Asian Gourmet, Barre, VT
Asian Gourmet opened two weeks ago. They're a higher quality (and bit more expensive, but not excessively so) Asian restaurant. We got take out from there last night and I could not be more pleased. The decoration in the dining room was on the spare side, but serviceable and the staff were very pleasant and helpful (which is almost unheard of for local Asian places, IME). They have an actual sushi bar with a guy at it, making sushi, as well as a drinks bar in the next room.
They serve Thai, Japanese, and Chinese food. The Chinese is pretty much a better version of what you'd get at Chinatown, and not much more expensive for that. I got a sushi roll and they've named some of them for local things, which is amusing. I ordered a Vermont roll. Spicy salmon, cucumber, avocado, and salmon roe (I LOVE cucumber and avocado in my sushi rolls, don't judge me! ;). I got ten pieces of sushi for, I think, $10.50, might have been $11. The fish was INCREDIBLY FRESH. It was just wonderful. This was the first time I'd ever had salmon roe and I loved that, too. It was delicious.
They also sell something called negrimaki, which is basically thin broiled beef rolled around scallions, cut into pieces (like sushi pieces), and served with a nice soy-based sauce. I'd never had them before. Both of us liked this and it'll be part of regular orders in the future.
We got the standard boneless pork ribs as a baseline and they tasted exactly like every other boneless pork ribs in the area, though perhaps a bit less greasy. This is fine, it's exactly what I WANT from my boneless ribs. :) I liked their wonton soup broth way better than any of the other local places, and their wontons themselves weren't the thick, gummy ones but thin and filled with pork yum. They have Thai Goyza soup on the menu, but when I tried to order it the said they took it off the menu. That made me sad.
Another baseline was kung pao beef, $10.50 for a good sized serving and it was ACTUALLY spicy, not "we waved a pepper near this" spicy. My husband likes this and we'll be ordering it again (he's not generally fond of Asian food).
I'm looking forward to trying the lo mein or the pad thai next we go.
