I know, we haven't posted in a while. Both Buddha Girl and I started new jobs earlier in the year so we've been pretty busy settling in. If you've followed our facebook page, you'll see that we still dined out quite a bit, but we just didn't have the time to sit and type after work hours.
Getting back on track with some posts (...slowly...), I decided to start with what I thought was interesting. Since Buddha Girl and I were attending my sister's vineyard wedding in Santa Rosa, we decided to visit Tex Wasabi's, by Guy Fieri.
Tex Wasabi's is a sushi/BBQ/pub joint. MomJ, Aunt Kelly, Mr. and Mrs. Little Lee joined us for
lunch. Yup, we all came here for lunch before the wedding...we weren't
expecting much from the
reception/dinner. (A side note...the wedding food at Kunde Family Estate for cocktail reception and for dinner was surprisingly delicious.)
With six diners, we ordered accordingly...combos, rolls and sandwiches. We tried to cover everything on the menu.
MomJ and Aunt Kelly's lunch specials each came with a shrimp-less Cobb Salad. Simple and fresh, but nothing extraordinary.
The Chicken Avocado Eggrolls were depressing. The multiple layers of wrapper caused a hard and dry texture. The rolls were drenched in overly salty Thai sweet chili sauce. The chicken was dry, and I wasn't fond of avocados in a hot dish.
The Jackass Roll, a feature under "Gringo Sushi", had BBQ Pork, rice paper, sushi rice, avocado, fries and garlic chili mayo. Notice the use of rice paper instead of seaweed? An interesting idea, but what ruined it was the rice, dry like day-old rice. Actually, being the first customers of the day, they could be using day-old rice...who knows? When eating, it was hard to take a piece of the roll without ripping the skin of another...not a smart idea to place rice paper rolls side by side. The chili mayo overwhelmed everything, the pork tasted flavorless. Not recommend.
The Kemosabe Roll had BBQ tri-tip, rice paper, sushi rice, fries, crispy onions and garlic chili mayo. This tasted similar to Jackass Roll. Nothing worth noting.
Our server suggested the Big Bird on Fire. The roll had blackened chicken breast, rice paper, sushi rice and fries.
While this looked different than the previous two rolls, but this was yet another disappointment. Was the chicken blackened? It sure looked fair and tasted bland. The liberal use of the sweet chili sauce was annoying.
After a series of disappointing rolls, the Hog Tied King was a welcome change. With salmon, bacon, cream cheese, sriracha, unagi sauce, green onions and crispy onions, the roll was flash-fried then garnishes with, well, what else? Thai sweet chili sauce, of course. Was it the crunchy texture or the cream cheese with salmon? Or was it because of the bacon? While not great, somehow I enjoyed this roll.
The Hidden Chicken had teriyaki chicken, rice paper, sushi rice, avocado, tangerine, crushed wontons and iceberg lettuce. Served with a teriyaki sauce, this was the most fresh in taste and the most simple in flavor. While not mind blowing, this was enjoyable.
The signature
Red Dragon Roll had "Over 35,000 Sold!!!" With spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber, crunchy tempura bits, maguro and black sesame seeds, this was nothing but a huge disappointment. The garnish touches of Sriracha and unagi sauce didn't mingle well with the sushi. The tuna on top was not the greatest in quality, it had a weird and funky texture...which pretty much ruined the whole roll.
Finally, moving away from the sushi, our first BBQ item was Little Lee's order of
The Big Dipper. The sandwich was served on a sourdough with a half pound of smoked tri-tip, pepper jack cheese and roasted garlic horseradish aioli. Au Jus was served on the side. While Little Lee would've prefer more smokiness to the meat, I thought it was just right.
Served on a sourdough roll with marinated shrimp (dusted in cornmeal flour), Mrs. Little Lee had the
Shrimp Po Boy. Generous amount of shrimp, all nicely battered and fried. No complaints.
My
Red Rocker Chicken Sandwich was served on a pretzel bun with a grilled chicken breast, jack cheese, red pepper relish and fried jalapenos. This was the best item on the table. The chicken was moist. The fried jalapenos gave it a nice kick, not to mention the light fragrance of jalapeno peppers. The pretzel bun was warm and light. Of course, knowing me, I added bacon to the sandwich.
Stay away from the sushi rolls as they were huge disappointments. I guess I was hoping for too much considering it's sushi in
Santa Rosa. Using leftover
rice for the rolls was just inexcusable. Will we visit again? Yes, but only for the sandwiches.
