Zen's Pyramid Roll
Restaurant Week promotions are foodie paradise. Multicourse meals for less than the cost of an entree? Sign me up, several times over.
Northampton held its annual event this past week, and when the menus came out, everything looked incredible. Several of the restaurants stepped up their game, incorporating high-end ingredients like lobster and good cuts of steak with lots of variety, like appetizer and dessert samplers. Remember, all three-course meals cost a mere $20.10.
A friend and I chose Zen for our Wednesday night meal. Zen is one of the top Japanese eateries in the Northampton area, but we almost always pass it over in favor of Osaka’s Japanese-French fusion. But Zen’s promo menu, offering a variety of sashimi, noodles, teriyaki and spring rolls, looked amazing.
We started the meal with two appetizer choices: the rock shrimp and the jalapeno carpaccio. Flash-fried and tossed in a spicy chili sauce with a hint of mayonnaise, the crunchy little shrimp were addictive.
Jalapeno carpaccio
But the winner was the carpaccio: three slim slices of halibut, white tuna and yellowtail bathed in a citrusy yuzu sauce and topped with slivers of jalapeno pepper and a dab of sriracha. The fish was tender, fresh and succulent – I wished it had been an entree in itself.
We both opted for the Pyramid roll, six massive maki pieces overstuffed with rice, spicy tuna/crab/scallop/salmon, avocado and asparagus. It was topped with tempura crunch and a drizzle of syrupy eel sauce. Lots of exciting flavors here, but I’ve never been a fan of the rolls that require jaw unhinging for consumption. Less is more.
(Side note, I once ate a spider roll in front of my sushi-unaware mother, who suggested I ‘cut it with a knife and fork’ before eating it. She got the WTF glare.)
Dessert was unremarkable, as it sometimes tends to be at Asian restaurants (and Restaurant Week at that.) The apple-cinnamon spring roll was cold, stale and forgettable, but my dining partner liked her open-faced chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich.
More disappointing was my wine choice, a lukewarm Tukulu Chenin Blanc from South Africa. I tried an excellent Sula Chenin Blanc at our favorite Indian restaurant a few months ago, but apparently not all CBs are created equal.
I’m still thinking about that carpaccio, though. So, successful visit.
On Thursday, we ventured to Spoleto for their Italian-influenced Restaurant Week menu. Stay tuned.
Leeanne Griffin is a freelance writer and food enthusiast.
I’m bummed out that we didn’t make it up there last week. That carpaccio sounded great from what you said and the pictures obviously back that up. I remember seeing that on the menu the last time we were there and being intrigued, but what you got didn’t match what I had in mind (and not in a bad way). Usually carpaccio refers to raw meat while sashimi is the term for raw fish, but either way it’s just semantics. I see the yuzu sauce used on shows like Top Chef a lot and it’s something I also want to try – did that balance out the heat from the jalapeno/sriacha combo?
Actually, carpaccio just refers to the style of cooking – meat or fish pounded or sliced thin and served as an appetizer. (You’ll see it as tataki sometimes on sushi menus, I think)
There wasn’t too much heat with the jalapeno and sriracha, which is good for someone who doesn’t like tons of spice. The yuzu was fresh and light. Really delicious.
[...] Left scarred by this experience, I was a bit guarded when we made reservations at Spoleto, Northampton’s highly regarded and popular Italian restaurant. But the droolworthy menu won me over. Besides that, I was looking for some wine redemption after the miss at Zen. [...]