Albuquerque

Albuquerque is a nice city. It also has some nice restaurants. It would definitely be a place I would visit again. Here's a recap of some eating places:

The Elephant Bar
This restaurant was pretty close to the hotel. I would consider it an Asian cuisine restaurant. An appetizer and a entree was ordered. The appetizer was Quick-Fried Soy-Ginger Calamari. These were calamari strips with marinated vegetables, crisp rice noodles and toasted sesame seeds. There was an asian dipping sauce and cocktail sauce included. The calamari strips were really tender. I've never had calamari as tender as these were. The vegetables  were also good. The asian dipping sauce was really good. The whole appetizer was fantastic.

The entree ordered was the Shrimp Adventure Platter. It's a combination of large coconut fried shrimp, grilled teriyaki glazed shrimp, and hand breaded fried shrimp. A sweet and spicy Pan Pacific sauce and the same type of Asian dipping sauce served with the appetizer were included. French fries were also served as a side. All three types of shrimp were good. The Pan Pacific sauce was excellent. I've never had sauce like that before. It consisted of a mix of pineapple and orange rinds.

The dessert selection at The Elephant Bar was okay. The first dish was a Fresh Baked Red Velvet Chocolate Cupcake Sundae. This was just a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese and butter frosting on top with two scoops of vanilla ice cream and oreo cookie chunks. This was a mediocre dessert. I've had better red velvet cupcakes.

The other was a Wonton Sundae. This was a wonton cup dusted with sugar and cinnamon with vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate and caramel sauce, whipped cream, oreo cookie chunks, roasted peanuts, and a cherry. This dessert was better than the red velvet cupcake. It wasn't anything spectacular though.

The Japanese Kitchen
This was another restaurant that was close to the hotel. The primary purpose of going to this restaurant was to eat some sushi. The first dish ordered was the Baja California. On the inside was crab leg tempura, cucumber, and avocado. On the outside was sliced mango, tuna, strawberry. Included was mango sauce and sweet and sour sauce. The one word to describe this dish is WOW. The combination of sweet and salty was an awesome taste.

The second dish ordered was Jewel. On the inside was fried soft shell grab green chile tempura, avocado, and cucumber. On the outside was baked scallop, mustard sauce, and tobiko. Tobiko is flying fish roe. Most sushi is cold, but this sushi was actually hot. It was really good. The mustard sauce really added to the overall sushi.

Jason' Deli
This was another restaurant close to the hotel. I had the Club Royale. It was a very good sandwich. It's a toasted croissant with smoked turkey breast, ham, bacon, Swiss, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard.