#62: Kobe Japanese Steak & Seafood

Date Visited: 25 April 2009

Meal: Dinner

Diners: 2 - Me & Wendy (plus a number of other friends)

Experience: We were invited to go to Kobe to celebrate our good friend Perry's birthday, so I took the opportunity to do a review. Kobe is a Japanese steakhouse that serves teppanyaki-style cuisine and sushi.

Teppanyaki is always fun, and our chef, "Bubba", was skillful, entertaining, and most importantly, a good chef who delivered excellent food. We started off with Miso soup, which was very clear and fine. Then we all had a small salad with a wonderful ginger-soy dressing.

Next, the teppanyaki performance really began. Bubba started by cutting up some zucchini, carrots, broccoli, mushroom, and onion on the grill. As these were cooking, he began the fried rice, adding rice, peas, egg, and sesame seeds on the grill. A batch of noodles was also cooked up. Once the fried rice was ready, we all got served our portions, and then some of the vegetables and noodles. Throughout the performance, we were thrilled by his utensil juggling, egg spinning, and of course, an onion ring volcano. Delicious!

Bubba then began to prepare the individual entrees. I ordered the Filet Mignon, Shrimp, and Scallops. Wendy got the Steak and Shrimp. We were all given two small bowls of dipping sauces; "Yum Yum Sauce" (white and creamy) for the seafood, and a brown ginger sauce for the vegetables. The shrimp were done first, and we got them while our rice, vegetables, and noodles were still hot. The shrimp was very good, with a delightful slight crispiness from the grill, plus the seasonings added (soy sauce plus ?). My scallops were ready next, and they were some of the best I've had. Well done, perfectly chewy but not rubbery, seasoned with soy sauce and another brown sauce I couldn't quite identify. Finally, our steaks were grilled. Bubba first filleted mine into the shape of a lobster while it cooked! Before serving, all the steaks were cut into small pieces for easy eating with chopsticks.

Kobe is a great place to go for traditional teppanyaki cooking and fun for a group of friends. Try it!

Location: 514 E. Market St., Leesburg, 20176

Web site: http://kobejs.com/

Total bill: $62.42 + $12.00 tip = $74.42

#61: Pei Wei Asian Diner

Date Visited: 18 April 2009

Meal: Dinner

Diners: 2 - Me & Wendy

Experience: Pei Wei is one of the newer Leesburg restaurants, self-described as "a limited service quick-casual restaurant. The menu features classic Asian favorites cooked to order using contemporary recipes." And from the parent company's web site: "P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc. owns and operates two restaurant concepts in the Asian niche. P.F. Chang's China Bistro is our full service upscale casual dining concept and Pei Wei Asian Diner is our quick casual concept." I'd describe Pei Wei more as upscale Asian fast food. One of the unusual things is that your order and pay up front (with no way include a tip), but your food is delivered to your table by a waiter; very similar in that way to Tenderjacks, which is in the building next door. Pei Wei shares the building with California Tortilla (reviewed on 3 August 2008).

On this visit, we started with the Crab Wontons appetizer ("You can taste the freshness and quality of our crab wontons in every bite. We fill our crisp golden wontons with a mix of delicately seasoned rock crab and and cream cheese and serve it with a side of sweet chili sauce. The perfect balance of flavors and textures!"). They were indeed nice and crispy, with a great slightly-spicy sauce (which we used to dip rice in later).

I had the Thai Dynamite with chicken ("Sriracha chile [sic] sauce gives this dish its kick! Fresh lime, soy sauce, scallions, red bell peppers, carrots and Thai basil balance out this delicious stir fry dish"). It had an overpowering lemongrass taste. It also came with brown rice done just right. It wasn't really very spicy, given the Sriracha chili sauce.

Wendy had the Pad Thai ("This satisfying Thai noodle stir fry brings together the balance of salty, sour, and sweet with 5 spice tofu, bean sprouts, scallions, egg, crushed peanuts, fresh lime, cilantro and rice noodles"). The mushrooms were big, firm & fresh, beansprouts too. The chicken was very tender, and the overall impression of the dish was that it was authentic.



Later I realized that we both ordered Thai dishes, so we'll have to come back and try some of the other styles. All of our food was delivered with a nice presentation. The only complaint would be that our entrees were served a little too fast; we had hardly started on our appetizer when they arrived - but hey, this is basically a fast food restaurant. The cold Chai Tea was surprisingly good, a nice change from run-of-the-mill iced tea.

Overall, Pei Wei was good but not great. If I want great Thai food, I'll go to Thai Pan (formerly Thai Royal); if I want great Chinese food, I'll go to either China King or Jasmine. If I want great Vietnamese food, I'll to to Xuan Saigon.

Location: 528A E. Market St., Leesburg, 20176

Web site: http://peiwei.com/

Total bill: $26.63

UPDATED 29 August 2010: Added the comment about Pei Wei sharing a building with California Tortilla. One building over, Tropical Smoothies shares the building with Tenderjack's. Also, the comment about there being no way to add a tip at Tenderjack's is no longer true. I havn't been to Pei Wei in a while, so I don't know if they've made that change too.

#60: Golden China

Date Visited: 5 April 2009

Meal: Lunch

Diners: 2 - Me & Wendy

Experience: Golden China is another long-time Leesburg restaurant that's been here since we moved here in 1987. For most of that time, Golden China has remained the same, serving up a good variety of favorite Chinese items. Originally, they featured Mongolian Barbeque too, but that ended a few years ago with the loss of the main chef. Just recently, they added a new sushi bar and sushi chef, and is the focus of their current advertising campaign.

Our best experience with Golden China has always been to take advantage of the lunch buffet on Sunday after church, with the whole family or with friends. On this particular visit, it was just me and Wendy.

The lunch buffet is a fixed price deal, $7.95 for the regular buffet, and $12.95 if you want sushi too. Wendy got the regular, and I took the sushi option. The range of dishes available at the buffet are of good variety, hot, and good combinations of tastes. You almost can't go wrong with any of the choices. All the Chinese favorites were there, such as General Tso's chicken, beef & broccoli, sweet & sour chicken, etc. There are some American-style items (mostly for kids, I think), like french fries, donuts, jello, and cakes. The new sushi bar was very enjoyable, with a good variety of maki and nigiri sushi, and the sushi chef hovering around, ready to make more.

Overall, Golden China gives a good variety of dishes at very reasonable prices, and we will continue to patronize them, especially when the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet urge strikes!

Location: 1039 Edwards Ferry Rd. NE, Leesburg, 20176

Web site: http://goldenchinaleesburg.com/

Total bill: $22.70 + $5.00 tip = $27.70

#59: China King's Restaurant

Date Visited: 3 April 2009

Meal: Dinner

Diners: 2 - Me & Wendy

Experience: China King is another long-established Leesburg fixture (just a couple doors down from The Leesburg Restaurant). The official, full name of the place is actually "China King's Restaurant" (that's what is on the menu), but the outside sign just says "China King", as the photo shows. The inside is rather small and not fancy. An initial glance at the menu reveals all the usual Chinese restaurant staples, with a few Chef's specials too. But this is where the surprise is - the menu may appear ordinary, but the food is fantastic!

We started off with soups - I had the Hot & Sour, and Wendy had Wonton. The Hot & Sour was good and hot, and had a strong beef taste to it, very nice. Next, we had the Shrimp Tempura appetizer. It was not exactly Japanese-style tempura; the batter was very thick, but it was delicious!

For my entree, I had the "Kung Pau Two Kind", which is described as "Chicken and Shrimp with peanuts, onion, and red peppers." This dish was so good, I can hardly say enough good things about it! The shrimp in particular was very melt-in-your-mouth tender and yummy. The overall dish had just the right amount of spiciness, fresh vegetables, and good balance. Wendy had the "Crispy Prawn with Walnuts", described as "Slightly spicy hot! Lightly battered shrimp flavored with a tangy sauce and walnut topping." Not being a big fan of things even slightly spicy, she ordered it "mild". The sauce was sweet, but not too sweet, and the prawns were nice and thick in a crispy batter.

Overall, we were very impressed with the quality and taste of all the food we tried here. Despite the humble look of the place, China King is a top Leesburg restaurant that we will continue to support.

Apparently China King is a pretty common name for Chinese restaurants; for example, there is a China King Restaurant in Herndon. But there is a note on the menu that says "China King's is not affiliated with other establishments of similar name."

Currently, there is a contest going on called "The Sixth Annual Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in USA". There is a poster up in the window of China King that publicizes it and encourages you to vote for them. I honestly think they belong on that list! Register and vote now!

Location: 5 South King St., Leesburg, 20175

Web site: http://chinakingtogo.com/

Total bill: $41.88 + $10.00 tip = $51.88

#58: The Leesburg Restaurant

Date Visited: 15 March 2009

Meal: Lunch

Diners: 4 - Me, Wendy, Andy, & Alicia

Experience: The Leesburg Restaurant has been a long-time fixture in the heart of downtown Leesburg. It has an old-fashioned feel, the inside looking like it hasn't changed much in many years. It has a nice "used" and comfortable feel to it. The counter and wooden booths add to this impression.

On the advice of the head chef, I tried the Peanut soup as an appetizer. He said it was very popular with the customers, but that he himself didn't like it! I liked it pretty well; it was very thick and creamy, with small bits of peanuts throughout. For my entree, I had the Philly Steak & Cheese, with onion rings on the side. It was OK. Wendy had the Chicken wrap, with sweet potato fries on the side. Her comment: "Fresh, lots of meat; the green tortilla an orange sweet potato fries made a pleasing contrast." Andy had the Triple Decker Club. His comment: "Good, B+"; pretty high praise from this discerning gourmet. Alicia had the Caesar salad. Her comment: "Too much dressing; chicken good."

As I googled for the restaurant's web site, and finding none, I did peruse the comments by diners who had posted comments on other restaurant review sites. One comment seemed to kind of sum things up: "Typical diner like restaurant, very slow service, decent diner food." That was pretty much our experience; the food was good, but not outstanding, the service tolerable, and the ambience enjoyable.

They really need a good web site of their own. Oddly, the URL http://www.leesburgrestaurant.com/ actually belongs to Tuscarora Mill. That's got to be annoying.

Location: 9 South King St., Leesburg, 20176

Web site: none

Total bill: $46.06 + $10.00 tip = $56.06