#21 - Cafe 88, Stillwater, OK

I hadn't seen Jamea since before I left for my conference in Minneapolis, so we decided to meet up for dinner last week.  You would think with not a huge selection of restaurants in Stillwater that picking a place to eat would be easy.  But whether it's lunch with co-workers or dinner with friends, it always takes us a while to decide.  So I racked my brain, and came up with Cafe 88.  Neither of us had ever been there, but I've heard nothing but good things from friends who swear by it...so the decision was made. 

It's a small restaurant, about a block from campus.  If you don't know to look for it, you'll probably drive right past it.  One of their most popular items is bubble tea.  I've heard it's good, but I wasn't feeling quite that adventurous.  And besides, I had the entire menu to peruse. While the restaurant itself was small, the menu was pretty big. 

What caught our eye almost immediately was that several of the standard Asian entrees are grilled, rather than fried. 

Jamea got the grilled sesame chicken

And I got the grilled orange chicken

All entrees come with rice, a fried egg, and veggies.  I don't know if it was because it was almost closing time or what, but our "veggies" consisted of one piece of broccoli each. 

Oh my these were so good!!  Using the grilled chicken didn't take away from the flavor at all.  I've found that sometimes at other Asian restaurants you get stuck with the smaller fried pieces that end up being more breading than anything else.  Well in these dishes, all you got with each piece was chicken deliciousness.  The fried egg was an interesting addition, but I don't think it added anything to the dish.  Next time I'll skip it.

Will I go back?  Definitely!!  The food comes out fast, fresh and hot.  Besides, there's lots of other things on the menu that I want to try.  And who knows, I may give in and try out the bubble tea.