LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
A sushi plate at Asahi: Dragon roll, tuna roll and AAC roll.
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy! We're going to La Chasse tonight! I've been waiting a while for this hot new spot on Bardstown Road to hit its stride before rushing in for a review, and tonight's the night. I'm getting cleaned up and ready, singing happy songs in the shower, where the acoustics are great.
Then Mary hammers on the door.
"Guess what? We're not going to La Chasse tonight."
"Whaaaa?"
"Nope. They're calling everyone who had reservations. They had an electrical fire today. Not a bad one, but they're closing for the night."
"D'oh!"
This called for quick action. We were going to meet our friend Anne at the restaurant, and she was probably heading out the door already. I dried my hands, grabbed my phone, and just like that, we had a backup plan: Let's check out the new steak taco place, Mexa Tacos, in St. Matthews.
We dressed and ran and beat Anne to the new place, just down the street from Lotsa Pasta.
D'oh redux! It's not open for business yet! (Peering through a slit in the brown paper on the windows, it looks interesting: A huge grill where you'll watch your steak being taco-ized Oaxaca-style. Put it on your to-go list now.)
So now what? Wait, what's this? We're standing right in front of Asahi Japanese! A friendly, cozy little neighborhood Japanese place. It's got cred, too: They still brag about Chef Yong Bong Tak winning Louisville Magazine's "Best of Louisville" award in 2004, when he slung sushi at Osaka Japanese in Clifton.
Asahi opened in the summer of 2008, I gave it a friendly review, and as far as I know, I hadn't been back since. It looked inviting. Most important, it was open. Let's have dinner!
Now, get this: I last visited eight years ago, when gasoline stations were vending out the precious fluid drop by drop at $4 per gallon - I actually whinged in my report that it had cost me 60 cents to make the short journey from Crescent Hill.
Well, gas prices are back where they ought to be now (thanks, Obama!), but Asahi's prices have stayed about the same. Apps that then ranged from $3.50 (for a dish of edamame) to $13.95 (for lobster-tail tempura) have been hiked only to $3.75 and $14.95, respectively. The 20-item entree list still tops out just under $20, pretty darn fair by sushi bar standards. ...
Asahi Japanese Restaurant
3701 Lexington Road
895-1130
asahijapaneserestaurant.blogspot.com
Robin Garr's rating: 80 points
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=5515
See this column also in LEO Weekly:
http://www.leoweekly.com/2016/03/comfy- ... or-backup/
Asahi Japanese Restaurant
3701 Lexington Road
895-1130
http://asahijapaneserestaurant.blogspot.com
Robin Garr's rating: 80 points