Hi-YA Hi-Bachi

Japanese Food, Burlington VT

There were murmurs, statements and tall-tales of quality food coming out of Koto, the Japanese Steak House on Shelburne Road. Par for the course I was not buying it, but my friend had a birthday and Koto was her choice of restaurants.

Growing up I remember going to the hibachi steak house when we visited my grandparents in Florida. Every year it was my idea to go and every year I left disappointed at my meal. With the table-side chef and flaming food, hibachi was always an experience, but the flavors never quite lived up to my expectations.

With the memory of disappointed youth weighing on me I attended dinner at Burlington’s only hibachi steak house, Koto. I decided sushi was the way to go since the thought of soy flavored, dry meat was unshakable.

The third person in our party decided she’d go for the gold and ordered the steak hibachi dinner, she even went so far as to ask for it medium well, which in my opinion is no way to eat a steak. But I was happy because with her dinner came a show case of flaming excellence and little did I know at the time, sheer perversion.

I swear they must have hand selected our chef specifically for us; no sooner had he rolled his little food cart over than he was squirting sake into every ones mouth. He also came prepared with a little peeing clay figure of an Asian boy, when heated and doused in sake it literally peed across the hibachi grill onto our vegetables. He then formed our fried rice into a lovely heart that was quickly fashioned into a penis while he thrust his hips at us. He was one entertaining gentleman who tailored his routine to the needs of the table. Sexy for the ladies, tamed for kiddies. After all it is a family restaurant.

While I must say my spicy tuna hand roll was rather delicious, I didn’t hold a flame (no pun intended) to my friends steak. Fortunately for me, she had more than she could eat. I was practically knocking the birthday girl out of the way to get to our friends plate. It has only been a week since our Koto experience and I have already started campaigning for another visit, soon.

I highly recommend Koto, even if you don’t like Asian food you will not be disappointed with the steak. The party we shared the table with ordered a mix of seafood and it also looked drool-worthy.

Wow, for a change I don’t actually have an NYC comparison for you, but I will be down there next month so who knows.

BYOB, Can’t beat the prices.

Thai Food, Burlington VT

It probably gets old hearing me compare every piece of food I pop in my mouth to its New York City counter part, but what can I say it’s my best basis of comparison.

So in keeping with that tradition allow me to recommend Tiny Thai for a perfectly prepared Thai dinner at bargain basement prices. If you’ve ever been to Indian food on 6th street between 1st and 2nd avenue or New Pasteur my favorite Vietnamese in Manhattan you’ll truly appreciate this Winooski favorite. Although Tiny Thai lacks the redhot chilli pepper lights and tinsel decoration hanging from the likes of Milon Indian Restaurant, it hits the mark with BYOB, authentic cuisine and cheap prices. Besides, what it lacks in shiny tin foil it makes up for with smiling piggies.

One tip for the Vermont diner is get there early, they close at 9PM. While they will seat you if you cut it close to closing, you may end up eating your dessert before you dinner.

Seven Days Reviews Tiny Thai

Over Easy

Breakfast Food, Burlington VT

After a long night out on the 3rd of July, celebrating the birth of our nation, all I wanted were eggs! My friends agreed, greasy food was in order. So I listed off all of my favorite Burlington breakfast places: Pennyclause, Sneakers, Magnolia’s (A name I will be crucified for listing because it doesn’t yet have a wait for a table), Henry’s and Oasis.

My companions called for CHEAP and NO lines, so that left us with Oasis or Henry’s. We made our way down to Oasis because it has a bit more atmosphere, with the old tin exterior and counter that stretches the length of the whole place, featuring red vinyl stools that spin.

After a short wait we were ushered or more pointed in the direction of our table. My friend notes I that our waitress had been working their since she was in college, back in the late 90’s. I promptly one up her with “She’s been here at least since I was in high school, probably longer.” Take that.

