Soma

I'm not going to lie: we wanted to try Soma because we liked the name. Say it aloud: SOOOOMAA. It's fun, and guess what: so is the restaurant.

The menu at Soma is HUGE and very creative. We started with some fun custom cocktails and two pieces of yellowtail with foie gras and Asian pear jam.



Unfortunately, these little pieces weren't particularly easy to eat. The fish was so tender that a chopstick easily cut through it, leaving us with small pieces of fish and large pieces of foie to eat separately. A great idea, but the execution just wasn't perfect.

Another fun idea was the Crazy Irish Man roll. I wish I could remember what was in this little baby; the menu on the website said it has shrimp, but I know that's not true, because my husband is allergic to shrimp and he shared it with me. All I know is that it's green, it's nowhere near traditional sushi, and it's one of the most delicious fried foods I've ever had. And I love fried food.



We also had some yellowtail sashimi. It was fresh, clean, and a good balance to the otherwise insane meal.



Oh, and we had sake. Lots of sake.

Service at Soma was friendly (with the exception of the hostess, who may have been having a bad ... life) and accommodating. Our waitress happily split the bill and gave us plenty of time to examine the massive menu. And although the decor is chic and the food is delicious, the prices aren't too bad either -- this is truly upscale dining that anyone could (and should) enjoy.

Because you can't eat out ALL the time ...

I'm hosting a Tastefully Simple party tomorrow night. What is Tastefully Simple? It's a company that sells delicious,SUPER easy-to-prepare drink, dip, cake and snack mixes through the mail. Everything is very inexpensive and shipping is actually pretty fast. Plus a lot of the items would make great holiday, wedding or housewarming gifts.

If you're interested in ordering online, go to their website, click on "Shop Our Products" and use the Host Lookup to search for my party. Let me or my consultant, Denice Eliades, know if you have any questions. And act fast -- Denice will keep the party "open" for a while, but I don't know how long, so I recommend ordering before the end of the weekend.

And tell your friends!

360 Sports Lounge

FOOTBALL SEASON!! My husband lives for it, and I live with it. Thankfully there are cool places like 360 Sports Lounge to watch football. 360 has everything you could ask for in a sports bar: lots of (big) TVs, friendly staff, plenty of beer, and of course good food.

My husband, some friends and I stopped in to watch the Cowboys play on a Sunday afternoon. The place was packed, as there was also a Texans game on, but the doorman let us have a "reserved" table by the door. We ordered a round of beers and some classic football snacks: sliders, onion rings and the above-pictured buffalo wings. Nothing was amazing in a this-is-where-I-want-to-have-my-last-meal way, but nothing was bad either. I did think that the onion slaw on the sliders was a little too sweet, but I really liked the breading on the onion wings, and the wings were perfectly spicy and very large.

I think I can best "review" 360 by saying this: we're going back this Sunday to watch whatever game is on. If it's too crowded, we'll go somewhere else, and no one will complain. But if we can fit, then we'll eat at 360 -- and we'll have a good time.

Blue Fish

My husband recently got the amazing news that he is no longer allergic to scaled fish. We have spent the past few weeks celebrating by eating as much fish as physically possible. One stand-out find from this quest for fish is Blue Fish, an upscale sushi place a few blocks from his office.

Blue Fish
has plenty of parking, but requires that customers use their (free) valet service, which seems a little silly and unnecessary to me. Once inside, patrons are greeted by a very calming and elegant atmosphere: a neon-blue bar area, taxidermied schools of fish on the walls, and cool music on the sound system. We felt a little under-dressed in our tee shirts and jeans, but our friendly and extremely efficient waitress didn't seem to mind.

We decided to do some sashimi and a couple of appetizers, along with martinis from the bar. The small plates menu is impressive, but we eventually settled on kobe beef potstickers, Peking duck cigars, and edamame. It seemed like a lot of food, but the service was stand-out fast; we had a table full of dishes within 10 minutes of ordering. Everything was good, but the real standout was the tuna.



This tuna was perfect. Just ... perfect. Simple, clean, and incredibly fresh, this was the type of dish that immediately sells you on the entire restaurant. There was nothing to complain about otherwise, but even if there had been, it would have been forgiven and forgotten once the sashimi arrived. Amazing.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention dessert. Usually desserts at Asian restaurants are very simple and not particularly good, but we were (somehow) still hungry at the end of the meal and decided to go for it. Our waitress suggested we try this beautiful concoction of fried wontons, custard, ice-cream (we went with cinnamon) and fresh fruit. I think the picture says it all:



This dish was exuberant and fun, and tasted like the delicious love-child of fried ice-cream and creme brulee. Try it -- it will change your mind about Asian restaurant desserts!