Restaurant Critic

A new restaurant has moved into the former Nikita's coffee shop and the former Pop's Family Café. Though I find the name of the restaurant lacking in taste, The Strip Club is named for it's menu which is mostly devoted to steak. We had planned a visit there last night with members of our block club but Quinn cut our trip short. After 15 minutes, she was done so we don't have much to critique other than some social and environmental observations. The restaurant is very very dark. Everything is black: the waitstaff's clothes, the napkins, the paper placemats, the tables, and chairs. The lighting is also kept to a minimum. Since it is such a small place the acoustics leave a lot to be desired too as I found myself having to lip read the person talking two seats down from me since I could hear nothing. In the time we were there they didn't even hand out the drink menu till most of our party had shown up. Despite everyone having arrived by the time we left, we never even got to see a dinner menu so we can't comment on that. Supposedly their food is fantastic...something we'll have to comment on at a later time. This place is definetly NOT child friendly despite having a single high chair that they had to go into their secret room to get out. Leave your kids at home. Also, the clientele is a bit high brow which is not representative of the working class neighborhood that surrounds it. Supposedly this restaurant will bring more yuppies into the neighborhood that will buy up the old rundown Victorians for cheap and fix them up thus revitalizing the neighborhood. A nice idea but will it become a reality? The restaurant is just one block off the the freeway so the outsiders don't need to venture far into our neighborhood and thus may miss our charming array of turn of the century homes.

In addition, just a couple miles away, we have a 4-star restaurant. The Tea House is an Asian restaurant in the strip mall behind Target on Suburban Avenue. David and I went there for a lunch date a couple weeks ago. We both ordered off the lunch menu which was very resonably priced especially for the quantity of food. David had the chicken in bean sauce and I had my standby favorite: sesame chicken. I wanted to try the scallion pancakes which got high marks from the Pioneer Press; the waiter told me they had run out. Though David was able to finish his meal (despite being thin, his stomach can accomplish enormous amounts of food) I brought home half. I would highly recommend this place. Reservations are probably not necessary but seeing how popular the place has become, it may be a good idea to call ahead if you plan to go during the standard lunch and dinner hours.