Winter Trio at Roy's

Roy’s Restaurant will be offering a special dish they're calling the Winter Trio, featuring Hoisin-Glazed Duck, a Grilled Kalbi Beef Short Rib, and a Singapore-Style Crab Cake with Asian vegetables and noodles. It will be available for a limited time--Monday, Jan. 27 through Sunday, March 23--at the low price of $26.95.

The Winter Trio will be available at all locations, except Hawaii and Pebble Beach. To try it for yourself, make a reservation at your nearest location via the Web, http://www.roysrestaurant.com, and use promo code “TRIO.”



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Roy's My Prix Fixe Mondays Giveaway

Back by popular demand is Roy's My Prix Fixe Mondays! Every Monday for the rest of the year, diners can choose any appetizer plus any entree for $29.95*. It's an amazing value, considering that appetizers average $12 and entrées $29. 

Roy's invited us in for dinner to check out the promo, and we jumped at the chance. Roy's has long been a favorite restaurant of ours; we've celebrated countless special occasions there and attended several wine dinners.

The Baltimore location has been open for 12 years now and it's still going strong. There's a new chef in the kitchen, Matt Ellis, who worked as a sous chef at Roy's Tampa location before coming to Charm City. In addition to the classic Roy's menu of Hawaiian-inspired dishes like the misoyaki butterfish and macadamia-crusted mahi mahi, Chef Ellis has added dishes with a Baltimore twist, like the "Crab Pretzel." Imagining a typical soft pretzel glopped with cream-cheesy crab dip, we were quite surprised to see that Ellis' version was closer to a lobster roll. The pretzel roll-style split top bun was toasted and buttered and filled with crab in a creamy cheese sauce.

“Crab Pretzel” Lump Crab Meat, White American Cheese Fondue

It was outrageously good, and the generous portion is perfect for sharing. The lobster potstickers were nice as well, with a uniformly-browned top crust and a miso butter sauce standing in for the typical soy and sesame dip.

Crunchy Golden Lobster Potstickers, Spicy Togarashi Miso Butter Sauce

We also had the misoyaki butterfish, the rich fish plated gorgeously with swirls of three sauces flavored with wasabi, chile oil, and misoyaki. The pork tenderloin entrée was fork tender and served with a heap of smashed potatoes and a spicy gravy, continuing Roy's record of impressing us with their meat dishes as well as their fish. We also tried dessert, which is not included in the My Prix Fixe Monday special, but who can pass up Roy's famous melting hot chocolate soufflé? We also tasted one of the pastry chef's latest creations, a caramel pretzel bread pudding with honey graham ice cream. It was lighter than the typical bread pudding, had a nice crunch from the pretzel topping, and we really loved the ice cream.

Am I making you hungry? You can have a meal like this at Roy's too, mostly for free! Minxeats has one $50 gift card to give away to one lucky winner! All you need to do is leave a comment at the end of this post, and you're golden. Please make sure you use a valid e-mail address or leave some way for us to contact you electronically if you are the winner.

The Fine Print:

Winners must be 18 years of age or older and a resident of the 48 contiguous United States.
A valid e-mail address must be included.
Contest ends September 30, 2013.
Winner will be notified via e-mail.

Roy's has locations in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, and Texas.

*This offer excludes Sushi/Sashimi, Surf and Turf, Shellfish Sampler, and the Canoe Appetizer for Two.

** Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Lei Day

Join us tonight, 6:30pm, at Top Chef Masters cheftestant Roy Yamaguchi's restaurant at Harbor East, for a sumptuous 5-course Lei Day feast! Call (410) 659-0099 to make a reservation.

S U S H I
Soy Braised Pacific Bluefin Ahi & Eringe Mushroom
Ohitashi Watercress, Yamaimo, Grilled Shishito Pepper
Created by Lorin Watada, Corporate Sushi Chef

Maso Canali Pinot Grigio Trentino, Italy

S H E L L
Maine Lobster Simmered in Sauvignon Blanc
Macaroni, Wilted Cabbage, Stewed Tomato, Bacon
Created by Gordon WK Hopkins, Original Hawaii Kai Chef Partner

Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, New Zealand

F I N
Herb Grilled Hawaiian Shutome
Oxtail & Wild Mushroom Purses, Parsnip Purée, Peas, Merlot Sauce
Created by Roy Yamaguchi, Chef Owner, Founder

