Grub Crawl - Universal Area: Boiled Fish, Tomatoes and One Lounge

I tried these spots on Friday at lunch. The first two are in a strip mall  on Turkey Lake Rd south of that horrible intersection at Sand Lake. The last is in the corner of the strip mall on the northeast corner of I Drive and Kirkman. 

Boiled Fish - Hunan. A mountain province in south central China. Home of Chairman Mao. Known for spicy dishes. I'm unsure how many we have here. This was good. Simple. Mostly soups. Probably will be a Favorite. I had the lemon flavor sauerkraut fish soup for $17. Huge bowl. Maybe their dishes are family style? No kraut. Lots of swai (fresher than most places, but, still tinny). Lemony fish broth. Fungus, fresh tofu, dried tofu strips (looked like tennis racket sweat grip), red chili, yuba, sprouts, bok choy (was listed as cabbage), wide vermicelli noodle (clear), lemon slices and something they called jelly vegetable. Some of those items were new to me.  The only heat was in the peppers pieces themselves. Came with a needless bowl of rice. I was too full. Couldn't finish. They also offer eight apps like sesame ball and crispy pork and chicken and beef (regional speciality). Seven soups (Golden, Laotan, etc). An even larger size soup is $26. They give you a large pitcher of water. Sodas are $2. Square, white, orange and gray tones. A gold sign with their name. White faux marble tables. Modern. Tablet menus. Good service. I think they are the owners. Two girls. Mostly take outs while I was there. Maybe four orders. I think they need traffic. I suggest you try them. If only for the change of pace. Open for a month.

Tomatoes - They said this is location two. Opened four months ago. One of these terrible Arabic places that ruin western dishes like hamburgers and pizzas trying to serve a customer base that doesn't want shwarmas, etc. Those looked ok. But, I wasn't going to risk one before a travel day. I thought this place was going to be Italian anyway, so, I wasted $7 on an individual. Thin, undercooked, tasteless. The usual. Like a tortilla. The place looked pieced together. The wall between kitchen and counter were cardboard. Mouldering lettuce in the fridge. One group of four and a single eating there. Neither seemed discerning. One guy doing everything. Pass.

One Lounge - Uzbeki. Also saw a Georgian dish and some others. Tried for Uzbeki samosas. Wouldn't prepare them. Settled on beef plov for $17. Beef was good. Probably brisket. Tender. Some flavor. Rice was a greasy mess with soggy julienned veg.  Ok cucumber, tomato and onion salad too. They did a little decorating. Now it is white and black. Dark still. Black curtains. This places has been many failures. I hope they get customers at night. Hopefully, more of a bar/hookah place. Empty at lunch. One hostess was the staff. Lunch and dinner M-F. 5-11 Sa and Sn I'm not sure it's worth it. Even with the dearth of options from the region. Open for a few months.