Thu - October 30, 2003

Yang Kee Noodle


A Restaurant review of Yang Kee Noodle, a new establishment at Oxmoor Center.

A couple of weeks ago, I happened upon a restaurant review on a local website for a new place at Oxmoor Mall. I don't really remember what it said about the place, just remember the name caught my attention. Now, normally this can be a dangerous way to pick a restaurant, considering my sad experience at the Alien Inn or whatever it was called in Salida, Colorado a couple years back. (If you haven't heard the story, ask me to tell it sometime).

Well, we hopped in the RAV and roared up to Oxmoor and after a stop at The Sharper Image store we preceded up to the food court, but couldn't find anything resembling a noodle shop, so we had to reconnoiter a bit to find it. We weren't having too much luck, so I had to bite the bullet and check the mall directory (insert your own comment about guys and the trouble we have asking directions (hey, it's an X-chromosome thing, we can't help it)) and finally located it down by Galyans.

It seems that noodle shops have become quite the thing in Asia the last few years and have started popping up in trendier places in this country, and Yang Kee Noodle appears to be the first such place in Louisville as far as I know. If this isn't right, someone correct me.

Yang Kee Noodle is tucked in tight by the Galyans entrance and across from Willis Music, so it has a mall entrance and an entrance from the parking lot. The outside entrance sports a few tables on the sidewalk for al fresco dining in warmer weather. The interior was more spacious than I thought it would be. The order/pickup counter is by the mall entrance and you can look through the window by that door to watch the cooks preparing the food. The tables are made out some light-colored plywood laminate which makes for a bright decor, but this didn't really impress me. Likewise, the trend for open ceilings with exposed ductwork is one I wish would go away, but, at least Yang Kee softens the look with wooden slats over the dining area. Lighting were those ultra-contemporary little lights hanging down from two cross running power supply wires. While such lighting works in a place like Harpers, here it look out of place and maybe just a tad pretentious considering the rest of the decor. On the day we were there, it was quite warm outside and the outside doors were open and a large fan was running loudly up in the ceiling someplace, and though it may have been keeping the air comfortable in the restaurant, it made conversation almost impossible. So, the atmosphere, though several cuts above mall food court standard, still needs work in my opinion -- 6 out 10 score.

Food is ordered at the counter and you are given a felt flag on a stick and you go find someplace to sit. The wait staff brings it out in 8 to 10 minutes (not the 15 minutes they tell you at the counter). Meals are served in square black plastic bowls that resemble Japanese lacquerware. I should warn you, they are large bowls with very generous portions and they are not skimpy with the meat in their meals. Their dishes utilize a variety of noodles: egg, wheat and rice noodles. They also offer dishes served with Jasmine rice. Meats include beef, pork, chicken and shrimp, and several of the dishes can be prepared vegetarian style. Cuisines that Yang Kee borrows from are Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean.

I decided on the Bonsai Beef ($7.45), which was strips of sirloin with broccoli and water chestnuts in a soy-ginger sauce over jasmine rice. The meat was very tender and the veggies and sauce quite flavorful. The Jasmine rice was a pleasant surprise, quite aromatic and tasty. The portion was almost too big for me, but my one real complaint was even though it started out tasty and almost mild, it had a delayed spiciness that kept building till it was almost Thai hot at the end. Fortunately, unlike most places that go for the hot with no other redeeming quality other than pure heat, this was hot that didn't overwhelm the flavor. All in all, quite good.

As a side-note. the Bonsai Beef is NOT listed as a spicy dish. The Firecracker Chicken ($7.45), Long-Life Noodles $6.45), Classic Pad Thai ($6.95) and Island Green Curry ($7.95) ARE listed as Spicy (with a little flame symbol), so be forewarned.

Lynda decided on the Wild Pepper Pork ($7.95) which was sautéed pork, crispy tofu and mushrooms seasoned with Szechuan peppercorns tossed with udon (a wheat noodle). She said it was very good and while spicy, not nearly as hot as my dish. The downside was the mushrooms were a little strange to her taste (think she meant texture-wise, but not sure). Her meal was washed down with Thai Iced Tea ($1.99) which is brewed red tea with sweetened milk. They also had Vietnamese Iced Coffee ($2.25), soft drink and bottled water ($1.39), juice drinks ($1.79), coffee ($1.25) and hot tea ($1.75).

Before you leave, try the Sayonara Sweet Roll ($.99), an egg roll filled with cream cheese and lightly fried and served with chocolate and/or tangerine sauce. Very tasty light dessert.

Yang Kee Noodle also has wraps, spring and steam rolls and satays. The childrens menu includes Canton Chicken Fingers ($3.25); Peking PBJ ($2.65) which is sweet dough stuffed with peanut butter and grape jelly, then lightly fried; Yang Kee Noodles and Cheese ($2.95) their variation on mac and cheese.

The menu says they offer curb service, just call ahead, park out front and they'll wok it out to your car.

Bottom line:
Value - nine out of ten.
Food - nine out of ten.

Hours:
Monday-Thursday 11 am - 10 pm
Friday-Saturday 11 am - 11 pm
Sunday 11:30 am - 9 pm

phone 502.426.0800.
fax 502.426.9080

Posted at 11:50 AM     Read More  


Thu - November 6, 2003

Smokey Bones BBQ


New BBQ in the Taylorhurst area.

