Photos by Nikol ZumMallen
It is Saturday night and we have some family in town. Unfortunately, none of us can agree on what we want to eat.My father-in-law doesn’t seem to have too much of an opinion on where to go, my sister Melissa suggests something light since its a little late, my husband (as always) wants Italian, and I have literally no idea. We toss around a few restaurants that we tend to go to for a fun dinner: Tantalum, Sophie’s, and I even mention Claim Jumpers (which was odd because we never go to chains).
Then, almost at the same time my husband and I say McKenna’s On The Bay. Now, we love McKenna’s and would follow John Morris anywhere he decided to go, but we never think of this as a favorite for dinner. We love their brunch: the build-your-own burritos, the amazing Bloody Marys and the yummy Eggs Benedict have us only thinking about them for mid-afternoon visits.
But the four of us piled into my Fiat and we were off to McKenna’s for dinner. Parking is usually not a problem mid-day but the night we went, the lot was pretty busy. We love this place because we have never had to pay for parking, usually you get two hours free with validation and sometimes we get lucky and no one is even in the booth–score! We were seated right away and lucky for us we were near the bar and could see the awesome band playing.
My husband knew even before opening the menu that he wants the Kobe burger, but after looking it over, he realizes it isn’t offered at dinner. He was crushed. The Kobe burger is dressed with brie and mushrooms, plus it’s served with amazing sweet potato fries so I could understand his sadness at it not being on the menu, but our waiter turned that frown upside down and offered to go ahead and make it for him anyway. This also made my father-in-law happy because he wanted the same thing. Two out of four are ready and as per usual I take a long time–I’ve been here plenty but everything sounds delicious. Thankfully we have fresh, warm sourdough bread to munch on while I take my sweet time. My sister decided on the McKenna’s chop chop salad and now it is my turn. Thankfully I flip the menu over and see the sushi–done & done. Hot Mama Roll is the one for me.
Our meals arrived very quickly for a busy Saturday night, and no one even took a breath before getting started. The burgers, as usual, were juicy and delicious. The Kobe was cooked perfectly and the brie compliments it really well (my husband doesn’t usually like that cheese but even he really enjoyed it). The chopped salad is very large, with mushrooms, garbanzo beans, cucumber, tomato, salami, mozzarella and house dressing. My sister loved it–I got one bite and it was really refreshing and the salami chunks are huge! My sushi isn’t just pretty, it is also delicious. The roll has just a few of my favorite things: spicy tuna, jalapeno, cucumber, yamagobo, salmon, avocado, spicy sauce and green onion. I have no complaints about this roll, it was fresh, had lots of jalapeno and it hit the spot.
The only hiccup that evening was that my miso soup never arrived. But I didn’t miss it much with all the other amazing things at my table. Maybe next weekend I’ll go for a Bloody Mary and some sushi because they had lots of rolls to choose from. I suggest going very soon and getting a spot on the patio–the view is amazing and it is always a great time!