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Last week, we posted a piece about Leslie Brenner's explanation of the Dallas Morning News' star rating system. Looks like, this week at least, said explanation wasn't really necessary. The subject of Brenner's review didn't even rate a single gold sticker.
While the Dallas Observer's Scott "Hipster Dreamboat" Reitz was, for the most part, enjoying the meat sweats Graham Dodds and Central 214 gave him, Brenner was having a much different experience at Kinado Sushi in Richardson. A terrible one, in fact.
Rarely do we see a critic go all out and say a restaurant has made a "mockery" of its cuisine type, but we get to see it in Brenner's review of Kinado. Oh, sure, it's in the headline. But then there's this:
Flabby slices of “Kinado Kobe” (please, let’s not call it Kobe when it’s not from Japan; it’s American Wagyu) have not been seared. Most have been cooked to grayness; a couple are rare. They’re set atop a strange mess of sautéed asparagus and something that tastes like turnip but was supposed to be king mushroom, as I learn when I later email the restaurant to fact-check. My husband’s tuna steak hasn’t been seared, either; those tired slices languish on a sauté similar to mine, but with the king mushrooms. A fried striped bass, served whole, is hard and chewy, impossible to eat. The only thing to say about the sushi that follows is that the mackerel tastes even older than it did last time.So that happened. Also, window-side booths were promised but not delivered. Music was too loud and distracting. Servers were clueless to specials or hadn't been educated. Bad and more bad after that.
After pointing out that chef and co-owner Tam Huynh has never visited Japan -- and that the same goes for many of Dallas' sushi chefs -- Brenner offered this gem, as parting advice or a bon voyage, perhaps: "Maybe it’s time for a few of them to pick up the phone, book a flight, and discover the way sushi’s supposed to taste."
How 'bout a standing slow clap for Leslie Brenner, folks?
· Kinado Sushi and Bar in Richardson makes a mockery of sushi [DMN]
· Kinado Sushi [Official]
· Heavy Cooking Isn't the Only Way to Embrace Local Meat. [DO]
[Photo: Kinado Sushi/Facebook]