Red Rock Merlot California

F I E L D
Lemongrass Crusted Filet Mignon
Pancetta Wrapped Bok Choi, Cabernet Natural Sauce
Created by David "DTA" Abella, Original Kahana, Maui Chef Partner

Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Napa, California

S W E E T
Island "Lei Day Celebration" Butter Cake
Lilikoi Curd, Mango Cream, Vanilla Lime Syrup
Created by Leslie Gorman, Desert Ridge Pastry Chef

Kona Coffee

Dinner at Roy's

Last evening Mr Minx and I took Minx Dad and Minx Bro to dinner at Roy's. Since we go there so often, a couple of weeks ago they sent us a $20 gift card that needed to be used by the end of July. My Dad just started chemo and I thought it would be good for him to go out someplace nice to eat in case his treatments end up making him sick, so this seemed like perfect timing.

Mr Minx and I ordered Mai Tais and the other guys made do with water. We started off with a round of appetizers - Hong Kong wok fried calamari, wood grilled Szechwan spiced pork baby back ribs, and a bacon-wrapped fish dish with gnocchi that isn't on the menu available online (and of course I didn't make mental note of the type of fish). The calamari was more breading than fish, but it tasted fine and the squid wasn't chewy. The ribs were fantastic - nicely meaty, with a good grill flavor. Not hardly Szechwan though. And the elaborate fish preparation was much like an entree in itself and really delicious. It was like a bacon-wrapped filet mignon, only of firm-fleshed white fish.

Minx Dad loves Roy's short ribs, so that's what he ordered for his entree. They were meltingly tender and served with a little puddle of mashed potatoes and some interesting yellow cauliflower. Minx Bro went for the Korean Kalbi-flavored boneless rib eye which was amazingly succulent and only slightly spicy. It was served with sliced purple potatoes and a melange of baby vegetables plus a barely-grilled cippolini onion. I'm so lucky that my brother is generous - he kept on slicing off pieces of meat and onion and reaching across the table to add them to my plate! And I shared my duck leg confit/pork belly combo. Yes, I went to a restaurant known for seafood and ordered meat and meat! I can't help it - I find Roy's meat preparations to be so much more interesting and flavorful than those of fish. My husband more than made up for it though by ordering lump crab-stuffed rainbow trout in a spicy yuzu sesame sauce (the fish in bacon was his too!). The stuffing was all crab, and a generous portion of it at that. I think the only thing I didn't like too much was the steak fries that came with my entree. They were a little dry and flavorless and reminded me a little too much of the potatoes at Red Robin.

For dessert we had a macadamia nut tart that was gorgeous - very nutty, only slightly sweet; a coffee mousse bombe with honey graham ice cream - oh so rich!; and Meyer lemon semifreddo that was not very freddo at all, more like a chilled, very lemony egg custard. Delish all around.

I suppose because Dad didn't get appetizer or dessert (but we fed him from ours) and nobody wanted wine, we managed to escape for about $45 per person, $40 after the discount was subtracted. Roy's ain't cheap, but they do have a $35 3-course prix fixe that won't break the bank. Also check them out for Restaurant Week!

Island Hopping

We love Roy Yamaguchi's Hawaiian fusion food and eat at his local outpost at Harbor East at least a couple of times a year. Yesterday, they had their annual "Island Hop" dinner, a five course wine-paired extravaganza, and we were there to join in the revelry.

The last wine dinner we attended at Roy's was odd. The food was marvelous, the wines were meh, but the company at the communal tables for 12 was less than stellar. We hoped that this time everything would be of high quality. I'm happy to report that our dinner companions, Nicola and Brad, were delightful. They had recently returned from their fourth trip to Hawaii and had interesting tidbits to share with us. They were friendly, engaging, and not in the least bit weird (that we could tell). We were separated by two empty seats from a party of four who also seemed to be really nice folks. So the company aspect was greatly improved. And I'm sure the very strong and sweet Mai Tai we received before the start of the meal played a part in the overall conviviality of the evening.

The wines were quite good, particularly the Zinfandel we enjoyed with our main course. It was dark and rich and redolent of fresh plums and chocolate-covered dried cherries. And the champagne served with our first seafood course was extremely yeasty in aroma but light and mild in flavor.

