The Chan Family » Dan’s Posts

Christmas Morning 2011

Dan — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:09:22 +0000

Season’s greetings to all, wishing you happy holidays!

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Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:21:40 +0000

First turn off past the Pinnacles entrance to Badlands, National Park, see the family in the far left admiring the view.

Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

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Sunset at Sage Creek Overlook, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:56:15 +0000

Two panoramas taken from Sage Creek overlook at Badlands National Park, South Dakota taken a few minutes apart at sunset and dusk. These are HDR bracketed photos that are fused and then stitched such that there are actually 5 photos with 3 exposures (15) per panorama taken with a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens at wide-angle. Big thunderstorm seen in the horizon and a nice view of the basin with the Badlands seen towards the far left.

Sage Creek Sunset, Badlands Panorama

Sage Creek Dusk, Badlands Panorama

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Light & Dark: Moonrise, Sunrise, Sunset over South Dakota Video Panorama Montage

Dan — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:34:01 +0000

This is a video montage of scenes that I took in South Dakota. In order: Moonrise at Fossil Trail, Badlands National Park, South Dakota, Sunrise at Custer State Park, South Dakota, Sunset at Sage Creek Basin Overlook, Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Enjoy! (Try it in 1080p if you have the bandwidth)

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Sheep Mountain Table, Badlands, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 04:22:01 +0000

After a grueling off-road trip through treacherous terrain we arrived at Sheep Mountain Table, Badlands, South Dakota a vista off the beaten path of the southern Badlands where these pictures were taken. We got the whole family plopped on the edge of one of the drop offs to get some of the scenic background from our trip onto our kitchen wall. Enjoy the view.

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Harney Peak, South Dakota Panorama

Dan — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 04:48:32 +0000

This is the tallest peak in South Dakota, elevation 7,244 ft, and about a 3.5 mile trek with over 1,000 ft ascent from Sylvan Lake where we were camping. It took about 4 hours for Mikey and I to summit to the top, and boy was I proud of my little guy — the only 5 year old we saw all morning even attempting it! Carolyn, Douglas, and David made it about half way before turning back, but Carolyn got to hike it by herself on the third day we were there while the boys and I attempted to go geocaching with no reception and a dead GPS battery (epic fail but nothing that a little ice cream couldn’t mend). Anyways, breathtaking panorama and what a view!

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Moonrise Panorama Fossil Trail, Badlands National Park

Dan — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:16:20 +0000

I’ve been wanting to get some pictures of the Milky Way Galaxy and our trip to the Badlands was the perfect opportunity for dark skies except for one thing — my vacation time fell into a full moon week, drat! Nevertheless, on our last night in South Dakota while meandering to our little cabin at the Cedar Pass Lodge, Carolyn urged that we just stop and shoot the night sky before the moon came up. So the boys pulled out the bedding underneath the stars and gazed as I setup shop with 30 second exposures across the horizon to compile into this panorama. The southern band of the Milky Way is visible to the right and towards the far left is the big dipper. This was by far one of the most exciting and memorable shots that I’ve taken so far.

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Sunflower Sunset in South Dakota

Dan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:10:16 +0000

As we were driving yesterday evening through the farmlands of South Dakota just west of the rolling hills of the Missouri river banks we were enveloped by field after field of yellow sunflowers staring at as we ventured towards the setting sun. We pulled over and trod towards the sunflowers, braving the mosquitos to capture one of the most simple yet picturesque places that I have been. Here are a few of the shots that I composited on my laptop. Click the images for their full sizes.

Sunflower Sunset - Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm f2.8 bracketed +/- 2 stop HDR composite, tripod mounted

Sunflower Fields - Canon 75-300mm single shot cropped

Moonrise - Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 single shot uncropped, handheld

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Niagara Falls from Maid of the Mist Observation Tower Panorama

Dan — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 04:26:46 +0000

Overlooking Niagara Falls from the Maid of the Mist Observation Tower. New York and American Falls to the left, Horseshoe Falls and Ontario to the right. Maid of the Mist boat seen touring the falls.

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Montreal Mont Royal City Overlook Panorama

Dan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 04:28:32 +0000

Skyline view of Montreal, Quebec from Mont Royal park on a beautiful afternoon.

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Bluffer’s Park Toronto Panorama

Dan — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:50:50 +0000

Loved this park as a kid and would come down here to feed the geese and pelt pebbles at the seagulls. We pit-stopped here on the way out of Toronto, the bluffs seem to have shrunk, or rather, my perspective probably ascended four feet from the last time I was here.

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Sunset on the Beach, Gloucester, Massachusetts Panorama

Dan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:41:56 +0000

Perhaps one of the prettiest sunsets that I’ve seen and experienced, this panorama of the beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts shows the boys and nephews playing in the sand, and towards the sun you can make out the large sand maze that Uncle Dan drew. This is also the same night that we had taken the family picture on the beach.

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Toronto Zoo Buffalo Panorama

Dan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:34:35 +0000

No these are not wild, nor are they in any exotic national park, but rather at the Toronto Zoo. I couldn’t resist taking a panorama from my vantage point though, so here it is.

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Cannon Mountain, New Hampshire Panorama

Dan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 20:07:35 +0000

Driving through New Hampshire we stopped by Cannon Mountain and ascended to the summit in the gondola. It was a stormy day, but nevertheless we got a nice view from the vista.

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RoadTrip: 19 Days, 2 Countries, 13 States, 3714 Miles, 1 Happy Family!

