Jai Yen Review

Jai Yen
3736 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60613-4105
(773) 404-0555

Type: Sushi/Asian
Fancy Shmancy Factor: 1/5
Price: $5 per roll, $3-5 per piece for sushi, $7-12 for Specialty Rolls
Quality for price: 4/5
Ambiance: Casual

Since our first official date was going out for sushi, it only seemed appropriate to choose a sushi restaurant for our first review. A few Sundays ago was one of our first days off together in quite some time. After spending Saturday night at the Windy City Wine Festival consuming the equivalent of about six bottles of wine between the two of us and then heading to Lincoln Square to meet friends at the German Fest, we woke up Sunday morning (earlier than we should have, as is our custom) craving what all reasonable hangover victims crave: IHOP breakfast. Before you stop reading, NO, this review is not about the International House of Pancakes. Because, really, what negative thing could you ever say about IHOP? Four kinds of syrup right on the table and your own personal fake metallic coffee pot! And, in addition to the promised pancakes in the restaurant name, you can get BELGIAN waffles or FRENCH toast, lending the chain its "International" billing. And as for the "house" part, doesn’t that grease-stained handprint on the pleather booth make the restaurant feel curiously like home? Okay, this really is turning into a review of IHOP, so let’s get back to the present.

It’s Sunday at 5:30. We have tickets to see a friend in Taming of the Shrew at No Exit Theatre (great show, by the way). We’re looking for something elegant to match our feeling of sophistication (two tickets to Shakespeare and we get delusions of refinement). Unfortunately, our wallets don’t share our delusions and can’t support anything in the way of fine dining tonight. Compromise: Sushi at Jai Yen.

[Dan's Take]: I’m always a bit nervous taking Kristen to sushi places (see the food profile on her in the previous post), but I’m also trying to groom her to be a sushi connoisseur as I frequently crave the raw little buggers and it’s nice to share it with someone. We brought a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay, which is a great wine for the price if you get it on sale at Jewel. With sushi, I usually like my wines to be on the sweeter side, but hey, it’s all that was in my fridge.

When we arrived, there were about three other tables between the dining room and the modest outdoor seating. Apparently, we were there before the dinner rush. We decided to sit inside and were seated promptly just off the main part of the dining room in an area that would have been perfect for a larger party, but was also nice since we were the only two people there. About halfway through the meal, they did seat a three-person birthday party in the same room, which was unfortunate. Not so much for us, but more for the girl who only had two people show up for her birthday party.

[Kristen's Take]: The thoughtful staff at Jai Yen must have felt sorry for her, too, and decided to help liven up the party because the relaxing, subtle house music we enjoyed with our wine and appetizer were replaced with classics such as The Macarena and no less than two songs by Shaggy. For the sake of keeping this entry only moderately long instead of intolerably so, I will choose not to comment on the fact that Shaggy has managed to have more than one hit song and that the Macarena has achieved such transcendent status.

Are we the only ones that get the feeling at some of the smaller-operation ethnic restaurants that there isn’t a clear person who is ‘the server’? There was someone who sat us, someone who filled our water glasses, and someone who graciously opened our wine for us. We ordered the Crab Rangoon from a couple of different people hoping that one of them was the designated person to put in the order to the kitchen. We were relieved when it came out to the table and only once. Crab Rangoon is a hard one to mess up, but this one stood out even from a very standard appetizer. The four pieces were hot and crunchy with just the right amount of filling and made us forget about the initial confusion. One of the great things about Jai Yen is that it's very reasonable and the sushi is quality. We ordered Spicy Tuna and Philly Maki rolls as well as one of their specialty rolls and four pieces of Sushi. With tax and tip our bill was still under $50 (not including the wine we brought). We both agree that Jai Yen is a good place to bring a date for a casual, good sushi meal if you're not looking to break the bank. Maybe not for a first date if you're really looking to impress someone with ambiance, but if you've been together for a while and aren't looking for the white glove treatment it's a great place for reasonably-priced sushi (and a bizzare music scene).

