Restaurant Name: Green Sprout Restaurant and Bakery

Location: 102 N. Chauncey Ave., West Lafayette, IN? (map it)

Phone: (765) 269-7393?

Cuisine: Korean

Review: Whenever I get the opportunity to dine out without children, I immediately start searching for places that I’ve never been because I love trying new restaurants. I remembered from back when I reviewed Maru and Fiesta Mexican Grill that there was some kind of bakery place in that area and thought tonight would be a good chance to try it out.

It’s on Chauncey Avenue, just down the street from Noodles and Company. When we arrived, it was fairly empty. It’s a casual environment, tables along a wall with a big bench and big comfy pillows along the bench. In the center of the restaurant was a table of fresh baked bread choices. The entire place was bright and airy with high ceilings and lovely colors. And also, very clean. I tend to check out the floors in restaurants, because often they are just disgusting, but these were quite clean.

It’s not a fancy place. You order at the counter and they bring the food to your table on trays. The food is served on paper plates for the most part. Their main draw is something called a Sushi Salad. It’s layers of sushi rice, shredded cooked egg, cucumber, seaweed with your choice of avocado,  shrimp, mushroom, eel, or tuna and your choice of sauces like spicy mayo, wasabi mayo, sweet sauce, kimchi sauce, and soy sauce.

They also offer a variety of hot choices served with steamed rice, the most popular being the Spicy Peanut Chicken. I ordered the spicy chicken and my husband got the sushi salad, so we could try the two specialties.  We also got a pot of green tea to share.

I really enjoyed my spicy chicken. It was exactly as advertised. My husband also really liked his sushi salad. The tea was also very good. We dined with a friend who ordered teriyaki chicken and some kind of beef dish, served with rice, and she was not as pleased as we were with our entrees. Whether that’s because the food wasn’t good or because it didn’t suit her tastes remains to be seen.

Because they claim daily fresh baked breads, I felt like I needed to try the bread before leaving. I went up to the register and had the clerk explain what all the different breads were. The choices included multi-grain cream cheese bread, red bean soboro, regular soboro, and something with coffee in it. I chose the one the clerk recommenced, the soboro bread. It was delicious. It had the consistency and taste of a croissant, but was shaped more like an extra large cookie and was topped with a crumbly topping that tasted almost like a peanut butter cookie. I really liked it.

Overall, I think it’s a nice casual place for a quick meal. I’ll definitely go again.

Kid friendly: It was definitely casual and kid friendly as far as the environment goes. I believe I even saw high chairs. Whether kids will eat their offerings, that will have to be up the parents to decide.

Price Range: We ended up paying about $22 for two meals, hot tea, and bread.

Restaurant Name: O-ishi Shabu Shabu * Noodles * Grill

Location: 213 E. State Street, West Lafayette, IN (map it)

Phone: (765) 743-3838.

Hours:Noon to 11 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 10 p.m. Sunday

Cuisine: Asian

Review: While driving through West Lafayette the other day, I noticed a new restaurant in the River Market, where Sofra, the Turkish restaurant, used to be.  So I immediately came home and started searching for more information about this place, and lo and behold, there is none!  I am willing to bet I’ll be the number one hit in Google for this restaurant very soon.

The O-ishi menu claims “The word O-ishi in Japanese means Delicious, at O-ishi we serve all kinds of delicious foods from many different places in Asia.  We picked the things that we love the most ourselves and we hope you would enjoy it too.”

And they aren’t lying, they do have quite items ranging from all over Asia, starting with the Malaysian appetizer to the Japanese noodle soups.

The restaurant itself is quite small and casual.  It has a number of small tables and some booths, and was fairly vacant when we arrived.  However, by the time we left there wasn’t an empty seat in the house.  The place was nicely decorated if a bit sparse but the furnishings were nice and the place was clean.

The menu wasn’t expansive.  It had two appetizers, some grill items like Teriyaki chicken, some noodle bowls and then their “pot platters.”  Each table has a warming unit where they bring out a pot of water.  You pick your meat and then you boil your own meat at your table. This is served with rice, vegetable, and soup.

I was really curious about the “Oishi Dango” appetizer, so I ordered what was promised to be Japenese beef, pork, and shrimp balls with chili sauce.  And they were in fact, just meat balls – two of each kind of meat.  With the chili sauce. They weren’t bad.  They were very spicy but the texture of the balls was similar to spam and kind of eeked me out.

