Chow, Baby has been musing about – no, not breasts again, unfortunately, just disposable chopsticks. The background on this is that whenever the leftovers fridge gets depleted, *5 on the speed-dial summons the King Wok delivery guy with stir-fry this and that, steamed sticky-rice, sauce packets, and for some reason, enough paper-wrapped chopsticks to equip the entire Jin Dynasty. But Chow, Baby likes to use its own wicked-cool décor-matching stainless steel chopsticks ($5.99 for four pairs at Amazon.com), and so has been letting the disposables pile up in a dedicated kitchen drawer that by now won’t completely close. What to do with these things?
Can’t just throw them away, because they’re perfectly good; they refuse to burn, foiling Chow, Baby’s dream of free fire-starters come winter; even Goodwill rejected them. Guess it’s time to build a model of the Stockyards, then.
But this hasn’t been a Burning Question, more just running quietly in the background. Until, exiting the Half Price Books on Hulen, Chow, Baby and the beloved impulsively decided to live dangerously and brave lunch at the neighboring hole-in-the-wall strip-mall sushi joint. Hah, the joke was on us: Wasabi Sushi (5443 S. Hulen St.) doesn’t have a wall-o-water or a glowy bar, but it is one high-class sushi joint, with sweet service and amazing food. Not scary at all. Everything we ate was a highlight, but Chow, Baby must give a shout to the aptly named Oh My God roll ($13.50), a taste and texture harmony of crispy tempura shrimp with creamy avocado and cream cheese; and the sparkling Wasabi roll ($11.95) of smoked salmon, radish sprouts, and wasabi caviar with a mouth-warming sauce. Two more specialty rolls, plus cute little shumai dumplings ($5), plus exquisite tuna sashimi ($13.50), plus green and pomegranate iced teas ($2, $3), plus well-earned hefty tip ($16): total $98.70. Not as big a yikes as it might seem at first, since much of it went to replenish the leftovers fridge, but Chow, Baby kept obsessively reminiscing: I just spent $100 for a lunch that I ate with cheap, disposable chopsticks. What’s next, being handed a spork at Del Frisco’s?
Less-whiny, more-proactive thought: Chow, Baby and its cool stainless chopsticks could join the BYOC craze that’s blossoming among tree-huggers in Austin (presumably) and the appropriate Asian countries. (In Japan, for one, where even high-end restaurants use disposables, 25 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks are trashed each year, enough to make at least a couple life-size Stockyards models. Or save 14 million trees.) By whipping out its own shinies at a restaurant, Chow, Baby could be simultaneously hipper and holier than thou – but not at Chan’s Mongolian Grill (9147 Grapevine Hwy., North Richland Hills), where, disappointingly, Chow, Baby was not offered chopsticks to righteously shun. (Though it did get a placemat printed with the Chinese Zodiac, which was highly inaccurate.) So Chow, Baby used a real metal fork and spoon to dig into a hot, delicious stir-fry (lunch $6.25) of its favorite thin-sliced meats and chunks of fresh veggies. Of course it was perfect, as Chow, Baby had selected the raw ingredients itself from the large buffet and closely supervised the griddle man. But wouldn’t it have tasted better if Chow, Baby had also saved a twig or two in the process? It’s a thought.
Contact Chow, Baby at chowbaby@fwweekly.com.
