cookie crumbles, and mint leaves on the side, and lightly dusted with powdered cinnamon sugar. It also came with lavender whipped cream, but she isn’t a fan of the lavender flavor (it smells too much like soap to both of us), so she asked them to hold it.

That time, I also got a seasonal spring special: SoCal breakfast hash, with hardwood smoked bacon, grilled all-natural sliced chicken breast, seasoned black beans, house-pickled sweet peppers and cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses over a potato hash, topped with two cage-free scrambled eggs, fresh avocado, house-made pico de gallo, cotija cheese, scallions, and a drizzle of jalapeño crema, and served with two warm wheat-corn tortillas.
I appreciate the creativity of all of these Tex Mex-inspired seasonal specials. If they keep making them, I’ll keep ordering them.

Most recently, she got the avocado toast again, this time with eggs over hard:

We shared the blueberry lemon cornbread topped with lemon butter, a summer special:

And I got the elote breakfast burrito, a summer special with chorizo sausage, scrambled eggs, seasoned potatoes, diced red bell pepper, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, seasoned black beans, and fresh avocado wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla, covered in Vera Cruz hollandaise and topped with house-roasted corn salsa, cotija cheese, house-pickled red onions, chipotle aioli, Tajin seasoning, and diced cilantro. It was huge and really cool-looking, with a lot going on flavor-wise. Of the four breakfast entrees I’ve tried at First Watch, this was probably my favorite, and the presentation had a lot to do with it.

I have mentioned before that I am not a brunch fan. I like breakfast food as much as anyone, but I don’t usually eat in the morning. Also, we don’t drink, and that’s a major selling point of brunch, especially on weekends. And I get super-steamed when restaurants only offer a brunch menu on weekends with a few overpriced breakfasty selections and most of their lunch selections unavailable. Plus, I can make most breakfast foods just fine at home!

Well, as much as I unironically love our local Waffle House and have nothing but deep, resounding love and loyalty to Orlando’s beloved icon of Southern decadence Se7en Bites, First Watch has really grown on me, especially for their ever-changing seasonal specials that bring some exciting flavors to traditional breakfasts, and for those mid-morning, post-PT, impromptu weekday dates with my wife. Chain or no chain, they are convenient, consistent, and keeping it interesting, so we’ll keep returning.