Now that the eclipse is behind us, we can get back to regularly scheduled programming aka your LIFE! BUT, I must say this..that was phenomenal and honestly so much better than I expected. With all the annoying hype, I was afraid it might disappoint, but I was WRONG. Our Creator showed up and definitely showed out for us on Monday, August 21st. I am not even going to attempt to show you any pictures, because they cannot do it justice. It is such an incredible gift from God that he reveals his beauty and creation to us in such ways. So thankful to have experienced this once in a lifetime event….and in an afternoon date with my hubby.
Ok, moving on…
I am not a serious food critic by any means, but we thoroughly enjoy good food and trying new restaurants, which can be hard when we have our favorites we love to revisit. However, I will only tell you about things I truly love and places I enjoy! Over the weekend, we had a double date night with our friends and drove ALL the way out to Woodruff Rd. I know that’s slightly dramatic and it’s really not that far, but we rarely choose to go out there unless we have to, much less dine out there. There are so many good places in the downtown vicinity, that we just don’t have to venture our very far. But you OTTO check out Otto Izakaya! It only took me a year to get out there and try it. It is located right behind La Parilla and Sticky Fingers on Woodruff Rd., just past Whole Foods. I had heard awesome things about this place and recently heard that they are opening a location downtown in the old Breakwater spot in the Fall (stay tuned)! YAY!
Otto Izakaya serves traditional Japanese and Asian fare. We honestly went for the sushi…and obviously had to test out a little bit of everything. They also had good happy hour specials until 7pm on a Saturday night, so that’s a bonus!
In typical “Shana” fashion, my cocktail of choice was not included in the happy hour specials, but that didn’t stop me. The Cucumber Mojito was so refreshing and delicious. I had a few throughout our dinner, and it was perfect to chill my mouth from the spicy dishes.
We treated all the dishes like tapas and shared a little bit of this and a little bit of that. We started with the Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice and the Bang Bang Chicken, and if I had to pick a favorite dish of the night, this would be it! A mound of Spicy Tuna tartare sitting on top of Crispy Rice…so delicious!
The Bang Bang Chicken was good – the best part being the fiery sweet chili sauce! I could have poured that on everything I ate. This dish was the easiest to share, but wasn’t my favorite.
Next, we tried Spicy Pork Belly and and the Bi Bim Bap.
The Spicy Pork Belly was…well, spicy (take note..I am a PANSY, but love to try spicy things), but so full of flavor! Here’s where I guzzled my delicious Cucumber Mojito so that I could eat more!
The Bi Bim Bap is “mixed rice”, essentially a rice bowl that included ground beef, carrot, zucchini, bean sprouts, romaine, and a sunny-side up egg. Another really good dish and you can’t go wrong with a fried egg!
Last, but DEFINITELY not least, we decided to make room for 2 sushi rolls. We got the Crunchy Rainbow and the Hurricane Roll. The Crunchy Rainbow was pressed sushi, which is a stacked sushi roll, including crab stick, tuna, salmon, shrimp, crunch, massage, and avocado. It is essentially a Rainbow Roll without the seaweed, so it fell apart easier than a normal roll, but it was SO good! The Hurricane Roll included spicy salmon, cucumber, salmon, yellowtail, and avocado. I definitely need to go back for sushi alone. There are a lot of good rolls on the menu and the fish was delicious.
After dinner, we headed to Stone Pin Company once again. Bowling may be my new favorite hobby. Since Stone has opened, I literally crave going every single weekend! haha
This Big Lebowski (White Russian) makes it even better…and beating my husband (finally)! I’m sure there will be many more opportunities to beat him again.
All in all…a perfect date night. AND we didn’t have to pay to park or deal with the massive crowds that took over downtown Greenville.
Happy Tuesday and Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to this guy who makes each day better and better!
…and who doesn’t drop it low on their new husband on the dance floor?! haha
