An Eating With A Review - Ginza! (Japanese Restaurant)

My husband and I were driving around on Saturday running a random errand when we drove by a new restaurant that popped up by the mall near us. Actually, at first we weren't entirely sure what it was - it was a big shiny silver building that said Ginza.

We assumed it was a restaurant, but since we never read out local penny saver papers, we had no idea any new restaurants were opening in our town. So we drove around to the front, saw it was indeed a restaurant and that it was open. Naturally, I whipped out my phone and googled it and saw it has just opened the week prior and it was Japanese food.

We decided it would be our "last" meal out before the kiddo arrives. The baby is already over-due so we have an end date where he will be forcefully evicted so we pretty much figured we would be okay going out Sunday night since this kid has made no effort to remove himself from my body yet. And we were right.

I'm glad he stayed in though - this place was DELICIOUS! We had looked at the menu online on Saturday (www.ginzali.com) and while it was 85% sushi (which we don't eat) there were enough appetizers and kitchen entrees that we would have been fine.

So, we splurged for our last night out. My husband got the roasted butternut squash soup to start, and I got the chicken salad. Both were delicious, but the salad was a typical salad... the soup however, was AMAZING. We were a little hesitant because it is infused with coconut curry and young soy beans (edamame), but you couldn't detect the coconut curry at all. We polished off the soup (it was large enough for us to share) and ate some of my salad, but opted to take that home instead.


We also had sweet potato tempura and beef negimaki for other appetizers. The beef negimaki (beef scallion roll with teriyaki sauce) was seriously amazing. It was a strip of beef wrapped around scallions and it was so tender that it just melted in your mouth. The sweet potato tempura was delicious as well, but the beef was the top winner in this set of appetizers!!


Lastly, we ordered a teriyaki combo platter for us to share. We got chicken and steak which came with some vegetables as well. While it is hard to "mess up" teriyaki, theirs was done very well and the teriyaki sauce was not overly salty and just very, very good. We were very satisfied with everything we ate, so we DEFINITELY want to go back!


Plus, as a nice surprise, they are doing 15% off all "grand opening" on all dine in and take out orders. I am sure that was advertised somewhere, but we didn't know so we were excited. We're already wondering when we can get back there, but with the little guy arriving in just a few days, we'll probably just be taking in from there instead. Which is fine, but we will lose the ambiance of the restaurant (which is gorgeous, BTW. We felt like we were in a Las Vegas establishment instead of on Long Island).

All in all, we were very happy with our choice for a last meal out before the kiddo. And, we will definitely be going back for a long time to come, so I hope they do well!

Check them out, and if you are in the area - GO!!

Eating With A Travels...to Japan!

Back in 2003, in the dead of winter, I traveled to Japan to visit one of my best friends who was living there to teach English to Japanese students. I was nervous to go for many reasons... this was the furthest I was ever flying by myself... I would be trapped on a plane for 14 hours...I don't speak a lick of Japanese... and most importantly, I hate fish, thus not eating sushi. What was I to do?

Well, I didn't need to fear - my friend had my back...for the most part. There WAS one dinner where she tricked me into eating octopus, something I am still not thrilled about (and yes, it was gross), but for the most part - she was kind. First of all, there are a lot of Japanese fast food places - but they are better than run of the mill McDonald's or Burger King. They make their burgers fresh - what a concept. So even though we frequented quite a few Mos Burger and Lotteria restaurants, the food was actually pretty good and I enjoyed it. Plus, it was definitely kinder to my wallet than always going to a sit down restaurant.

I am thankful for the first real dinner my friend took me to, for it was there that I tried one of my favorite snacks today - edamame. Before that winter in 2003, I never had the little green soybean, nor did I really have interest. Well, as soon as we sat down my friend asked for edamame, I think. Or else they just brought it. I can't remember that detail. But anyway, the dish full of bright green edamame arrived and my friend urged me to try one. I picked it up hesitantly... they were in their shell so it was fuzzy to the touch...and I really wasn't one for "health food" back then. But, I tried it. Chewing slowly, I still wasn't sure about the taste, but I kept eating. By the time I left Japan, 9 days later, I was an edamame pro and basically ordered it anytime I went to a Japanese restaurant back in the States. Today I force my husband into trying them and I think they are growing on him too, even though he likes to say he doesn't like them much. (Meanwhile, I put them in my quinoa cakes and he liked those just fine!) I love to buy edamame from Trader Joe's and bring it as a snack to work - it's easy to pack and they are filling and healthy little beans.

There were many other food experiences I had while in Japan. I ate some real Japanese tempura, which was excellent!! I was taken to an "Italian" restaurant and served pizza...which had mayonnaise on it. Talk about weird... it grew on my friend but it was a little too much for me - give me a real NY slice any day! I was taken to a few Izakaya's - this is a place where you basically keep ordering lots of small dishes while hanging out with a group of friends over several hours. I remember eating a lot of gyoza - Japanese for dumplings. They were amazing!! We also ordered sukiyaki (thinly sliced beef) and cooked it at our table.

Lastly, one place I fell in love with was Mr. Donuts. YUM! Japanese donuts are more chewy than the ones here in America...and definitely less sweet. But boy, are they delicious. If you ever find yourself in Japan, head there and check out some of the interesting flavors.

So my friend was able to give me a true Japanese experience, despite me not liking sushi. I know this is a common fear a lot of non-sushi eaters have about going to Japanese restaurants here in America or visiting the country. But there really is plenty to eat between dumplings, "fresh" fast food, tempura and mayonnaise filled pizza! (There ARE more foods than those 4 things, don't you worry).

And if you were anything like me, you'd come back to the US searching for Japanese grocery stores to find some of the yummy new foods you tried. I found one where I lived at the time and bought a HUGE bag of the gyoza dumplings. Though - I cooked them using a spatula...not with chopsticks like my friend made me do in Japan, where I promptly burned each one to a crisp because I had no idea how to cook using little sticks as tools. Leave that skill to the pros!!