Skip to main content

Maison Akira

Still catching up on dining I did in October. =/

In honor of Mrs. McWang's (undisclosed number) birthday, "The Ukrainian," Mr. McWang, and I went to Maison Akira in Pasadena, CA for dinner.

Here are all the fancy-pants dishes we had. This restaurant was Frenchy and not really "Akira"/Japanese at all, in my opinion. Thanks to Mr. McWang for his flashlight (gotta start carrying around one of those for dark restaurants like this one!), which made the pictures look so much better. Wish we'd thought of that sooner!

Above: Our free appetizer: potato-mozzarella balls.


Above: Having just run nearly 22 miles that morning, my hungry self ordered two half-sized salads. On the left is a truffle oil one that was just plain greens in some pretty fragrant oil. And the right is a candied-walnut salad in an Asian dressing.


Above: I can barely remember who ordered this, but doesn't it look fancy?

Above: Mrs. McWang's lobster bisque. It smelled very much like the sea...

Above: Mr. McWang's onion soup.

Above: Fresh flowers by our table! Unfortunately, for some reason we were seated in a walkway(?) due to the high volume that night. And there was a broken light fixture dangling about our heads!

Above: Mrs. McWang's dish. I think it's chicken and some sort of ravioli.

Above: Note the fake lighting used on my dish -- mushroom ravioli with roasted veggies wrapped in phyllo dough. The ravioli was delicious -- earthy and rich. The roasted veggies were pretty good, also, except for the bell peppers (which I am normally not a fan of, anyway). The whole thing was on top of some beet juice. I like beets, but not plain beet juice. Gag.

Above: "The Ukrainian"'s Angus steak. He really liked the tenderness of the meat. I think he got it medium-rare.

Above: Mr. McWang's dish.

Above: The birthday girl's ice-cream dessert. Love that sugar cage on top!

Above: She also got a souffle. It was my first, and although deliciously creamy inside, kind of a bit alcoholic to enjoy fully.


Above: "The Ukrainian"'s caramel apple tart. Divine. Caramel is one of my favorite sweets, one that I strangely don't partake in more often.

Overall, I liked the fancy dining experience (slow, quiet), but I don't see it fit to throw down that amount of money for food that, although interesting, is not drool-worthy in my book. Of course, my palate is very simple.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Giveaway Winner! -- Sony W Series MP3 Player (Update)

Updated Post: 3/20/11 As promised, here are the Sony W Series giveaway winners: -- both have been contacted and prizes sent -- Please e-mail me at (Gmail) Nobel4Lit2 with your addresses, and I'll ship out the units soon! Thanks to everyone who entered.  Stay tuned for another giveaway soon (maybe later this week)! (Note: I ended up putting everyone's retweets starting after the comments when it came to numbering the entries.) Original Post: 3/10/11 Sunday, March 20 2011, the day I will run LA Marathon for the 4th time (and embark on my 8th 26.2 journey overall), will also be very special because it will mark the 5th year since I did my FIRST training run with the intention of running a marathon.  (Check out that life-changing post HERE ). Yep, on March 20, 2006, I went to the track and ran my first 3.25 miles with the dreams of marathon glory (or even half-marathon glory). I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  I was a sprint/track

Sharkies Prize Pack (giveaway)

It's giveaway time! On a long run recently, I took a couple packs of Sharkies Organic Sports Chews  with me to keep me going on a hot day.  I got through those 15 miles  eating these, versus normal gels.  I've been opting to eat chews over gels in my running nowadays because I just find them more palatable and easier on my stomach for some reason.  Plus, they do pack a few more calories, which is a good thing in this case. I normally associate cute little chews with candy, but these actually contain natural electrolytes.  Plus, they were light to carry and very tasty, too!  Each pack is about 140 calories.  The only downside I found to the sport chews is that they stuck to my teeth a tiny bit more than my normal choices, and the packaging gave me a fight at times.  This could easily be solved by conslidating them into a baggie pre-run, or eating them BEFORE running would be much easier than during. Want to win the prize pack below?  It comes with these Sport Chews, a neat

Rebecca Michaels Performance Clothing (Giveaway)

UPDATE: 6/21/12 -- This giveaway is closed, and the winner is #43, Jacqueline!!  I will contact you, but if you miss it, please e-mail me! ------ I'd like to credit in advance "The Ukrainian" who helped me stage some photos for this post. =) Perhaps because I don't dress well when working out, I was offered the opportunity to try some fun pieces from the Rebecca Michaels summer collection. Since I complained about my issues with headbands staying on my head, I also got to try their Violet Love headbands.  "The Ukrainian" didn't hesitate in throwing one on, and I think he said he looks like Rambo in it. Anyway, I'll start with my experience with the headbands .  They are very soft and actually look SUPER cute on!  They also cover a large portion of the top of your head, so those little fly-aways don't come drooping down.  Or is that just me?  My hair is normally cut in layers, so I do experience this quite a bit. Unfortun