JK Restaurant

1 Reviews on “JK Restaurant”

• Prince Gastronome

  I had prepped numerous anecdotes and comedic metaphors in preparation for my review of JK. Some were convoluted and meanderingone dove into the allegorical messages in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Another had dragons. Alas, I have no time, and neither do you. This review is going to come off as unfortunately anticlimactic. Upon the writing and posting of this review, JK has just over one week of life left to it. I never really had the chance to truly appreciate JK; Im almost as forlorn as when the Muppets mourned Henson in that one episode when they had only just discovered his existence. But yes, unfortunately, JKs days are numbered. Is it worth the race to catch it before it closes? Yes.When I call my friends to join me in a review, Im generally able to gather about two or three at a moments notice. When I mentioned I was going for Chinese, I got six, and we dominated the tiny JK, nestled in an often forgotten area of town, an area doomed to be an outlying business. What I mean is that if youre located downtown, you service the city; when youre nestled in the middle of a residential area miles away, you service only that region, and one already covered by a popular local Chinese restaurant. JK boasts zero MSG, supplementing that with pink Himalayan salt. Okay, lets clear the air hereit doesnt radiate negative ions or waves of positive energy. Its just salt, and MSG has been repeatedly declared healthy, with the vast majority of consumers noting no adverse effects outside of whats found with a placebo. So I would not patronize JK on the basis of their choice of sodium. I choose them, Pikachu, because for a mostly westernized Chinese restaurant, I thought it was actually pretty good. Although the vast amount of the offerings are the expected spread seen in almost every Chinese restaurant, there are enough original ideas and effort put into the standard to warrant a visit. The food is goodthough I dont think that as I am writing this mind you. Right now, I am overfull, having eaten more than Mr. Creosote in Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life. The problem are the prices, lulling you into thinking the portions would be small. What we received were bountiful mountains of rice and noodles on the verge of breaking the limbs of the waitress tasked with serving us.As a pause in the action, JK is a rather unspectacular restaurant. There is little distinguishing itself. Its not even that pretty. Its also probably the smallest Chinese restaurant in town, though flaunting oversized bathrooms uncomfortably close to our table. No joke, the bathroom door was wedged open, and when I stood in front of the urinal, I turned my head and saw my girlfriends shocked impression from the end of the table. Said table featured a bizarre assortment of dispensers, shakers, and candles, all of which we quickly had to find place for on another empty table as our dozen plates of food arrived. We ordered too much. My fridge is now full with cartons of leftovers. Dont care, I thought the food was greatbut good lord, they must have been clearing out their fridge. We opened with three orders of deep-fried wontons, expecting the massive mound of chips that arrived to be a combined order. NOPE, as two more identical servings followed. Not long after came the egg rolls, Szechwan hot and sour beef noodle, Hawaiian beef, almond chicken, chicken in black bean sauce, Szechwan beef, ginger beefyeah, sit back–Im not even close to being donechicken egg foo young, beef egg foo young, Singapore fried rice noodle, chicken chow mein, beef & broccoli, and pork fried rice. For six people. And each plate was colossal, like Richard Dreyfuss with the mashed potatoes in Close Encounters big. About the only dish I felt underperformed was the egg-foo young, which I had never tried before anyway. A satisfying if bittersweet meal that will be enjoyed for probably the next two weeks; by then, JK will have shuffled off this mortal coil. I guess thats the way of the universe. I mean, we are all living in an ever-expanding yet limited universe bound by finite energy. Suns will die. Memories will fade, and Chinese restaurants will close. Wow, that got morose real fast. Shame. The service was nice despite the melancholyour volume was tolerated and the chef himself came out to thank us for our business. Its unclear what will replace JK. Its a sad truth that in todays age, some places are gone before you can appreciate them.The clock is ticking folks. JK is on borrowed time.

  June 8, 2016, 1:32 am

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