Teak Thai Cuisine

Sushi #5: Teak – Zombie roll, Who Dey roll, spicy tuna roll, and aged tofu – $30.50

Aged Tofu

Alright, I’m kicking 2 of these out in a row, so we’ll save you the small talk.  If you read these and you like the small talk let me know.  I have a lot going on in life and I like to talk about anything going on so I can look back on this later and say “holy shit, I completely forgot about that thing I did that week!  That was awesome.”  Also, I’ve added a much needed search bar and some fun fish that you can feed to go along with the sushi!!!  Just left click on their tank.

Zombie roll and spicy tuna

Teak is usually rated as one of the best in the city for Thai food.  I live 2 blocks from Teak in Mt. Adams which really makes for an easy walk for some great food!  This is the 8^th sushi review I’m doing from my New Year’s Resolution expand Chris’s horizon’s list.  The previous sushi reviews were for Sung, Miyoshi, Matsuya, and Kyoto.  I’ll say that I have been to Teak before and I am a fan of the Thai dishes there.  The prices are a few bucks more than you’d get over in Hyde Park, but Teak has a bad ass outdoor Patio and soon will have another section of the indoor building opened.  The place really is gigantic!  There is a parking lot for Mt. Adams that is the same as the pay one on the weekend that’s free during the week/Sunday.  The atmosphere is better than some of the other places I’ve been, but not as cool as Sung downtown.  Happily there was no J-pop playing on the radio either.  J  It is also half price wine on Sundays and half price Thai app’s during happy hour Sun-Thurs. 

Who Dey roll.  Very unique presentation.

The menu includes traditional Thai dishes as well as a long sushi list.  There are a few things I have seen on other menu’s such as gyoza dumplings, calamari, spicy octopus, edamame and tempura veggie’s/shrimp.   As an appetizer, my friend and I went with something new, aged tofu (4.50$).  This was new and interesting to me, it was like a tempura tofu, but with these flavorful flakes in the center and this all went well in the ponzu sauce.  I love tempura batter, so I’d get it again for 4.50$.  As far as sushi goes, one of my favorite things about where we sat, against the window by the sushi counter, was the plethora of cool little wooden sushi boats.  Brings back growing up as a little kid at the park in Milwaukee.  I asked what the specialty was that everyone likes and the waiter suggested the Who Dey roll (roll topped with spicy crab mix, an orange slice, and 2 colored masago roe, 12$).  This is the coolest looking rolls up to now in my sushi reviews by far and the crab mix on top was also the best I’ve had.  It took time for them to individually top each piece of the sushi with an orange sliver and 2 kinds of caviar.  We also got a spicy tuna (5.50$), which was one of highest quality I’ve seen of just pieces of tuna topped with a spicy sauce, not a mayo.  The zombie roll (tuna, salmon, whitefish, avocado, masago & scallion roll topped with spicy sauce, 8.50$), again this was not a mayo.  When you look at the price, you have to remember that we fed 2 people on this.  I was happily surprised with the quality and tastiness of my Teak experience, but I have to take them down here for the lack of service.  It was Sunday, and there weren’t that many people in there to have bad service, but it took a long time to prepare, and I ordered extra wasabi and it took 10 minutes for it to come out to the sushi counter, and since we were sitting right next to it we saw it and took it…oops!   Hahaha!  That’s how we roll. 

I think Teak will stay as one of my favorites during this quest due to its good selection, quality, atmosphere/size, and the fact that it’s so close to everyone in the city.  I like that I can walk to it, but that doesn’t shape my opinion seeing as I work all the way out in Florence and am used to driving a half hour for great food.