The system at Oasis works as follows: customer sits, waitress throws silverware and water on the table screaming “Who wants coffee?”. The customer yells out the desired number of coffees, while holding up the corresponding number of fingers, coffees arrive anywhere from 2 seconds to 10 minutes later. Cream and condiments follow shortly. The waitress takes the order while the customer frantically spurts it out trying to keep the ball moving; waitress asks friend’s husband what he wants to drink other than water and the drink is immediately brought over.

Now here is the tricky part, the waitress does not submit a ticket or tap the order into a fancy little computer. No, she waits to hear the chef yell “WHO’S NEXT” and then jumps in with her order. A pretty good system if the other waitress is nice enough to wait her turn because your waitress has just gotten another table and is frenzied trying to get their exact number of coffees down.

We were not so lucky. Our poor waitress kept getting beaten to the punch 1 order, 2 orders, “Who’s next?”, 3 orders! Finally she had a break in her flow of customers, we hear the chef yelling “Who’s next?” and hold our breath, she makes it!! Our order is in and now we can watch as the cooks prepare our delicious breakfast right before our eyes. Two breakfast burritos and one egg sandwich with bacon. The burritos take a little longer getting to the table due to a brief stint in the microwave. The breakfast sandwich arrives and my friend takes pity on her husband and I, handing us each a piece of bacon. OH BOY, this bacon was made to perfection, all i can think is “WHY, WHY didn’t I order a side of bacon!? Do I dare try to slip the order in as my food arrives? Or will that leave me waiting behind all the other “who’s next orders” that have gone in since mine?”

Before I have too much time to roll the dice and place the order my burrito arrives with a side of homefries (which I could do without) and rye toast smothered in butter just the way I like it. Life is good and I forget all about the bacon.

EYE-talian

Italian Food, Burlington VT

During the 4 years I lived in NYC my best friend (who is a second generation Italian-American), worked for an Italian wine distributor. This meant we ate A LOT of Italian food, read: another reason I was fat post-college.

I also happened to live a block from a wine bar and restaurant she sold to, making the access easy and in turn Italian my favorite food. I moved from NYC to the shores of Lake Tahoe where the Italian was limited, a fact that saddened me on a regular basis.

Returning to Burlington last year in the fall my normal cravings for Italian food started to kick in. Temperatures started to drop and dreams pasta and red wine weighed heavily on my mind. Fortunately my Dad rolled into town and he’s pretty easy to convince when it comes to indulging in a good Italian meal.

We made our way over to Trattoria Delia the space, that I remembered housing What’s Your Beef as a child, had not changed much. It was perfectly suited for a cool fall night and busting with people who agreed. Should you feel a little romance coming on I’d recommend calling ahead and reserving one of the little hide-away tables by the door. You might even be able to get some necking in if you are careful.

Not ones for reservations my Father and I took what we could get, two seats at the bar. We were pleasantly rewarded by a friendly bartender, who not only had working knowledge of the wine (to be expected), but also great insight to the menu. At his suggestion we ordered a salad to start; mixed greens with roasted peppers topped with a grilled smoked mozzarella, it was lust-worthy.

I ordered the Orecchiette con Fricone e Rucola, described on the menu as follows:
“Fricone, dialect of the southern region of Apulia for a fried tomato sauce, made from vine-ripened tomatoes, crushed garlic, a pinch of red pepper and arugula, tossed with an imported handmade ear-shaped pasta and pecorino cheese.”

I think, if given the choice it is the only dish I would ever eat there again. The Trat lives up to the reputation of the little hole-in-the-wall EYE-talian restaurants I used to frequent back in NYC. I think the only person who did not appreciate the food was the lady one stool down. Instead of eating her massive plate of pasta she smushed it too and fro with her fork. She was a fairly skilled fake eater though; had I not had the desire to eat everything in sight, I may have taken notes. Nahh…

I defiantly recommend sitting at the bar, seats are generally available to walk in business. You’ll be able to pick the brain of the bartender and if you are nice he may even kick you an extra glass of wine.

Visiting NYC? Check out a few of my favorites:
Max on Ave B btw 4th & 3rd, hands down best lasagna
Bianca Bleeker Street off of the Bowery, great atmosphere & menu
In Vino 4th Street btw Ave A & B, wine bar with more than enough to chose from