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Health & Fitness

Try a Little Zen for the Holidays

Sometimes it is good to step outside of your holiday traditions---try Zen Restaurant for an "outside the box" dining experience and incredible curries.

Many old strip malls, some glaringly empty, line Watson Road. One bright spot in the mall with Shop & Save and across from the shuttered Crestwood Mall is Zen Restaurant. Zen has been operated by the same family for more than 10 years and serves Thai and Japanese cuisines.

A waving Ms. Kitty and a miniature pink Christmas tree festooned with candy greeted this blogger on several recent visits. The long "bowling alley" space is divided in half by the kitchen and a dozen or so tables. The mom and pop owners are usually there to seat you, their grown son and daughter are the waiter and waitress, and grandma is the chef in the kitchen cooking up those hot sauces. The Ms. Kitty logo is repeated on the curtains, which hide the hallway to the very clean restrooms in the rear.

Because the restaurant serves the cuisines of two cultures, the appetizer/soup/salad list is quite extensive. The sushi list includes 23 kinds, about one-third with cooked ingredients. The "St Louis Roll" has tuna, avocado, pickled radish, green onion, and smelt roe. The "Dragon Roll" consists of crab, avocado, cucumber, and is topped with eel and eel sauce. The calamari is lightly tempura battered, then fried, and was served piping hot. The "Octopus Salad" is really squid and squid pieces with too much of a pickled taste. The "Crying Tiger Salad" with grilled, marinated beef has that hot country sauce that will make you cry!

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The traditional Thai entrees ($7.49 for lunch, $8.95 for dinner) include such staples as spicy basil, garlic-pepper sauce, stir-fried ginger, and stir-fried cashew. Each comes with a generous serving of rice. This blogger recommends the garlic dish and the rice dish. If the scoville rating is not hot enough, you can add more table-side "rooster sauce."

On the "Zen Recommended Cuisine" the Pad-Thai tempura shrimp and pineapple curry duck are outstanding at $14.94 each.

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This blogger will need to return before the Asian New Year (February) to sample the Japanese side of the menu, as well as the Thai traditional curry dishes (five in all) and the Thai/Japanese noodle dishes (11 in all). Service was prompt and attentive, explanations for the dishes and curry sauces were excellent, and the "price point" is fair. This blogger left with "to go" boxes of leftovers at each visit, a happy smile on his face, and Ms. Kitty waving good-bye.

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