Mizu Sushi & Hibachi Restaurant

A new hibachi and sushi restaurant called Mizu, just opened up across from Cracker Barrel this week. I've driven by a few times to check it out since I heard that there would be a new hibachi spot coming soon. I heard they were open so I had to get over there and check it out. It's in the building that was originally called The Rib Crib.

The staff was friendly and sat us immediately in a booth. The woman brought menus and a sheet of paper for the all-you-can-eat lunch of sushi and hibachi. It's encouraged to only order one of everything at first, and then ordering more when you are done so food isn't wasted. The food comes pretty quickly so it wasn't a problem for me. There are salads, appetizers, sushi, hibachi, fried rice and Japanese noodle dishes.

Starting off I chose the green salad that comes with ginger dressing. There were other options, too, including a cucumber salad and couple others. I also chose some crab rangoons and chicken dumplings. Each item came out quickly. My husband and I shared the appetizers and also ordered some chicken fried rice. I enjoyed everything and appreciated that it all came so quickly, especially during lunch. The crab rangs reminded me of the money bags at Tuptim Thai only a little crispier. The sauce was sweet, but not real thick like that bright pinkish red
sweet and sour sauce and I enjoyed it. The dumplings came with a sauce of its own and was pretty tasty, too. Everything was hot and fresh.

Next came the thin Japanese noodles and my hubs got the steak hibachi so we could share and get a little bit of both. I got the chicken noodles and the portion was just right. Because of the set up and it being all you can eat, I appreciated the smaller portions so I could have a little bit of everything. Also, once you finish you can always order more if you still want it. The steak hibachi came with
a good portion of meat, sauteed veggies and some fried rice. Again, the portions aren't heaping but they are still generous, and there is the option to order more for up to two hours. We still had sushi on its way so I knew I would still need to save some room for that and didn't order additional portions.

The last thing to come was the sushi. We ordered a spicy tuna roll, a volcano roll and a rainbow roll. The volcano roll was my favorite even though it was pretty spicy, at least for me who is pretty sensitive to spicy foods. This one also looked pretty cool because it was cut differently and stood up to resemble a volcano with the red sauces dripping down the sides as if it has just erupted. The rainbow roll was good, and the spicy tuna roll was alright. I wasn't a fan of the spicy tuna roll because it had too much of the crunchy stuff that's usually on top, on the inside. Maybe if it just had less crunchy stuff I would have liked it better, I just didn't like this one. Other than that the sushi was fresh and full of bold flavors. That volcano roll I would recommend to anyone who wants to try something a little different.


For $12.99 at lunch I felt like the price was perfect for what can be ordered. There is a two hour time limit, but who has two hours to eat lunch most days? I get full pretty fast, too, so I don't even need an hour. I think it would be the perfect place to take a group of friends and order everything on the menu and share it and hang out for awhile. I'm excited that it's local and right down the street and I look forward to returning soon. The dinner for 2 is $30, which is a great price, especially for a date night or a night out with friends.

A Taste of Holton: Trails Cafe

 I grew up eating at Trails Cafe in Holton, but it's been quite awhile (and a change in ownership), since I've been there for dinner. Ryan wanted a catfish dinner and we were already visiting family in Mayetta, and we remembered

Catfish dinner

seeing a sign there for a catfish dinner a few weeks ago, so we went for it.

The hostess sat us in the main dining room as soon as we walked in. In the middle, there's a salad bar and a few other tables along the walls. One wall has Jackson County Fair posters from the past 20 plus years, which I thought was cool because it was like looking back over the years. The rest of the walls are covered with various posters with silly sayings on them, concert announcements and a lot of Three Stooges-inspired art. Mostly, the walls were the same since I was a kid, with a few new additions.

For an appetizer we ordered the bacon cheese fries. The fries were crispy, the cheese melty and the bacon smoky. This was served with a huge bowl of ranch -- I'm not kidding, there was enough ranch there to eat with my fries, dress mine and Ryan's salads and still have some left over. I just can't imagine eating that much ranch, but I know people do it. So all you ranch lovers out there, keep that in mind when visiting the Trails Cafe in Holton, Kansas. I liked this dish, and the size was just perfect for the two of us to enjoy.

I ordered the country fried steak dinner with mashed potatoes and a trip to the salad bar. The salad bar is good, fresh and you can find some good composed salads on it. I would skip the potato salad unless you just love dill. I like dill, but that's all I tasted when eating this particular potato salad. The macaroni salad reminded me of the stuff you can buy at the grocery store, and I love that stuff, so I got a generous portion of it. The salad greens was an iceberg mix, there were cucumbers, onions, green peppers, cheese and a variety of other toppings for salads. The only thing missing was tomatoes, but I don't think I remember there ever being tomatoes on that salad bar. The broccoli salad is always good -- it had raisins, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, all tossed in a creamy, apple-cidery vinaigrette.

