Insert Wok Pun Here:

I don't think the woman in front of me realized how close she was to bodily harm. She was tying up both registers, whining at all the Sur Le Table employees in earshot about how they had charged her for the free knife sharpening service (apparently it's only two per household, FYI). My frustration steadily built up toward a violent eruption and potential disaster. David and I had been in line for 15 minutes. We just wanted to buy our wok and get out. At that moment, I was contemplating bashing the bleating, obnoxious woman over the head with the wok and telling her to put on her big girl pants and sharpen her own damn knives.

Sharpening knives is not hard. Exhibit "A", David sharpening the Global.
[Note for commenters below: that is a ceramic sharpening stick for a Japanese Global, not honing steel for a German knife. We know the difference. Look closely.]

Rewind a bit to earlier in the day. David and I were searching for dinner recipes. We'd been gifted with some very pretty bok choy, and were trying to find a nice recipe to use it in. We were already thinking Chinese because of the bok choy, but I will take any excuse to make a dish using crunchy water chestnuts. David decided he wanted to try moo goo gai pan, and we realized that we were lacking a wok. Among other things.

Kevin's pretty Bok Choy

So we (eventually) got the wok, heat diffuser, oyster sauce, multitude of other Chinese sauces, dry sherry, mushrooms, and miscellaneous other ingredients for our moo goo gai pan. Stir fry can be as simple or complicated as you would like to make it. In our case, it was more of the latter. Once we got the mise en place out of the way, things came together rather quickly, but the prep still took about an hour of both of us working together.

Beverage pairing: Fancy Tripel Hop Duvel

Were you aware that a new steel wok will most likely be coated with a toxic lacquer to keep the metal from oxidizing while sitting on the store shelf, and that almost unnoticeable, plasticky film needs to be removed before cooking in it to avoid poisoning your family? Good to know.

David and I followed this recipe to the letter (with the addition of the bok choy), and it came out wonderfully. I'd say it was worth the wok and the wait.

Wokka Wokka

Suzie Wongs:

It’s been about a month since we stopped by Suzie Wong’s with our fellow blogger Cincinnati Hound Dog. Since we used to live at Desales Plaza, (that would be the apartment with the fire trucks) heading back to that area was very nostalgic for us. We moved out shortly before Suzie Wong’s opened for business. It was probably for the best. Having tasty oriental style food right downstairs (and BYOB!) would have been dangerously convenient.

After veiwing their menu (which is available in full on their website) I have determined that I probably would have had to shop for bigger pants in a month or two after the grand opening, were we still in residence at Desales. But one meal wouldn’t hurt right? Surely not.

So we packed up the car and went back to the old apartment. This is where we used to live.

Sorry, that song has been stuck in my head while I've been drafting this entire post. It had to end up somewhere.

We each brought our beverages, Hound brought chimay and bourbon, we brought two growlers—Queen's Knickers and Rye 75, purchased from Party town in Florence. We had a reservation, and were seated promptly next to the window. The red hue of the restaurant combined with the tungsten glow of the streetlamps outside made for some challenging picture taking. But we managed with some creative blocking from Mrs. Hound.

We ordered a few of the appetizers, including the crispy veggie springroll ($3.50), Suzie’s potstickers ($3.95) and crab rangoon ($4.95) to start. I thought they were all priced very reasonably, and I appreciated that they were not huge portions. Sometimes David and I end up just ordering appetizers or starters at restaurants, entrée portions can be too large. The small size and price means that I can order several starters for dinner and enjoy the variety. We liked all our appetziers. I hoarded the crispy, crunchy rangoons and was reluctant to share them.

I chose to get the Seaweed salad ($3.95) along with my dinner. It was very tasty, sometimes seaweed can taste sort of funky, but this was fresh and light.

Cincy Hound went with the Orange chicken ($7.95), which came with lots of vegetables. Suzie Wong’s has lots of vegetarian options.

Mrs. Hound picked the Tofu pad thai ($8.95), which she said was very tasty and packed a nice amount of spice.

I decided to try the duck fried rice ($10.95 Regular fried rice $7.95; + $3 for duck). I’d never had duck fried rice, and I was curious. What I didn’t know is that I’d stumbled upon one the best things that Suzie Wong’s makes. The duck. The duck in my fried rice was a little smoky and deliciously tender, and I ended up guarding my plate from David most of the night. The only thing odd about the dish was how it was served. As you can see below, it was served in this bamboo type dish that was nearly impossible to get rice out of without making a mess. Creative, yes. Practical, no.

David wanted to try the coconut curry seafood supreme ($17.95; regular coconut curry $13.95; + $4 for seafood), which comes in a real coconut. His dish, unfortunately, was the biggest disappointment of the evening. Not only did it take an extremely long time—his dinner came out much later than the rest of ours; they mixed up the coconuts, so David didn’t get seafood at all.

We thought about saying something, remembered how long it to to get the coconut in the first place, and lumped it, though we did request that the $4 upcharge be taken off our bill. David said it was good, but not great. Also, he had no idea how he was supposed to eat it. Does the sauce go in the curry? Dip a fork in the sauce? Who knows.

Never let it be said that Cincinnati Hound doesn’t love Barbecue. It’s like he’s superman, but instead of being able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, he can grill some ribs you’d fight your mother over.

So, in recap, we liked Suzie Wong’s overall. It’s very affordable, especially with the BYOB deal they’ve got going on, and despite the curry incident, the evening’s dishes were two hits (pad thai and orange chicken) one miss (curry) and one slam dunk (the duck).

Oriental Wok:

David has been trying to get me to Oriental Wok on the first floor of the Regency in Hyde Park for some time now. I always was kind of lukewarm on the idea, until he showed me two things. First, their appetizers, and second, their cocktail list.

Oriental Wok is a local chain, having several locations; and is run by a very nice family. It’s also pretty swanky inside. David and I entered and were seated in a nice cozy corner.

We were pleasantly surprised by the beer selection. David settled for a Brooklyn IPA ($4.50). As you can see, both mainstream beers and oriental beers are present, as well as Canadian brewer unibroue and Salvator, a doppelbock.

I knew what I wanted though. The Volcano Hawaii ($13.00), intended for two people, a tropical drink with a flaming garnish. A giant tropical novelty drink? I am all over that. My new iphone can take video, so we have included a short clip of my drink in all of its flaming tropical glory for you. If you turn up the sound, you can hear David giving me instructions on how to take video and my annoyed grumblings.

I chose the right shirt to wear

Ever since Taste of Cincinnati, I’ve been enamored with crab rangoon, so I ordered that. ($7.00) They were very tasty and I ate most of them, only allowing David a few.

I also wanted to try an eggroll. ($2.00) It was well seasoned, with a little garlic and ginger. I liked it a lot.

David’s choice was the volcano chicken, which supposedly was spicy. It had a little kick to it, and plenty of garlic. The chicken was nice and juicy.

The last thing I wanted to try were the lettuce wraps. I loved these, especially the crunchy water chestnuts. ($8.00 for 4)

In the end, I was defeated by the volcano Hawaii.

curses! bested by a large tropical drink

I really like Oriental Wok and I am glad we finally visited. We'll be back for sure, and next time, I'll bring a friend to help with the volcano and share lettuce wraps with. Any takers?