RESTAURANT REVIEW, Part Deux - Blue Koi, Kansas City, MO

April visited Blue Koi in 2011, but the hedgehogs insisted on going to see it themselves. April met a few omnivorous friends there for a nice lunch.

Blue Koi
1803 W. 39th Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
(also at 10581 Mission Road, Leawood, KS 66206)







The last time April went to Blue Koi, she made a meal out of the Crispy Tofu With Spicy Awesome Sauce and the Veggie Dumplings. This time, she was excited to try the Eggplant Pockets, but the server told her that they were out of those. Vowing to come back before the end of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival to try them, April and her dining companions decided to split the Crispy Veggies (tempura coated fried mixed vegetables with a cool basil sauce and a semi-spicy sriracha sauce), the Spicy Chili Tofu Wontons, and the Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce.







The Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce was just as awesome as April remembered; the tofu is nicely fried and the sauce is just the right combination of sweet and spicy. The Crispy Veggies were also good - April got lots of the delicious cauliflower, since her companions weren't big fans of that particular veggie. The sriracha sauce wasn't overly spicy, but has a bit of a kick of one gets enough of it at one time. The Spicy Chili Tofu Wontons, however, are April's new favorite! Incredibly flavorful, with just the right amount of spice.

April and the hedgehogs were impressed to discover that Blue Koi actually offers more vegan options than they had originally thought. Besides the appetizers listed above, there's also Lettuce Wraps that can be made with tofu. For main dishes, the Firebird Duck and the Black Bean Chicken can be made with tofu instead, and in addition to the Vegetable Noodle Soup shown on the online menu, there's a Vegan Delights soup that April very nearly got, Tofu with Chinese Curry Sauce, Braised Tofu with Shiitake Mushroom (can be noodle soup or just over noodles or rice), and Ants On A Tree, which can be made with tofu, and which is what April decided to get. (The hedgehogs wanted to see if it really had ants. It didn't.)


Hedgie offers April her collapsible chopsticks.

The bean noodles were very tasty, and the fried tofu stood out well among the rest of the veggies. There was a ton of it, as well, and the hedgehogs helped April pack half of it into her reusable to-go box to have for dinner.

For a beverage/dessert, April had the Sweet Red Bean Bubble Tea with pearls. The server told her that they use soy milk, so it was vegan. Yay!

Mandelbrot Caulipots

Last week, I bought a bunch of organic collard greens from Sprouts to go with the Butler Soy Curls I'd got from Wheatsville's bulk section.  I finally ran out of greens today, so I went to Wheatsville to buy more.  While there, I picked up local organic spinach, kale, and carrots, and was fortunate enough to get a small head of Romanesco cauliflower from a local farm.  I have been calling it Mandelbrot cauliflower since it looks like a bunch of fractals. If there's anything more awesome than fractal cauliflower, it's miniature fractal cauliflower. (So cute!)



Since I figure I now have more veggies than Soy Curls, I picked up some locally-made tempeh.



I also bought a vegan chocolate heart-shaped cake, since I had been very tempted to get one for Mark last weekend, and they're on sale now for only $2 each. Score!



My roommate requested some popcorn tofu and cashew-tamari dressing, so we split that for dinner.  To go with it, I was going to make the Caulipots from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbook "Appetite For Reduction", but didn't realize that the "cauliflower mashed potatoes" used both cauliflower *and* potatoes. (See, class, this is why we read the directions first!)  I had no potatoes, nor did I have any vegetable broth.  I ended up just boiling the cauliflower, mashing it with the potato masher, and adding a bit of salt, soy sauce, flax milk, coconut oil, and nutritional yeast. The finished product tasted more like cauliflower than potatoes, but the texture was good, and the overall flavor very satisfying.