The country fried steak was about what I'd expect most places -- a frozen patty, deep-fried and smothered with white gravy. I don't think they make their gravy from scratch, either, but it's still good. The mashed potatoes were whipped and fluffy, buttery and not lumpy, but that led me to believe they may be from a box, which, isn't a bad thing, just a note. The steak was cooked perfectly crispy and I loved dipping it in the creamy mashed potatoes and gravy.

Ryan's catfish dinner looked pretty amazing. He said it reminded him of fish fries he went to when he was a kid. He also said something about his only complaint being that it had bones in it and he couldn't eat those, (haha). But seriously, if you want catfish and you don't like the bones, Trails also has an option for boneless catfish.

Even though I was stuffed, I still ordered dessert, but to go. Since it's summer and strawberries are
everywhere, I thought I 'd give their strawberry shortcake a try. I wasn't disappointed. I ordered it to go, so I also asked the waiter if I could get the shortcake in a separate container and he was happy to oblige. When I got home and at my dessert, I was not let down. I'm pretty confident they whip their own whipped cream, no container whipped topping, and they sugar their own fresh strawberries, too. I don't think it's just bought whipped topping because by the time I made it home and put my dessert together, the cream had fallen just a bit and was more creamy than whip-creamy, which was fine because it still tasted amazing. The pound cake is bought, but it's a good product -- it held up to the strawberry syrup and still tasted sweet and firm, not mushy.

The menu features many different salads, soup, chili, sandwiches and various homestyle meals. You can find their menu on their website, http://www.trails-cafe.com/.

Like I said before, I've been going to Trails Cafe for years, so this won't be my last visit. I'm never let down, and the service is always friendly. If you're up north a ways, check it out.

Burger Stand - Fish Sandwich

I've recently re-visited Burger Stand and I have to say, I wasn't impressed.

With it being Lent, I decided to go for the fish option to see what they had to offer.  I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, mostly because it's a burger joint, not a seafood restaurant. That being said, I was expecting it to be good. And that's all it really was, was good.



I ordered their regular French fries and the hubs ordered some onion rings with his burger so we could share. The fries were tasty as usual -- crispy, salty and not too greasy. The onion rings are probably frozen and fried on site, but they were good.

Now on to the fish sandwich.

The fish sandwich comes with a spicy remoulade sauce -- which I didn't find to be very hot -- tartar sauce, pickle relish, tomatoes and lettuce. It's served on one of their normal buns, which is soft and chewy, but crispy on the bottom where it was obviously grilled.

My problem with the fish sandwich is that the fish was two thin pieces of fish stacked on top of each other. It seems to me that there was more breading than fish. By the time I was halfway finished with my sandwich, the breading was mushy from the sauce and I felt like I was eating mushy-bread-tartar sauce. By the end of it, I could hardly find any fish, it was all breading and bun and sauce. Plus, it just didn't stay together well. It was a sliding mess.

My idea of a good fish sandwich is one that has lots of fish in it, and yeah, it can be breaded but I would hope there's less breading than actual meat. Maybe these fish planks would have been good, just not in a sandwich. The fish itself was good, I just don't think it was good for a sandwich.

Burger Stand is a great place to eat, I just wasn't happy with this particular sandwich. Every Monday is half price for Washburn Students and Wednesdays is half price for teachers. They have all kinds of events going on there throughout the week, especially during the Washburn semesters.

I plan to return, I just don't plan to ever get the fish sandwich again.

Paisano's Revisited

Paisano's Ristorante is one of my favorites in Topeka. I go there frequently and am rarely disappointed. That being said, my previous visit left me slightly so.

The service was a little slow, but I realize it's a sit-down, nice restaurant where people go to take their time and relax. But, this server was just slow, even when we were obviously ready to go. Normally I am not bothered by slow service but this just seemed ridiculous.

Roman Twins

The first thing I noticed when the food was brought out was that the servers weren't grating cheese on our food as they usually did. Instead, they were bringing out bowls of pre-shredded cheese to use for the entire meal. I asked our waitress when they started doing this and she said it's been a few months. I guess it has been a few months since my last visit... Ok. I wasn't impressed with the change. Although the server assured me it was the same cheese, only now it was grated in the kitchen in bulk, I was skeptical.  It didn't seem to melt like the other freshly grated cheese, and maybe it was because it wasn't as fine of a grate as it had been before. Either way, I didn't like it. (Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.)

The food was good, as usual. I've never had bad food at Paisano's. This time I ordered the Roman Twins, my favorite dish. A combination of sausage canneloni and cheese manicotti in a cheesy tomato sauce, it's my comfort food. Creamy, string-cheesy and seasoned just right, I love dipping my breadsticks in the sauce. The mozzarella cheese inside the manicotti is stringy and elastic, like good pizza cheese. Love it.

I decided to take some tiramisu home with me. The marscarpone cream was light and creamy with coffee soaked ladyfingers underneath. Everything was as it should be and the coffee flavor was there but not overpowering.

Even though the cheese isn't grated fresh any more, I will be returning. It's disappointing when restaurants for convenience over quality, but as long as it stops with the cheese.

Here's a link to my previous review: http://tastingtopeka.blogspot.com/2015/01/paisanos-revisited.html