Dining Divas and Dudes: Riding the wave at Tsunami Sushi and Korean Chicken Wing
Dining Divas and Dudes: Riding the wave at Tsunami Sushi and Korean Chicken Wing
The Dining Divas team takes on a new entry/new entrees on Sagamore Parkway. Plus, new charges for Richard Allen in the Delphi murder case
Let’s start here on this cold Saturday morning …
Order up: Dining Divas and Dudes is a team that has been reporting and rating new restaurants, hidden gems, international fare and updated menus from old favorites for years now at homeofpurdue.com. Here at Based in Lafayette, we feature some of Dining Divas and Dudes’ best and most recent finds. The Divas and Dudes are: Tetia Lee, Kay Conner, Linda Eales, Iseral Quintero, Margy Deverall, Jerry Hunley, Whitney McBell, Jo Wade and Ken McCammon. This time, the crew indulges in a culinary adventure at Tsunami Sushi and Korean Chicken Wing, at 700 Sagamore Parkway N. in Lafayette, a Dining Divas & Dudes rave-worthy review.
DINING DIVAS AND DUDES: RIDING THE WAVE THAT IS TSUNAMI SUSHI
By Whitney McBell / Dining Divas and Dudes
We entered this joint fully anticipating a wave of flavor. Once easily recognized as the Great Wall, and later Joe’s Pancake House, at 700 Sagamore Parkway N., it now wears a new hat as Tsunami Sushi and Korean Chicken Wing.
It’s nice and spacious inside, with plenty of room for family and friends to feast on any of the family-sized specials featured on the menu. With an expansive menu ranging from individual sushi rolls, to curries and wings, there is sure to be something to strike your fancy.
We ravenous diners started our lunch with a round of shared appetizers because, well, sharing is caring and we dare to care! The Vegetarian Gyoza was well cooked with a nice crisp exterior from the pan sear and deliciously filled with the usual suspects. Takoyaki is a dumpling ball filled with octopus and tastefully adorned with a special sauce. The plate emptied quickly and the crowd was pleased. Always a fan favorite, the edamame was well seasoned and gone before we knew it.
The specialty featured on the menu is “famous Korean chicken wings.” We inquired about the most popular flavor, as the menu boasts 7 different options. We agreed on the Supreme Wing, and were all ready to bow down in its glory. These babies are saucy, sassy and ready to rage. They are breaded and sauced, yet by some miraculous intervention, the breading was somehow still crispy. We knew this was going to be a good time when they provided us with gloves to use in the demolition of the platter. Don’t worry, you can still lick your fingers if you want to, it’s not that weird.
Once the main plates started to arrive, our table was overtaken by a flurry of excitement akin to a playground at recess. Our heads were whipping back and forth as we scrambled to see what was happening next. The presentation of these dishes is seriously unparalleled. The portions are colossal, and the sounds and scents really got the party going.
Jo had the Veggie Curry, sans rice, per her own preference. While her omission of carbs feels unhinged to a diagnosed carboholic like myself, I must concede that I wouldn’t have noticed anything missing from her platter. It was rich in flavor and pleasantly spicy, which was also unexpected. The vegetables were cooked al dente and packed the exact right amount of crunch to satisfy her palate.
I wasn’t quite ready and panic ordered the Dynamite Roll and have precisely zero regrets about my last-minute decision. You’re never going to believe this, but my Dynamite Roll was … outstanding! (Hah! You thought I was going to say dynamite!) This was delicious, and didn’t feel as deep fried as I’ve had at other establishments, which was nice. The sauce topping was divine, and I would absolutely order it again and again
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Linda ordered Udon with Shrimp Tempura. The shrimp tempura was served on the side and absolutely beautiful. Her steaming bowl of udon was distracting to say the least. The udon broth was savory and balanced the noodles and shrimp tempura wonderfully. Try though she did, she couldn’t conquer the entire bowl, which is indicative of the portion size presented to her.
Jerry’s Beef Teriyaki was the last to arrive, but it was worth the wait. It’s always so exciting to see a perfectly shaped mound of rice, and this was served alongside a skillet of scentsual (see what I did there?) beef and veggies. Jerry was very happy with it, and it was his first time ever having beef teriyaki. He described it as sweet and just fantastic.
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Margy’s Veggie Roll was lacking nothing and utterly perfect. It featured the standard veggie roll ingredients, but with the asparagus cooked in place of raw. The flavors were perfectly balanced and perfectly portioned. She added the pickled radishes that came with the wings because we just really couldn’t get enough of them!
