I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that Adam and I were keeping up less with the new hot and trendy restaurants, but nothing put that fact in a more glaring light than the email I received from my friend Tami suggesting a list of places we should meet them at for dinner last night.

Of the list of 9 places, I had been to two, recognized two, and was completely unaware of the rest of them!

How fun was it to peruse all the different websites to see the menus!

In the end I couldn’t resist the menu at The Slurping Turtle. I love Asian food. And this menu had a great mix of it.

In Asia, restaurants are set up a bit differently. If you want sushi, you go to a sushi place. If you want ramen noodles, you go to a noodle shop. In Chicago, and perhaps America in general, they often combine all these concepts in one place. Sometimes in America they combine entire countries. I still have a hard time seeing Japanese and Chinese food together on a menu.

The Slurping Turtle stuck to Japan. But it was a combined sushi restaurant, noodle shop and yakitori grill. There was a lot of small plates so we got to try a lot of different things. Including an unusual sparkling sake. There wasn’t anything we tried that I didn’t love, but I would give a special nod to the Tartare of Hamachi in Taro Root Taco, the Pork Belly Snack (sort of a reconstructed Cha Siu Bao or Sweet BBQ Pork filled Bun), the Slurping Noodle (the broth was incredible, the noodles cooked just right), and the Caramel Soy Macaroon (I was expecting the Jewish ones, but found out later from Tami that they were the French ones. A small, meringue like cake).

The Slurping Noodle

Another trend in dining out that makes me feel old is the growing rate of shared tables. This restaurant had one long shared table in the middle, booths on the side and individual tables on the second floor. I was worried when they led us to the shared table. Would my one night out this month be ruined by some idiot trying to spew his political views next to me? Luckily after we were led to the shared table we were moved over to the booth instead. Perhaps we looked as old as I felt.