Tonight we stopped in for an early dinner at Kofusion on East Main in downtown Champaign. Kofusion’s claim to fame is that they use organic meat and “wild caught seafood.” (As opposed to farm raised seafood, I guess.) Kofusion has a fairly eclectic menu with a strong Asian presence. Sushi is big at Kofusion.

The weather was really nice this afternoon, so we opted to sit outside. If you don’t mind herding flies away from your food, the outside seating at Kofusion is pretty nice. It’s far enough off the street so you don’t really notice the traffic.

We started off by splitting the Goat Cheese salad. The salad was priced at $8, so we were thinking it would be large enough for two. We were wrong. It was more like a side salad you’d get at other places. It was fresh and well-prepared, but it was pretty basic and only had a few crumbles of goat cheese. Definitely not worth $8. Maybe half that.

Sarah ordered Scallops with Sweet Potato, Avocado, Cashews, and Vegetables in a light Massaman Curry. She thought it was delicious, although we were having a hard time finding any sweet potatoes or avocado. Still, it’s something she’d order again. It was that good. I went with the Line Caught Halibut off the specials menu. It was a generous piece of perfectly cooked halibut over sweet corn, green beans, and a delicious white wine sauce. I would also order that again. Very tasty. I took their suggestion and paired it with a Maru Sushi white wine. The wine went perfectly with the fish, although a cliff-diving gnat ruined the last of it for me. I think I like the idea of eating al fresco  better than the actual experience.

Tonight we took advantage of a very generous gift certificate (thanks, Julie and Jill!) and had dinner at Silvercreek on Race St in Urbana. Silvercreek has been one of our favorites since we moved here over 5 years ago. The atmosphere is really nice but not stuffy, they have a great wine and beer list, and the food is fabulous. And tonight we even got to listen to some live music.

We both started with salads, Spinach and Strawberry for Sarah and the classic Silvercreek salad for me. Both were excellent. Sarah ordered the Filet of Beef, which comes with bleu cheese crumbles on top and bleu cheese au gratin potatoes. Her steak was cooked to perfection and delicious, and Silvercreek’s bleu cheese au gratin potatoes are to die for. The special tonight was Pan Seared Whitefish in a ginger tamari beurre blanc sauce with pineapple fried rice and green beans. It sounded interesting, so I took a chance and ordered it, hoping it wouldn’t be too gingery. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. The fish was perfectly cooked, light and flaky, and the sauce was rich and delicious. The fried rice was also very tasty. I had a very nice pinot gris with my meal.

I rarely order dessert, but tonight I wasn’t too stuffed after dinner, so I ordered a coffee and Bread Pudding. Normally bread pudding comes in a small bowl with maybe a bit of vanilla sauce on it, but this was a large helping in an awesome Amaretto almond sauce. It was sooo good.

All in all, it was one of the best dining experiences we’ve had this year, and that is saying a lot.  

I got home somewhat late this afternoon and trying to find a restaurant with no waiting line can be tough on Friday night. We tried Spanky’s in Mattoon, but we couldn’t even find a place to park. It appears that Taste of Italy is closed, too. So we ended up at D & W’s Restaurant on DeWitt Avenue in Mattoon. Sarah has had lunch there once, but I’d never been there. D & W’s is basic family-style comfort food. The menu is huge and there are daily specials. Prices range between Cheap Eats and Family, depending on what you order. 

Tonight we both ordered the special, which was Goulash. Now goulash is one of those dishes that could vary widely by restaurant. At D & W’s, it’s pretty much what I’ve always known goulash to be, which is ground beef, tomatoes, pepper, and tomato sauce over elbow macaroni. We both opted for a salad as one of our sides. Sarah also had some sweet potato fries while I went with corn for my other side. The salads were a decent size and quite good. The goulash was tasty and the sides were well prepared. Sarah’s sweet potato fries were delicious, but could have used a dipping sauce. We left quite full and our meal came to a whopping $13 before the tip. Not bad at all.

We were finally able to get into JJ’s Stadium Grill in the former Fazoli’s building on Rt. 16 in Mattoon. Our first few attempts ended when we saw the half hour wait. As with most new places, we knew the novelty would fade after a few weeks and we’d have better luck getting a table. We still had to wait, but only 5 minutes or so.

The menu is typical sports bar food, with burgers and steaks and so on. We were pretty hungry, so we ordered some nachos. Sarah ordered the Black and Blue NY Strip steak, fries, and a salad. I went with the same thing only without the bleu cheese. I also ordered a glass of merlot, which was an ok pour for $3.75.

Oddly enough, our salads came first, before the appetizer. The salads were fair but simple. The nachos were tasty and generous. We were almost stuffed when dinner came. Unfortunately, both our steaks were somewhat overcooked. This is not a minor point with steak lovers. Medium means pink center for the majority of the steak. Medium-rare means red center. My medium-rare was just pink inside and Sarah’s medium was brown inside except for one small area of pink. My steak was tasty nonetheless, although Sarah’s was not as good, possible due to being overcooked.  The fries were tasteless. Not sure what was missing there.

Our meal came to nearly $50 with the tip (which was my normal 20% because the service was good). I don’t mind paying that for a steak dinner for two, but the steaks had better be cooked as ordered. And to the owner of JJ’s, please, please, please destroy that horrifying CD of “Nerve Rattling Hits of the 70′s.” I mean Olivia Newton-John, Neil Diamond, and Music Box Dancer in a sports bar? Give me a break.  

Well, not really new. I decided there were too many instances where an experience didn’t quite attain the higher rating but wasn’t quite deserving of the lower rating, so I created half-spoon ratings. In time I’ll go back and adjust some of the earlier reviews to fit the new categories.