Eat It And Love It is written by 6 friends in Pittsburgh, PA - we have 2 vegetarians, 2 vegans, and 2 omnivores in our group. We don't make any money from the site and do the reviews for fun and to aid others when searching for the perfect spot to eat!
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Julie and I went to dinner with a big group of people last night. This was especially obvious because Chaya is a very small restaurant. While waiting for a table we filled the entire entranceway with only six of us. We were seated shortly after a group of two left and the tables could be pushed together to seat seven. They had many sushi specials. I was happy because they had more then two vegetarian options. They had exactly three. Vegetarian Sushi dinner set, Vegetable Tempura, and Teriyaki Tofu. I opted for the Vegetarian Sushi and Julie had the Vegetable Tempura. With both our meals we received a salad with some edamame on the side, and a bowl of Miso soup. We ate the salads with chopsticks because they are the only utensils available. It was difficult at first, but once I got the hang of eating greens with chopsticks everything else became easy to eat. The soup came with a large soup ladle/spoon. We did not have to use chopsticks for that. My sushi dinner set consisted of a cucumber roll, three “Aburage” which are tofu pockets stuffed with rice, and two things possibly called “Wakame” which is thick seaweed on rice. I had to look up those terms, as I am not a connoisseur of sushi by any means.
The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a traditional Japanese style with asian things on the wall and those rice-paper shoji screens between booths. It was a very well kept establishment. The hostess was wearing a kimono.
One of the most entertaining events of the evening was when my father tried to eat sushi incorrectly. The hostess stopped him, put wasabi on his sushi and fed it to him. This was all in one surprising movement. No one was prepared for it and no picture was taken. Alas.
I don’t know that I will return to Chaya any time soon. I feel I have had what they have to offer as Julie and I shared our dishes with each other, and there are many other places I would like to eat before leaving Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, it was a good meal in a great establishment.
Chaya Japanese Cuisine
2104 Murray Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15217-2106
(412) 422-2082
http://www.chayausa.com/
Posted by Nate at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)
Recently I have been talking about tofu a lot. I remember back in my early days of being a vegetarian when I severely hated tofu. The problem is tofu isn’t easy to make. Good tofu is uncommon, great tofu is exceedingly rare. So the most common tofu is not very good. I decided I should compile a list of my favorite places to get tofu. But not just the place to get it, because I’ve found even though one tofu dish maybe great another can be mediocre. So I am compiling a list of dishes and locations. I will update it as I find more. Also these are listed in no particular order, I consider them all of equal greatness.
1) the Quiet Storm (Pittsburgh) – Graham Street Tofu
2) the Quiet Storm (Pittsburgh) – Tofu Tenders (appetizer)
3) China Palace (Pittsburgh) – Sizziling Tofu
4) Angkor (Pittsburgh) – Crispy Tofu Triangles (appetizer)
5) Angkor (Pittsburgh) – Fresh spring rolls (appetizer)
6) Thai Gourmet (Pittsburgh) – Tao Hu Todd (appetizer)
7) Veggie Planet (Boston) - Tofu Scramble (brunch)
8) Sweet Basil & La Filipiniana (Pittsburgh) – Thai Pumpkin Tofu Curry (Special)
9) Chaya (Pittsburgh) – Tofu Teriyaki
10) Chaya (Pittsburgh) – Inari (Nigiri Sushi)
Feel free to drop a comment listing your favorite tofu dish, or even a tofu related experience. This post will be on the Suggestions page. I will cross-reference it to the restaurants mentioned above also.
Also, check out the Los Angeles Tofu Festival webpage
Posted by Nate at 09:33 PM | Comments (8)