It should also be noted that Jerry and Margy were under the impression that we were coming here last month, so they did themselves, and they were very happy to do it once more.
Ken’s House Salad was a real dazzler, and nearly large enough to be the main entrée. Cool, crisp and bountifully dressed in a house-made fresh ginger dressing, I had an intense admiration for both the salad itself and Ken’s ability to gracefully maneuver his lettuce with chopsticks. This is a man who can handle his rig with safety! His Spicy Salmon Roll appeared promptly thereafter, and it was also a large portion of good looking matter. It can be described as awesome, wonderful, and there was no evidence that it had ever existed at all!
Tetia’s Bibimbap had a dazzling sizzle that was music to our ears. I didn’t know what it was, but I sure wanted to get to know it. Nearly all of us got up from our table to get a closer look for ourselves. It was delicious, and the bibimbap sauce made it sparkle. Massive in size, it was a good combination of flavors. The rice on the bottom was nice and crispy, and every bite had a different flavor. It was topped with a fried egg, which was the icing on the cake. Each dish comes with a surprise bowl of miso soup as well, which is a welcome surprise.
At the completion of our meal, we were each presented with a gift box. Inside were two absolutely gorgeous sets of ornate chopsticks. What a generous gift, and not one of us could believe it! Each of us would excitedly come back again, and you should too. Now get out there and taste the magic!
Look for occasional features from Dining Divas and Dudes in Based in Lafayette. For more reviews and local attractions visit www.homeofpurdue.com/blog/
ALLEN FACES AMENDED CHARGES IN DELPHI MURDER CASE
Richard Allen, the 51-year-old Delphi man accused in the 2017 murders of teens Abby Williams and Libby German, faces amended charges that now include kidnapping.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nick McLeland filed the new set of charges Thursday morning, a half-hour before the Indiana Supreme Court took arguments about whether Allen could have his initial defense team reinstated to his case.
In court documents, McLeland wrote that adding the kidnapping charge in both girls’ murders “does not substantially change the state’s theory of the case.” The original charges, filed Oct. 28, 2022, contend that Allen met Abby and Libby at the Monon High Bridge on Feb. 13, 2017, and forced them down an embankment into the woods, where they were killed. Audio from Libby’s cellphone, found after the murders, captured the voice of a man telling them, “Guys … down the hill.”
Thursday’s filing did not include additional evidence other than to contend that “the charges more accurately aligns the charging information with the cause’s discovery and probable cause affidavit.” McLeland wrote that “because of the clarity of the discovery and probable cause affidavit, the defendant has been on notice since the beginning of the case.”
Allen, being held at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility, is scheduled for trial in October 2024.
No additional hearings have been set, as wrangling continued in recent months over his contention that special Judge Fran Gull should be removed from the case and that his original attorneys – Brad Rozzi and Andrew Baldwin, who were taken off the case in a dispute with the judge in October 2023 – be brought back. The Indiana Supreme Court, after arguments Thursday morning, ruled that afternoon that Rozzi and Baldwin could return to Allen’s defense but that Gull would stay on the case, as well.
Still in play: A motion from Allen’s new court-appointed attorneys – what’s happening to them isn’t clear – requesting that he be moved from Wabash Valley Correctional Facility to a county jail closer to his lawyers to help with trial preparation and to get him out of maximum security conditions. Attorney Robert Scremin argued that since being appointed to the case in October Allen – who was moved from the Westville Correctional Facility to Wabash Valley in December – “is not being treated similar to other pre-trial detainees being held in county jails.” Allen has been in Indiana prisons since November 2022, shortly after his arrest, on a safekeeping order by the court. Local officials contended that the Carroll County Jail wasn’t equipped to safely handle Allen due to the high-profile nature of a case that has made national headlines.
OTHER READS …
Purdue Exponent reporter Marco Rivero Luna had a look at a potential solution for ongoing issues with rented motorized scooters used at Purdue and in West Lafayette. As complaints stack up about, Luna reported: “Veo will implement a new parking system on Purdue’s campus, requiring users to park in specific parking zones or face penalties.” West Lafayette is now debating how that would work off-campus, in the city. Here’s the full report: “Veo to implement 'forced parking' feature at Purdue. West Lafayette considers following suit.”
Man, you hate to see this. News from Friday afternoon, via Washington Post reporter Ben Strauss: “Sports Illustrated lays off most of its staff, threatening iconic brand’s future.”
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.