A Picky Eater's Dream Come True
Written: May 27 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reasonably priced, lots of options, fresh vegetables and meats, high quality, fun
Cons: Not for a quiet evening out
The Bottom Line: If only I didn't live so far away...
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| chelledun's Full Review: BD's Mongolian Barbeque |
I can admit it, I'm a picky eater. I'm the one who is always saying "can you please leave off the..." Yes, I know its annoying, because I used to be a waitress. However, I just can't stop. Fortunately, I finally found a place where picking and choosing the exact ingredients for your meal is not only accepted, but encouraged!
I had my first experience at BD’s Mongolian Barbeque in Ann Arbor, Michigan, tonight. This is a casual “create your own stir-fry” chain with locations in large cities in about ten different states, although most are in Michigan. Although this is a chain restaurant, we don’t have any locations near us and I had actually never heard of the concept until today. All I can say is…yummy. Also, what a great concept!
The Concept
Mongolian Barbeque is much more casual than I expected. The facility is brightly lit with stone on the walls. There is a lot of activity going on and it is a fun atmosphere, but certainly not a quiet one. First you are lead to your table and your drink order is taken. Then you are released to head to the soup and salad bar as well as the stir fry bar. At the stir fry bar you can add whatever you want to a medium-sized bowl. It will then be cooked by one of several chefs as you stand and watch. Finally, they will scoop the cooked food back into the bowl and you can head back to your table with it. The base rate for one bowl of stir fry is $11.99. For just two dollars more you can have unlimited trips to the stir-fry bar, but you don’t need to make that decision until after you eat your first bowl, which is nice. My husband decided to continue with a second bowl but I was quite full.
The Food
You can start off your meal with a trip to the soup and salad bar, included in the price of the “unlimited” package or for an extra dollar with the one-bowl package. My husband and I skipped this bar since there were so many vegetables available for stir fry. The ingredients did look crisp and green and there were a couple of different soups to choose from if this interests you. There is also an extensive cocktail menu with lots of fruity drinks as well as basic beers and hard alcohol to enjoy with your meal.
Creating your stir fry is a several step process…
1. Pick your veggies.
If you are a vegetable lover like me, you will now be in heaven. There are literally dozens of different vegetables to choose from and you can pile them in your bowl in the desired proportions. I used red potatoes, broccoli, green and red peppers, green onions, onions, tomatoes, lima beans, and pineapple (ok, not a vegetable). Additionally you can add water chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms, bok choy, and more. I was really very impressed at the selection of vegetables, although I noted some people were foregoing them entirely in favor of heaping bowls full of meat only. Way to ruin a healthy meal, folks!
The vegetable section also contains some non-vegetable items such as noodles and tofu in case you want to get really creative with your stir fry. I could come here a dozen times without ever repeating a combination!
2. Pick your meat.
Now its time to pile your meat right on top of your veggies. Meat choices included pork, lamb, chicken, and a couple of types of beef. I picked the New York Strip for mine and my husband tried pretty much all of them! We both had high marks for the beef but he said all of them were good. Technically, only one meat is supposed to be used but people were mixing and matching and nothing was said. Mussels, scallops, and shrimp were also available but they didn’t count as a main “meat” choice so the could be added on top of whatever meat was used.
3. Pick your sauces and spices.
Spices are added directly to the stir fry before cooking. These include both exotic choices and the basic salt and pepper selections. Signs all over encourage patrons to “go easy” on the spices but I still heard the woman next to me complaining that she had used too much cayenne pepper. So if it is your first time, seriously, go easy! I just stuck with a seasoning salt and black pepper. You put your sauce of choice into a little cup. Choices include peanut oil, teriyaki sauce, barbeque sauce, soy sauce, lemon, mustard, roasted tomato, and marinara. It is important to note that the chef will add exactly the amount you put into your cup to your meal. If you don’t like a lot of sauce, only fill it half full. We give the teriyaki sauce high marks, and it is really pretty healthy as well. The barbecue sauce didn’t fare as well perhaps because one doesn’t usually enjoy it on this type of food.
4. Sit Back and Watch!
A chef will take your meal and cook it up right in front of you on the hibachi grill. It’s fun to watch and only takes a couple of minutes. The chefs use big metal sticks intended to resemble the swords used by Mongolian soldiers. Although the restaurant was full when we visited, there was no wait in line to get to the grill and I was impressed by how quickly the cooking process went.
When you return to your table a side of rice and one of tortillas will await you. We didn’t make it through even half of either, but if you do the server will be glad to bring you more.
Still have room for dessert? A few people did while we were eating, but we were pretty full. The choices were certainly tempting though! We thought the Mongolian Mud Pie and the Big Brownie looked particularly good, as did a Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cup inspired dessert.
Some Suggestions…
Don’t know what to do with your bowl? Mongolian barbecue offers laminated recipe cards with suggestions for some of their more popular grill combinations. Some are very traditional Asian influenced dishes and others are a little more unusual. I like the idea of making a fajita combination, and there is even a special sauce for the occasion. Picky eaters can easily make a meal of basic marinara sauce, noodles, and chicken breast. There is really something for everyone here so this would be a great place to come with a group.
But is it healthy?
I’m thrilled to say that it is possible to have a very healthy (and yummy!) meal at Mongolian barbeque. I wasn’t personally even trying to be that healthy, but I picked up a nutritional brochure on the way out and found that I’d been extremely healthy. For one thing, you will rarely see such a wonderful assortment of vegetables. Additionally, many of the Asian-inspired sauces are extremely low-calorie. The teriyaki sauce I enjoyed so much weighed in at just 26.5 calories an ounce! The New York Strip is just 79 calories per three ounce serving and has very little fat. Chicken is even healthier. In other words, I had a delicious and very filling meal for under 500 calories and got tons of vitamins from the eight or nine different vegetables I enjoyed. And it was delicious!
BD’s Mongolian Barbeque is very open with the nutritional information for all its ingredients, which I love. A chart with the information can be found at http://www.bdsmongolianbarbeque.com/nutrition.html. If you don’t want to be bothered with the numbers, just stick to one bowl and load up on vegetables and you should be just fine.
Overall…
I absolutely loved this place. The concept is truly innovative and a lot of fun. I was also very impressed with the huge array of fresh vegetables available and the ridiculous number of combinations that one could make. We were very satisfied with the quality of food for the price and had a really good time "making" our own food. I challenge anyone to visit BD’s Mongolian Barbeque without finding something they like to eat!
Recommended:
Yes
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