The Zen House

I almost forgot...Son (Andy) and I visited the (only) Japanese Restaurant Duluth has to offer.

Some background for those who don't know: He studies Japanese at college and hopes to get an internship to study in Japan sometime in the next couple semesters....Eventually, he wants to teach English in Japan and live there. It's just a hoot seeing pics of him involved in some of the cultural events the college hosts...He is after all almost 6'2" - and most of his Japanese/Asian classmates are just a little shorter...

Anyways, I digress...We've been wanting to check it out since my friend, Kim, mentioned she likes to go there for Sushi. (Miss you Kim! Wish you could have been there)

Wow!! How cool. We ordered Tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet with vegetable garnish). It was served with rice, vegetable tempura, pickled daikon and miso soup.

First off - let's talk about presentation...it was gorgeous. The plate (I forget the name) is square with individual places for each food. The pork cutlet was sliced in strips and drizzled with a brown liquid...the tempura is deep fried pieces (large) of vegetables - then dipped in their own sauce...yummy....the miso soup had tofu in it (never had tofu before) and sliced scallions...very good.. the remaining part was a potato salad type salad - only the dressing had a distinct flavor (which Andy told me the name, but I don't remember),,,it tasted like horse radish. I love horse radish, Andy wasn't as excited about it.

We then topped off the meal with a frozen banana maki (not sure if I spelled that right or not) - which consisted of frozen banana dunked in dark chocolate and then hardened, then sliced into chunks with each chunk adorned with a dot of fruit sauce on top...again, presentation was awesome...and tasted incredible...

You need to understand that I am a country gal that was brought up on a farm ...so this was really cool for me and it was also really neat to share the experience with Andy.

I must have looked like a "first-timer" because the lady commented on it being my first time here as I paid the bill...don't know what that was all about....