The food, however, didn't quite live up to my usual expectations of Roy's kitchen. It wasn't the fault of the staff at Harbor East necessarily; I think that some of the combinations of flavors were not particularly well-conceived by the Roy's chefs who were asked to contribute dishes to the menu.

Our first course was Pupu Style Honoka'a Spiced Sirloin Steak, served with a Chalome Vineyard, Monterey County Pinot Noir, 2005. The steak was mid-rare, served in a stack of slices, topped with a dollop of "pesto" made with a type of Japanese capsicum. The meat was nicely tender, and the pesto was good, but I thought the spices were negligible, and the temperature was off-puttingly cold. The pinot was a good match, fragrant and soft, with no tannins to overcome the mild meat.

Second was my favorite course: Ceviche of U-10 Dayboat Scallops & Crab Salad, served with Moet & Chandon "White Star" Champagne, NV. The dish was originally supposed to feature abalone, but chef Rey Eugenio explained that the shipment of the expensive shellfish arrived in Baltimore on Friday, but he was not alerted about it until Monday. Over the weekend, it had gone bad. So he scrambled to find a substitute and went for scallops. If they were U-10s though (a designation meaning "under 10 per pound") they had been cut down a bit. On elongated plates, we received three medallions of scallop, each about the diameter of a half dollar and twice as thick. They had been marinated ceviche-style, so although opaque, they had the silky smooth texture of raw scallop. Gilding the lily were dollops of crab salad, tasting of fresh blue crab dressed with a bit of a mayo-based sauce and garnished with a slightly bitter type of microgreen and granules of black lava salt. I could have eaten three portions of this dish, it was so good. Better than the scallop dish at Morimoto, hands down.

Our third course was seafood again: Seared Rare Ono Sashimi, Lobster, Hearts of Palm & Pancetta, served with a Boschendal "Grand Cuvee Reserve" South African Sauvignon Blanc, 2006. Here's where components didn't seem to work for me. The ono, or wahoo, a large Hawaiian fish related to mackerel, was crusted in Sichuan peppercorns. The fish was very mild and silky, but the only thing the peppercorns contributed was a crunch akin to finding sand in one's food. There wasn't enough of it to be flavorful, and definitely not enough to produce the tongue-numbing sensation for which the tiny buds are famous. There was a streak of lemon-flavored cream near the ono that we were instructed to swipe each morsel of fish through before popping into our mouths. It added just enough extra spark to the very neutrally-flavored seafood. On one side of the plate were two heirloom tomatoes the size of large cherries, separated by a curl of fried pancetta. The tomatoes had a cooked, canned-tomato texture and flavor, as if they had remained in the blanching water (the skins had been removed) for too long. On the other side of the fish was a nicely-cooked bit of lobster claw meat reclining on some wilted spinach that was mixed with slivers of crisp hearts of palm and flavored with much garlic. The lobster in itself was a nice dish, but I didn't see the relation to the ono or the weird tomatoes. The wine, on the other hand, was crisp and flavorful, with the fragrance of ripe pears.

For a fourth course, we were presented with a Grilled Venison Chop, Kalbi Pork & Thai Citrus Shrimp, served with a Rosenblum Cellars, San Francisco Bay Zinfandel, 2005. Another course that didn't seem quite right. The generously-sized venison chop was medium-rare, very tender, and possessing a nice liver-y but not quite gamey flavor. The purple mashed potatoes that served as its nest were very creamy and had a good, simple, potato flavor. Next to it, was a thick slice of somewhat garlicky, kinda tough, pork belly that was very difficult to cut, topped with a sadly-overcooked citrus-marinated shrimp. The flavors were good, but the textures there were off, and I didn't see the connection between the venison, pork, and shrimp. There was also a vegetable accompaniment consisting of a few pieces of slender asparagus tips and loose leaves of brussels sprouts flavored with soy. The wine, however, was the best of the bunch, plummy and rich, matching well with the venison and pork and even the vegetables.

Last but not least came dessert: Guava Chiffon Shortcake, Lilikoi & Strawberries, served with Kona coffee or tea. By this point, I was getting tired of eating, but the shortcake was a fluffy delight flavored with guava. There were some blueberries in with the strawberries, and the whipped cream tasted of passion fruit. My decaf was a little weak, and I can't speak for the hi-test version.

Multicourse meals are not without their little disappointments, and this one was certainly no exception. But we'd do it again, because we're foodies, and we're always optimistic that we'll be served at least one exceptional dish.