Sushi Sho - $ happy hour prices, $$ otherwise

Our guest Dinette was the always effervescent and multi-talented Kelly Keaton, a self-professed lover of food. If you ask her for directions to the nearest whatever, she'll tell what eateries are around it. She is a true Dinette.

Ambience: soft, flattering recessed lighting above the bar. I just want to be followed around in my own pool of recessed light. Subtle earth tones on the wall. Kelly: "Cute, fun. Love the colors!" The Italian art confused me a little, but it fit. I guess because they were playing jazz? And no one yelled at me when I came in!!! (see Mikato restaurant below.) 4 forks.

Bathroom: Well...you have to go through the kitchen. I really don't want to know what might be on the floor. Ignorance is total and complete bliss. The bathroom was clean. But, what are the lockers for? My keys? If you need a high chair, find it there. 3 forks.

Service: attentive. Even though we were sitting at the sushi bar, we didn't hand our order to the chefs in front of us, we handed it to the waitress.

Food: Let's get down to business. They've got a few half priced happy hour selections. Laurie ordered none of those. She was seduced by the names of the rolls, such as O My God, and Pink Godzilla. When the O My God roll came out, Kelly said, "O My God!" It was huge with shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, spicy tuna, and smelt egg. And it tasted "O My God" good. The Pink Godzilla had crab, asparagus, was wrapped in pink soy paper and was "Pretty and yummy." I dare any manly man to order it. You won't be sorry. 4 forks! "This is my new neighborhood sushi place!"

Kelly: spicy tuna - "Nothing special." Fried calamari salad - "Just ok." K: "Have you ever had fried cheese curdles?" Umm...no. "They are SO good. They squeak when you bite into them." No wonder the calamari was just ok. No sound effects.

Me: Laurie looks at the names and descriptions of rolls. I look at the prices. Cheap and cooked are my only standards. So...my rolls were standard (don't say boring!) shrimp tempura, CA, veggie and salmon skin. Salmon skin? K: "Must be the Chinese in you." Me: "We don't throw nothin' away." I ate every bit of it's crunchy, fishy goodness. Actually, I ate every bit of everything. 4 forks.

Next Up: A Japanese restaurant on the corner of Riverside and something in Toluca Lake. I can't find the name anywhere. But, I can always find the food.

Piriya Thai Chinese - $

The Dinettes are back on track on Riverside Drive on our quest to find the best eats on the street. Honestly, we just can't wait to get to the Promised Land of Toluca Lake. There are just 2 more eateries between us and the Land of Canaan. Piriya was one of them.

Piriya is in a the Dominoes strip mall on Riverside and it's a little Thai-Chinese place that's run by a lady named Gee or Gia or something like that.

Atmosphere: Typical Asian hole in the wall with mismatched decor, hallways being used for storage, and a happy fat Buddha near the cash register, which is probably why he's so fat and happy. Jay Leno's autographed pic was sitting right next him. Maybe that's why he was laughing. If you looked long enough, you wouldn't have been able to tell them apart except that, thankfully, Jay had a shirt on. This place even had a red plastic altar on the floor beneath the counter. I've seen plenty of red plastic altars in my day. I mean, my parents have one in their house. There are red plastic candles that are always "lit." Safer to worship your idol of choice that way. This one was more elaborate. It had fake plastic incense that was also always "lit." 2.5 forks.

Bathroom: Clean, but being used for storage. I'm Chinese and I've seen this all my life. What is with my people and not being able to a) throw things away, and b) buy a storage unit?? Ai-yah! (That's Chinese for oy vey!) 2.5 forks.

Food: Laurie had thai iced coffee, duck with tofu and white rice. She liked it and thought it was tasty. That is, until I pointed out the 1/4 inch of grease at the bottom of her plate. Still, she gave it 3 forks.

Me: I had my favorite noodles - rad na. Or lad na. Or lard na. Or rard nah. E) all of the above. Rice noodles with pork and broccoli in a gravy. That's comfort food for this China girl! I loved it! Rah rah for rard lah/lad na/lad na!!! 4 forks!

The woman who owns the place also does everything else - waitress, hostess, cook. She did it all. In the hallway, there was evidence of a kid. A small pink plastic chair was at a low table that had a tv/vcr combo unit. I suspected her daughter was there on occasion.

We were there on a Sunday, but the menu said, "Closed on Sunday." Gee/Gia said she had to open on Sundays because it had been slow, and she needed to make more money for her daughter. Great. I'll have a side of guilt for dessert. So, next time I need my thai lard nah/rard na/lard na noodle fix, I'll be stopping by Piriya. I can feel like I'm doing a good deed and getting good food at the same time.

Overall rating: 2.5 forks.

Next up: Backtrack it to Susho Sho for their 1/2 priced happy hour sushi. 1/2 price sushi might scare some. And it should. So, I won't make plans for the rest of the evening...