Hyde Park
January 10, 2012

tuna tataki

Usually thai food is something I have to be in the mood for, but Wild Ginger is something my mood seems to crave more and more these days. Granted I’ve only ventured to this alluring restaurant in Hyde Park a handful of times, yet each visit makes me wish the return trips came at a higher frequency.

Recently I went with a few girlfriends who were in town over the holiday break. I was given the task of picking the restaurant, and after narrowing down the search with a little eenie meenie miney mo, the dart landed on Wild Ginger.

We were seated at a table in the back, on the other side of the divider as the hibachi grill, which is something I must hold myself to trying the next go round. Being the holiday season and all, I ordered myself a split of Prosecco. The other two in my party ordered varying kinds of fruit infused martinis.

rainbow roll

I started with the tuna tataki, an appetizer made of thinly sliced tuna seared on the outside, served with ponzu sauce. Memory served me correctly and I was happy to taste this dish once again. My partner in crime went with a traditional rainbow roll and was equally satisified. There is nothing like the look of sushi when the alternating orange of the salmon, red of the tuna, green from the avocado, and white from the yellowtail gleam brightly of freshness.

ginger chicken stir fry

chicken pad thai

Turns out one split of champagne would not be enough, so I decided to pop open another bottle. For it twas the season. Before I could cheers the table with a resounding l’chaim, my ginger chicken stir fry (spicy level No. 6) arrived at the table. To my right was a dish of Pad See Ew (wide rice noodles stir-fried in a soy sauce with egg, broccoli, and carrots in a soy sauce). On the spicy level it came as a four. Finally, the person across from me ordered chicken pad thai, spice level zero. I used to be very opposed to hot things, the whole red pepper flake revolution was out of my comprehension level, until one day it clicked. And once that happens, there is no turning back from Mr. Hot and Spicy. While I can empathize with my friend Zero, even in my former life, I still would have had my palate in the game, as opposed to the sidelines of the Scoville Scale.

the hibachi stir fry master

Thankfully this group of gals is none too shy about joining the clean plate club so we ate our weight in thai that night. And while we didn’t leave any room for dessert, we forged a promise that next time we are all in town a return trip to Wild Ginger is in order. For that upcoming occasion we plan to be front and center when the hibachi stir fry master flips a few shrimp into his jacket pocket. Cue the applause.

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