Cowfish Preview Dinner at Eez Fusion

Last night I was given the opportunity to sample the cuisine at a restaurant that is not open yet in Charlotte.  The owner (Marcus Hall) of Eez Fusion in Birkdale Village, is opening a restaurant called Cowfish in South Park soon. 

Kelly, Me, Katie, and Lindsay met up for the preview.

Back in August, a bunch of us bloggers actually went to eat at The Counter a burger bar in Charlotte which is the location that is becoming Cowfish.  At the time I didn't get the concept of Cowfish, which is sushi and burgers, but if you think about all the dedicated burger or sushi places we have in Charlotte it's hard to stand out these days.  I think this is actually a unique concept and like that the owner thought outside the box.  Plus, I don't know about you, but between me and my hubby only one of us eats sushi, so it gives a non-sushi eater a lot more options than just classic Asian fare.  Bonus!

Eez is swanky and cool inside with Asian inpired decor and artwork, bamboo, and even a gong that we heard going off throughout the night (Katie totally got to hit the gong on our way out at the end of the night too!).

We were given a tour of the menu by our waiter.  Eez's menu is huge!  There were tons of options and pages to navigate.  We started with drinks and I was the only one to order a martini which was highly recommended by our waiter. 

I chose the Asian Orchid: Raspberry sake, a touch of raspberry liqueur and pineapple juice.

 

It was yummy, not too sweet like many "girlie" martini's can be ;)

The waiter explained that he would be bringing us some preselected appetizers and then we would have the chance to order what we wanted off the menu for dinner.  Sounded good to me!

First up was the deconstructed crab rangoon dip. 

Described as:  Classic crab rangoon filling served as a creamy dip topped with a parmesan panko crust, served with wonton crisps and sweet chili sauce

Holy delicious!  The dip tasted just like the inside of a crab rangoon.  YUM.

We also had Endamame:

And a trio consisting of seaweed salad, cucumber and onion salad, and tuna/mango/avocado:

Gorgeous presentation!

I had a little of everything and it was all yummy.

THEN, the waiter brought us round two of appetizers, which was more of a sushi course than the first.

There was a bowl containing sashimi.  This had white fish, tuna, and salmon.

Also a platter featuring shrimp and some kind of roll (I'm not sure what it was):

I'm not a huge sashimi person.  I like my sushi with rice and other ingredients wrapped in seaweed, but I did try the salmon sashimi and liked it.  I also tried a shrimp and one of the rolls on the second platter and both were really good.

I think we probably could have called it a night right there after the hefty amount of appetizers we were given, but we all somehow managed to order dinner.

I debated getting the Stir-Fry bar, which involves picking out rice/noodles, veggies, proteins, and sauces and taking them up to the chefs to cook for you.  I LOVE stir-fry bars!  My husband and I actually did this kind of thing on our first date circa 2001!

I couldn't pass up the pages of sushi on the menu though.  Eez has an entire page of sushi that is uniquely theirs.  It all looked delicious.  I actually opted to create my own sushi though, because back when I lived in Virginia, there was a place that had a salmon and asparagus roll that I LOVED and I can never find anything like it.  I wanted the chance to try and recreate it.  I ordered a roll consisting of fresh salmon, asparagus, cucumbers, and cream cheese (my other favorite is philly rolls).

I also had a side salad topped with carrots, beets, and cucumbers with ginger dressing.

My choices were great.  The ginger dressing on my salad was similar to what you'd taste on the ones you get a Japanese Steakhouse (pre- onion volcano), but more of a vinegrette version.  The sushi was also delicious and Kelly and I traded a piece so I also got to try hers too, which was a MISS MOFFITT’S ROLL - Spicy tuna, scallions and crispy tempura flakes rolled inside, topped with thin slices of fresh avocado, then drizzled with sweet eel sauce.  Very yummy!

I left one lone sushi roll on my plate because I was FULL, but then we were offered dessert and Katie's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

And then this happened.

This was the Peanut Blast: Chocolate cookie crunch cup with peanut butter nougat, moist chocolate cake and a scrumptious mousse full of peanut butter candy chunks.

Sooooooooooooooooooo good!

It was out of control.  I had a couple bites and then had to call it a night.  We all know that Stew was the recipient of the leftovers of that yummy dessert.

Thank you to Marcus, Eez Fusion, Cowfish, and Gwen for setting up this evening.  I had a blast and the food is delicious.  I'll be lined up at the front door when Cowfish opens ;)