DINING OUT

Asian dining in area gets a boost from strong newcomers

The Centerville roll is made of cooked salmon with shrimp tempura, avacado and cream cheese that is deep fried and served with a spring mix salad with four kinds of chef sauce and masako.

Staff photo by Lisa Powell The Centerville roll is made of cooked salmon with shrimp tempura, avacado and cream cheese that is deep fried and served with a spring mix salad with four kinds of chef sauce and masako.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Kabuki serves Bulgogi, thinly sliced marinated beef ribeye, and (background) the Orange Sunshine Roll, which is shrimp tempura, orange sauce and crab served on top of salmon with an orange cream sauce tobiko.

Staff photo by Lisa Powell Kabuki serves Bulgogi, thinly sliced marinated beef ribeye, and (background) the Orange Sunshine Roll, which is shrimp tempura, orange sauce and crab served on top of salmon with an orange cream sauce tobiko.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Photos: Kabuki Kitchen restaurant

Staff photo by Lisa Powell Yi Ho Suk creates specialty rolls at the Kabuki Korean & Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Centerville.

By Mark Fisher, Staff Writer Updated 12:49 PM Wednesday, March 17, 2010

The Miami Valley’s Asian dining scene continues to welcome impressive newcomers as it blossoms and diversifies.

For lovers of Asian food — count me among them — this is welcome news.

When chosen carefully, Asian stir-fry dishes, soups and other specialties can be robustly flavored, filled with fresh vegetables, reasonably priced, healthy — and delicious.

Dayton-area Asian food enthusiasts now have access to great diversity of dishes and cuisines. Chinese cuisine dominated the Asian dining landscape 20 years ago — and remains a potent force, as evidenced by China Cottage’s two-night, sold-out Chinese New Year feasts earlier this week. But today there are far more Thai and Korean options available locally, and Vietnamese and Japanese restaurants, including sushi bars, have increased.

Here’s a sampler platter of a few of the relatively new (or newer) Asian restaurants well worth trying:

Kabuki Korean & Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar opened in mid-2009 at 848 S. Main St. in Centerville under the ownership of Mae Brown and Yi Ho Suk, who makes his own soy sauce and keeps a “black book” of recipes and jotted-down ideas for recipes in his pocket at all times. Some of those ideas have become reality on Kabuki’s extensive list of “specialty rolls,” where East meets at least a touch of West.

The specialty rolls look like traditional sushi rolls but may contain ingredients such as mayonnaise, oranges, asparagus and cream cheese.

The colorful Centerville Roll ($13.95) includes cooked salmon, shrimp tempura, avocado and cream cheese rolled into a log, flash-fried, then sliced and drizzled with thin, colorful ribbons of spicy sauces, including a red sauce spiced with hot peppers and a green sauce spiced with wasabi. It packs a delightfully spicy punch. The distinctive Orange Sunshine Roll ($14.95) leaves the spice behind in favor of a refreshing citrus flavor that enhances shrimp tempura crab and salmon, drizzled with an orange cream sauce.

Among the Korean entries, the Bulgogi ($14.95) — marinated and thinly sliced ribeye beef stir-fried with onion and bell peppers, served with a slightly sweetened soy sauce — is a better choice than the Kai Bi ($17.95), broiled beef short ribs. From the appetizers, try the Harumaki, Japanese-style shrimp and vegetable eggrolls.

Tik’s Thai Express opened just over a year ago at 2808 Colonel Glenn Highway, Fairborn, across from Wright State University. The restaurant is owned by Siriya “Tik” Sripol, who helped introduce Thai cuisine to the Yummy Burger, a downtown Dayton diner, in 2004, then became co-owner of Ban Thai restaurant in the Beaver Valley Shopping Center in Beavercreek in 2005.

Students in a hurry drop in on weekdays for the lunch buffet ($5.95-$6.95), but don’t miss this restaurant’s Pad Thai ($7.95) or its nod-to-Western-tastes Thai Bourbon Chicken ($8.95), grilled chicken bathed in a slightly sweet sauce and served with mixed vegetables and rice. Tik’s excels at curries as well, with choices that include red, green, Massaman and Panang curry (all $7.95).

Another relatively recent entry into the burgeoning Thai restaurant scene is Pearl Bay Thai & Asian Cuisine , 133 E. Dayton-Yellow Springs Road in Fairborn. Highlights include the flavorful Chicken Massaman Curry ($8.95) and the Ginger Shrimp ($10.95), robustly accented by plenty of shredded fresh ginger. Soups are also a strength here, including the Tom Yum Koong, hot-and-sour shrimp soup with mushrooms, tomatoes and lemongrass.

With other relative newcomers such as Tsao’s Cuisine and Siam Pad Thai, both reviewed previously on these pages, and stalwarts such as China Cottage, Linh’s, Thai 9, Chin’s Ginger Grill and Mr. Lee’s Fine Dining, the Asian dining scene appears to enter the Year of the Tiger in fine health.

Kabuki Korean & Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar

WHERE: 848 S. Main St., Centerville [Map]
HOURS: Open seven days for lunch and dinner
MORE INFO: (937) 435-9500, www.daytonkabuki.com

Tik’s Thai Express

WHERE: 2808 Colonel. Glenn Highway, across from Wright State University [Map]
HOURS: Open seven days for lunch and dinner
MORE INFO: (937) 912-5984

Pearl Bay Thai & Asian Cuisine

WHERE: 133 E. Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, Fairborn [Map]
HOURS: Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday
MORE INFO: (937) 879-7880

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