Our Food Profiles (as written by the other person)

Kristen's Take on Dan:

At the grocery store (one of our favorite places), Dan can usually be found in one of two sections: 1.) cheese or 2.) wine. (To take care of the obvious pun, my mister is hardly ever whiny but more often than not, incredibly cheesy.) If he buys either of these two items, I know I have a happy camper on my hands, especially if they are on sale. Because good food is one thing. But good food at a great price is nirvana for this one! Really. He keeps his receipts to brag about his savings and once left me a four minute voicemail message detailing the cost breakdown of his purchases and the amazing deals he scored.
And speaking of "scoring," it took Dan and I quite some time to 'score' each other. The romantic cliche' of "love at first sight" doesn't really apply to us. But like a fine wine or carefully-aged cheese, sometimes it takes a little while longer to develop delicious and complex flavors. Such was the case with us, but once we discovered our mutual adoration of all things edible, we began heading down a path that would lead us to creating this blog. So, I suppose, something more like "love at first bite" might apply...
Our food compatibility is quite phenomenal really. We both tend to avoid olives, mushrooms, raw onions, and tomatoes (yes, I realize those are all vegetables) and love just about any kind of meat. Dan is better at handling spicy foods than I and likes curry, which I avoid when possible. Besides wine, cheese, any kind of meat, whatever is on sale, and somewhat-spicy foods, Dan likes to eat ice cream (the latest is vanilla with Framboise poured over it--so good), bacon, sushi, falafel, and pretty much anything I leave on my plate when I'm full. He is also a fan of the delicious Chocolate hazelnut spread I always have in stock. I tend to eat it on bread with blackberries, whereas Dan eats it on anything with anything.
What I admire most about Dan's tastebuds is his enjoyment of seafood. I've been rather sheltered when it comes to eating aquatic animals and he is gradually helping me to open my eyes to the world of gilled, scaled, and shelled dinners. In fact, our first date was also my first time eating sushi. But then, I think he'll want to tell that story himself....

Dan's Take on Kristen:

What I really like about Kristen's taste in food essentially comes down to this: She'll try almost anything (as long as it doesn't have ham in it. It's not a religious thing, she just can't stand ham...I know, I can't figure it out either...). Having lived in Chicago longer (and just lived longer in general) I've probably been exposed to more different types of food, but Kristen has never shied away from trying something new. The first restaurant I took her to in the city was Agami, a nicer sushi place in my neighborhood. I asked her if she had eaten sushi before and she assured me that she had and liked it, so I didn't think this would be a big deal. Once we got to the restaurant I asked her what kind of sushi she liked and she told me the only things she's really had were cucumber and avocado rolls... "Um...that's not really sushi..." I tried to explain. "See, sushi is traditionally fish-based. So..." Yeah, she'd never had sushi. So I decided to order. Now, this just happened to be the weekend that Kristen's doctor made her wear a heart monitor for reasons I won't get into here. So let me set the scene: First date. We're at a table for two with a bottle of sparkling wine. Low-lighting. Talking, laughing. We finish our appetizer and the food starts to arrive. They set the sushi down first, a few pieces of super white tuna, some snapper and a couple of others. Then they bring over the maki rolls. Nothing fancy, just a couple of basic rolls (that actually had fish inside). Our server asked if there was anything else we needed. "No, this looks great, thank you." There was a moment of silence while we both looked at the plates and then all of the sudden this loud beeping starts out of no where and it's coming from Kristen's side of the table. A bit confused at first, she quickly became embarrassed when she realized her heart monitor was going off because her heart rate was too high. She excused herself to the bathroom and I haven't let her live it down since...

One thing I should mention about Kristen's food taste is her love of ranch dressing. I've known people who love ranch dressing before, but not to this extent. At least she has the self control to swear it off for months at a time, only to binge on it again when the time frame expires...

She's a much better cook than myself. She can come up with some amazing dishes with whatever happens to be in her refrigerator at the time. She hardly ever uses a recipe, which is also pretty amazing. She loves making paninis (a lot of them with avocado) and crepes with lots of delicious fillings.

I also think I could take a little bit of credit for her newly found appreciation for wine...but I don't like to brag... :)