Last night on the way home from Tulsa, we talked about the lack of restaurants in Stillwater. Or, more accurately, the lack of restaurants on the West side of town. Before the market crashed in '09, we were on track to get several restaurants not far from my house. But then the economy tanked, and new construction stopped for a couple of years. Then construction started back up again. The East side of town is getting new apartments, homes, shopping and restaurants. The West side has a relatively new hotel and another one under construction, a new huge garden apartment complex and a new neighborhood of homes...but absolutely no restaurants. And I just don't get it. So our options are El Vaquero, Sonic, and Big Fish Sushi & Hibachi Restaurant.
I took the day off work today. It's Memorial Day weekend, and since I have a busy weekend of funtivities planned I figure I would take the day and clean up the little room between the kitchen and garage. It quickly becomes a catch-all for stuff. And then I can never find any stuff. So every 6 months or so I do a purge, plan really hard to keep it clean, and end up doing another purge. I originally was going to eat lunch at home, but Big Fish kept creeping up in my mind. So I decided to go, for food blog research of course! Michele and her kids joined me as well.
I never even remember that Big Fish is there. It's in a strip mall about 1/2 mile from my house, just a few doors down from Stillwater Wine & Spirits, so I should remember! But I don't. Rather than a name, it's just the fish logo above the door. And if your'e heading East into town, you have to remember to make the correct left turn into the strip mall, or you have to go a mile down the road and turn around. Which of course happened to me even though I kept reminding myself about the turn.
Big Fish is a decent size for a strip mall. There's a sushi bar, of course, with barstools. The dining room has a mixture of tables and booths. I think there's also hibachi, but I never made it to the far side of the restaurant. There were only 2 people in there when I arrived, and they were waiting on carryout. But you can't judge the restaurant crowd in a college town during the summer.
I was originally going straight sushi. But Michele raved about the bento box, so I decided to give that a try. The staff are all Japanese. Great sign of course. The down side is that our server, who Michele knows, speaks extremely broken English. There was a lot of pointing at the menu. Michele, Kennedy and I all got the combo bento boxes, and switched out "sushi" (since we had no idea what that meant) for specific types of sushi. After we ordered, I just said "let's see what we get". All our meals came with soup and salad
The salad was good, but had way too much dressing. When I was done, there was still quite a bit left at the bottom. They could do half as much and it would be plenty.
The egg drop soup wasn't hot enough. As a matter of fact, it was more like lukewarm. But, it had excellent flavor.
I'm not a fan of miso soup. But Michele raved about after she tasted it, and insisted that I try it. So I did. And was very pleasantly surprised. It was really good, and not at all salty like others I've tried. So yes, I am now a fan...at this place.Big Fish is a decent size for a strip mall. There's a sushi bar, of course, with barstools. The dining room has a mixture of tables and booths. I think there's also hibachi, but I never made it to the far side of the restaurant. There were only 2 people in there when I arrived, and they were waiting on carryout. But you can't judge the restaurant crowd in a college town during the summer.
I was originally going straight sushi. But Michele raved about the bento box, so I decided to give that a try. The staff are all Japanese. Great sign of course. The down side is that our server, who Michele knows, speaks extremely broken English. There was a lot of pointing at the menu. Michele, Kennedy and I all got the combo bento boxes, and switched out "sushi" (since we had no idea what that meant) for specific types of sushi. After we ordered, I just said "let's see what we get". All our meals came with soup and salad
The salad was good, but had way too much dressing. When I was done, there was still quite a bit left at the bottom. They could do half as much and it would be plenty.
The egg drop soup wasn't hot enough. As a matter of fact, it was more like lukewarm. But, it had excellent flavor.
Jacksen got the spicy salmon and salmon rolls. I didn't try any, but he devoured them fast so I'm guessing they were good.
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SPICY SALMON - Dices of salmon mixed with spicy sauce & cucumber
SALMON - fresh yellow fin salmon rolled
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Kennedy got the tempura shrimp bento box with spicy salmon roll (dices of salmon mixed with spicy sauce & cucmber)
I tried a piece of her roll, and it was really delicious. But not spicy at all. A little disappointing, but it had great flavor.
Michele got the tempura veggie bento box with Philadelphia roll (smoked salmon, avocado, cream cheese)
I'm normally not a fan of tempura, because it's often a beer batter and really thick and heavy. But this one was done with panko bread crumbs. So it was very light and airy. I tried a piece of zucchini, and it was excellent. I also tried a bite of her Philadelphia roll, and it was very good.
I did the chicken Teriyaki bento box with super crunchy roll (snow crab, avocado, crunchy, scallions inside; cooked shrimp outside)
Man, this was delicious. The dumplings in the top left section were excellent. Reminded me of wontons. The chicken was had great flavor, but was a little dry. Because they used chicken breast and it was pounded thinly. It's so hard to keep that moist. I didn't notice at first, but there's broccoli, peppers and onions underneath the chicken, soaking up the teriyaki. Those were cooked tender-crisp, and were really good. I normally get white rice, but decided to go with the fried this time. I'm glad I did, because it was fantastic. Had carrots & peas like normal fried rice, but they also included little pieces of pork. Very good flavor. The crunchy roll was delicious as well. I really liked it. I honestly never got around to eating the California roll.
I was stuffed, and took some of the rice home with me to eat later. Clearly it didn't last very long...
Oh, and Kennedy got a gift from our server!
I am really impressed with this restaurant. And I'm glad I found out about it, because I'll definitely be coming here more often. It's a good, nearby place to come with my parents when they're in town too.
I was stuffed, and took some of the rice home with me to eat later. Clearly it didn't last very long...
Oh, and Kennedy got a gift from our server!
I am really impressed with this restaurant. And I'm glad I found out about it, because I'll definitely be coming here more often. It's a good, nearby place to come with my parents when they're in town too.