Think I'll start off this review by letting you know that I prefer comfort food, and that I am as likely to give a simple restaurant that serves it as high or higher rating that some fancy Continental fine dining establishment or a trendy new Pacific Rim joint. Ok, that being said and out of the way, I guess I'll go ahead and get into this review.

For the past few months we have been watching a restaurant being built at the Taylorhurst corner, kinda wedged in between the new Shane Co. building, Borders bookstore and Longhorn Steakhouse (good steak place, will be doing a review on them soon). It opened a little more than a month ago and we have just been waiting a bit for them to get the new place kinks worked out before we went in, besides that, every time we have been to Borders and looked at their parking lot, the joint has been packed. Last night we were in the neighborhood, so we decided to take the plunge.

We parked and were a bit concerned, because once again the lot was full. Hungry as we were we, thought, just how long is the wait for a table gonna be? We walked in, gave our smoking preference (non) and were lead to our table.

The place is turned out in an ersatz Lodge style with varnished pine log beams and pine plank trusses supporting a green painted particleboard vaulted ceiling. Most and perhaps all the seating were booths with board backs and well padded vinyl seats of a deep green (I thought they were black, but am told they were green) and fairly large tables. There is a bar area near the kitchen with numerous TVs overhead (with a switchbox speaker at each booth so you can listen to whatever TV you want). Over the kitchen pass-thru there is a large brightly lit panoramic picture from someplace out in the Rockies. Not fancy, but comfortable and well done for a chain establishment. My only real complaint is the noise is bad enough to make conversation difficult, especially for someone like myself who has spent too many years in a loud white noise environment. So if you are ever in there with me, speak up!! Atmosphere rates a 6 because of the noise level.

The place mat is your menu. If you would like to see the menu, it is available on their website here, only the prices are about 50 cents higher than on their site. The wait-staff is fast and courteous. Hostess left us and the waiter was right there to get our drink orders and had them back to us in what seemed like seconds. On refills, it seemed like you would set your empty glass down just as he brought you a fresh one. I know this may seem like a trivial point, but this is the sort of service I grew up expecting in a restaurant and have really missed in most places the last few years. When we were ready to order the waiter returned like he had been watching and could sense we were ready. I was watching the other waiters and waitresses, and this seemed to be standard operating procedure for them. A big thumbs up for the wait-staff. Service gets a 10.

I ordered the Cheddar Burger (yeah I know, I go to rib joint and order a burger, but I DON"T do pork) that I turned into a Platter by adding Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, couple of slices of Garlic Bread and Cole Slaw. The cole slaw brings me to a bone I have to pick with certain restaurants; what is this deal with using LETTUCE in cole slaw? I mean it adds a strange taste to the slaw, and good slaw is hard to do without funkifying the taste that way, and it screws up the texture. I know it is to save money, but when you go to a place where the prices are higher than they need to be for what you get (yeah, you know who you are Steak 'n' Shake), trying to cheap your way through with lettuce in your slaw just ain't right. It should be creamy, made with fresh cabbage and include celery seeds and thankfully, that is what you get here. Ok that was the end of my cole slaw rant, for now.

Lynda ordered 1/2 Rack of St. Louis Style Ribs with Mashed Potatoes & Gravy and Fresh Steamed Broccoli. This comes as a Platter with two sides and the Grilled Garlic Bread.

We didn't have to wait too long for our order. Since I had ordered my burger well done, our waiter made a point to come out to tell us that the food would be out in about three minutes because the burger had to cook a little longer and sure enough, three minutes almost on the nose, the food was sitting on our table, steaming hot and looking and smelling wonderful. The burger done to perfection, cooked till the pink had just disappeared in the middle but still very juicy, not like the dried out hockey pucks I have suffered through because I like meat actually cooked. The spuds were mashed with the skin on and were thick yet creamy with a good buttery taste, and you already know about the slaw, Lynda said the broccoli was excellent. OK, since this is a rib place, I saved that for last. Lynda rated it a 15 on our 10 scale. Absolutely the best she has had in this town and maybe the best all-time. They were juicy, melt-in-your-mouth tender, with no fat or gristle and the sauce they were cooked in was so good that they didn't need either of the two sauces that were available on the table (a tomato-based honey bar-b-que sauce and a mustard-based bar-b-que sauce) though she said they were both very good when she sampled them. She pronounced these ribs much better than at her other favorite rib joints (Rafferty's and Tony Roma's).

For dessert we were enticed to try their bag of Cinnamon Sugar Donuts. They were supposed to be like donuts as funnel cakes. They were tasty, but quite a bit heavier and denser than I expected, so, rate them a disappointment. (On a dissenting note, Lynda disagrees with my assessment of the donuts. While they were a little heavier than expected, she said they were damn tasty and she would order them again.) Overall, the food rates a 9, but leave the donuts off and you have a 10. Will have to try the Apple Cobbler a la mode next time.

As you can see on their menu they offer entrée-size salads, several sandwiches, steaks and fish, as well as a small choice of wines and beers (drafts and bottled). Not on their online menu is a beer by our local Bluegrass Brewing Company (Dark Star Porter) on the Draft selection.

All in all, a pleasant and filling evening.

I do not at this time have the restaurant's hours or phone numbers.

Posted at 05:59 PM     Read More  

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