*MY BIRTHDAY WEEKEND 2008*

So, here we are...Phase 2 of my birthday weekend food marathon.  The night before was a melty food fest of gooey cheese and chocolate of epic proportions that fulfilled every gluttonous expectation I had, even as I greedily speared the tiny morsels of food from my indiscriminate skewer-clenching fists.  Anywho...

The next morning's agenda was a stop at my favorite of most favorite sushi buffets, Minado, in Natick!  Why did I want to go here yet again?  Well, for years, I have come to partake of the sushi spread at Minado as well as their numerous other Chinese and other Asian type foods.  They have always advertised that if you come to eat there on your birthday, you get a free meal!  Yes, you read that right...A FREE MEAL!  Now, a free meal at an all-you-can-eat buffet...ha...suckers!  I'm about to shut you down!

Well, they must have gotten wind that I was coming.  MDH and I and 2 other friends headed over there.  When I asked about how to cash in on their birthday special, all ready to whip out my driver's license as proof, the cute Asian girl at the hostess stand politely told me that I could only collect on my free meal when I have a total party of 5 (FIVE).  Not only that, it's not really a free meal, but rather you get a gift card for your free meal the next time you come to Minado.  Seriously?  Man, that's not what I remembered.  Like I said, they musta heard we were coming & knew we would eat them out of sushi and home, so they conveniently said we needed 5 people when I said we had a party of 4. Uh huh.  I bet the next time I bring 7 people, they'll say I need 8.  I tried to be cute and said "Awwwww c'mon...it's my birthday."  However, the even cuter Asian chick looked at me blankly and said "Sorry."  Bitch.  I should have grabbed another couple and had them eat with us, just to spite Little Miss Cutesy.  Yes...I would go that far for free food that was deservedly owed to me!

Needless to say, I unceremoniously lost that battle.  I sheepishly allowed myself to be escorted to our table with nary a fight left in me.  Well, there's only so much you could do without being totally embarrassing to yourself.  What do I care?  MDH was paying anyway.  I quickly quelled my inner hissyfit and got ready for the task at hand. 

Cuz you see...I have a strategy whenever I eat at Minado.  I do the same thing every time and if you can't keep up with me, well then, you just can't hang.  I always start off with an all-maki and nigiri plate.  I like Minado for all the sushi choices...the individual portions are pretty tiny, but that's fine.  The trick of surviving such a buffet anyway is eating only very little of any one item.  For example, you know what tuna nigiri tastes like, so why grab a lot of them?  Naw man, take one piece of everything.  Well, I don't follow my own rules all the time.  I can't help but always grab a few more salmon nigiri cuz that's my favorite and also a few Philadelphia rolls.  My second plateful of food is then from the cooked food side of the massive buffet area...mostly Chinese-type dishes. Because this day was a Sunday and I was feeling all kinds of dim sum-y, I took items I don't usually partake of, like pork shumai and shrimp dumplings.  I also always tend to take a few tender morsels of standard favorites like chicken katsu and shrimp tempura cuz seriously, who doesn't like little pieces of animal protein wrapped up in some type of batter and fried to hot crispy goodness?

Last but not least, the dessert plate.  It was my birthday after all, so I had to have cake, right?  Minado serves up the perfect little servings of cake - bite size - so you don't feel like complete bloated pig when all is said and done.  So, what else goes with cake?  Ice cream OF COURSE!  However, seems like Minado did something different with their ice cream station as of late.  There used to be the whole top-open freezer filled with those huge 10 or 20 gallon sized containers of ice cream.  All flavors too...your standards of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla...and then the usual "Asian" ice creams of green tea and ginger.  Well, that was unceremoniously replaced by a giant self-serve, soft-serve machine that offered up to you only green tea or vanilla or a swirl of the two.  I liked it for the ease of serving yourself however it was definitely no longer ice cream, but the dreaded fro-yo.  Man...if I wanted yogurt, I would have sucked down a Yoplait.  I wanted real ice cream, dammit!

Ah well...a sushi buffet never really truly disappoints.  No matter that they wouldn't give me my free birthday meal.  No matter they shut down the crepe station just minutes before I got there (bastards).  No matter I got fake ice cream.  No matter.  It was my birthday and I pressed on with my food marathon!

508.647.0495

www.minado.com

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