I ordered the chicken teriyaki, which is generally a safe bet.  How hard is it to slap some teriyaki sauce on some chicken and throw it on the grill? I would give the teriyaki chicken a thumbs up, it was very tasty. My husband ordered the Shabu Noodles, which came out as a giant bowl of soup full of the same meatballs from the appetizer, Ramen noodles, some kind of boiled meat, tofu, and some vegetables.  It came with a side of dipping sauce.  Just looking at it scared me.  He ate it and said it as okay, but nothing exceptional.

What stood out at O-ishi, though, was the service.  They had one waiter for the entire restaurant.  There were only two other couples there when we arrived, and it still took forever to place our orders.  When finally the Shabu Noodles came out, my teriyaki chicken was still not ready.  The server explained it would be right out, but it was not. In fact, it was quite some time before the chicken was ready. The restaurant was also very cold and I spent the entire meal shivering.

I may be the only person whose experience wasn’t great because as I said, the whole place was filled by the time we left.  But overall, it didn’t inspire me to go back again anytime soon.

Kid friendly: Yes/No. It was casual and there was a child there when we arrived, but there is no children’s menu and the food may be a bit scary for some kids.

Methods of payment: Cash or credit.

Related Links: Journal & Courier Article

Restaurant Name: Gaza Korean Grill

Location: 3457 Bethel Dr, West Lafayette, IN(map it)

Phone: (765) 497-2346

Hours: Mon.-Thurs. 11:00AM-9:30PM, Fri. & Sat. 11:00AM-10:00PM, Sun.11:00AM-9:00PM

Cuisine: Korean

Review: The kids spend a weekend with Grandma and I can’t stop eating out! I decided that sans kids, I was going to eat at new places, especially places that I wouldn’t go with the little ones. In my quest to find somewhere new, I ran across some reviews for a restaurant named Gaza Korean Grill that I’d never heard of. The reviews were all glowing, with mentions of cooking meat right on your table.

I was intrigued. So out we headed. Gaza is kind of out there, way out on Sagamore Parkway, just past McCormick. I’m pretty sure I’ve never been that far out that way before. The restaurant itself doesn’t appear to be much, just a nondescript little spot in a strip mall. Then you walk in and it’s actually quite swanky! Small, but beautifully decorated and very clean. Half of the restaurant is situated with booths and the other half has tables on what they call a “deck.” When you eat on the deck, you have to remove your shoes and sit on the floor. Technically you have a little chair, but the chair has no legs. When we arrived, all the booths were full, so we were offered to sit on the deck. Ever the adventurous ones, we happily agreed.

Upon sitting at our table, a waitress delivered us some water and offered to answer any questions. It must have been clear that we were newbies, so I asked for more information on the grill your own meat items. She was very sweet and helpful, answering all my questions and explaining how it worked. I didn’t feel like a big dork at all, which is really saying something

To order off the grill menu, you have to have two people at your table do it so we both agreed to grill so we could experience it. I ordered marinated pork and the husband ordered beef brisket. On the table we were equipped with a large spoon and a set of chopsticks for eating utensils. I’ve never claimed to be a master of chop sticks, but I was determined not to ask for a fork. We were given salads to start, after which our traditional Korean sides were delivered. The sides were seaweed, bean sprouts, kimchi, and something else that I can’t remember the name of but was so spicy I quickly downed my entire glass of water. I did try them all, favoring the sprouts and seaweed, but I opted not to eat any more of the side dish I nicknamed “pain!”

Next, our meat was delivered. These were huge heaping plates of meat, and we didn’t even order the unlimited meat meals. The waitress started our grill for us, gave us some directions, and we started grilling. We were also given a tray with four grilling sauces and a bowl of rice each. Apparently you grill your meat, dip it in the sauce, and then toss it onto your bowl of rice and eat

So we immediately got to work cooking our meats, and it was a very good and filling meal. The meat was tasty, the sauces were good, and the process, though difficult at times with chop sticks, was quite fun. I wouldn’t want to go there every night, but it was a fun place to eat. The only downside was that they do not serve alcohol.

Kid Friendly: No.

Methods of Payment: Cash or Credit.