Dan — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:20:30 +0000

Celebrating the last unofficial vacation time of Dan’s life, we embarked immediately after graduation on a whirlwind road trip of 2 Countries (1. United States, 2. Canada), 13 States & Provinces (1. Minnesota, 2. Wisconsin, 3. Illinois, 4. Indiana, 5. Michigan, 6. Ontario, 7. Quebec, 8. Vermont, 9. New Hampshire, 10. Massachusetts, 11. New York, 12. Pennsylvania, 13. Ohio), 3714 miles per the trip odometer, and one happy vacation! Here is a fun interactive map of our activities in a quick summary, and below are our daily adventures with full photo galleries (dare we say 3,676?) to compliment. Click on any collage or daily title to be linked to the full day’s gallery or see the index at the very bottom of the post. Enjoy our travels!

View Roadtrip 2011 in a larger map

Day 01 – Rochester to Ann Arbor
Day 1 consisted of a total 13 hour drive from Rochester through Chicago (pit stop in Chinatown for lunch), then onward through Ann Arbor for the night’s rest in Canton, Michigan. A pretty unremarkable day other than some serious driving. We put the longest day directly up front though and the boys survived with a little Wendy’s night cap.

Day 02 – Arrival in Toronto

Day 2 marked arrival in Toronto, Canada through Michigan. We stopped by Fairview Mall and sampled some Fries Supreme from Taco Bell, then met up with mom who was with friends. We Met up additionally with some old friends from decades ago over dinner at Dragon Pearl and turned in for the night in Pickering, Ontario.

Day 03 – Toronto CN Tower, Casa Loma

Day 3 started out with a brief visit of Dan’s childhood home and elementary school, then the rest of the day was spent at two iconic tourist traps, the CN Tower which used to be the tallest free-standing structure in the world (now dwarfed by the Burg Kalifa) and Casa Loma which Dan had never visited in all his time spent in Toronto. The kids enjoyed the ride on the Toronto subway trains which we took all around town.

Day 04 – Toronto Ontario Science Center

Day 4 was a day at the Ontario Science Center spending it playing with exhibits, toys, and demonstrations that Dan grew up with. Quite a lot has changed, but the place never ceases to impress. A bite of Canada’s Harvey’s hamburgers finished off the day.

Day 05 – Toronto Royal Ontario Museum

Day 5 was a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum, another old haunt of Dan’s childhood summer vacations as it was just a few blocks away from mom’s work downtown. The boys like Daddy loved the Bat Cave.

Day 06 – Toronto Metropolitan Zoo

Day 6 with the weather finally clear again was a day outdoors at the Toronto Zoo. So large that we spent the whole day there and still only was able to walk through only 3/5th’s of the entire park. A camel ride for the boys, and some ethnic Korean food for the adults topped off a busy day.

Day 07 – Toronto Bluffer’s Park to Ottawa

Day 7 heading out of Toronto to Ottawa we stopped by Bluffer’s Park, or “Scarborough Bluff’s” right on the shores of Lake Ontario. The boys enjoyed the water while we struggled to capture some family shots that didn’t really work out. The rest of the day was spent getting to the nation’s capitol and mix n’ matching between sushi, Pizza Pizza, and McDonald’s for dinner.

Day 08 – Ottawa Parliament, Gatineau Park to Montreal

Day 8 Ottawa the nation’s capitol and home to Canada’s Parliament Buildings which we walked around and went up the tall clock tower. We only a short drive to our next destination, Montreal, we decided to go across to Quebec’s Gatineu Park to check out the “beaches” on the lakes. The woods and beach was sure beautiful, but what the pictures don’t show are the 1,000 flies that seemed to be hatching (and biting) everyone the moment we opened the doors and stepped out. Needless to say we stayed very briefly and high tailed it out towards Montreal from the Davey-dubbed “Stinky Fly Beach,” which was the subject of his nightmares in days to come.

Day 09 – Montreal Mont Royal Park and Cemetery

Day 9 Arriving in Montreal last night in time to catch a brief sunset, and a late dinner at the overpriced St Hubert’s chicken, we decided to view the more scenic parts of Montreal today as we drove to Mont Royal Park and Cemetery and stumbled right into a raccoon that seemed to be rather acclimated to humans. He came right on over asking for food and we obliged, but not before snapping some incredible shots of said creature asking for more granola bars. Turkish food rounded off the night as we sampled a brief glimpse of Montreal’s culinary scene.

Day 10 – Montreal to Old Man in the Mountain to Gloucester, Massachusetts

Day 10 we left Canada and drove through beautiful Vermont and New Hampshire. Sometime during the drive we were passing through Franconia Notch State Park on I-93 when we decided to pit-stop and catch a cable car up Cannon Mountain for a scenic view all around. It was a refreshing detour compared to the Massachusetts tornado storm system we would later go through before we finally arrived in Gloucester to meet up with the Tappen Family (Dan’s sister) and spent the next three nights with the cousins.

Day 11 – Gloucester, Massachusetts Beach

Day 11 A fun day in the fun on Gloucester’s beaches. Uncle Dan being the awesome uncle that he was salvaged the day by digging for 5 hours with the boys and nephews a giant hole in the beach to shelter everyone from the wind swept sand or “sandstorms” as the kiddos would call it. It made this windy day tolerable as the sandstorms otherwise would cut sand into your legs and make the little ones cry. Enjoyed $6.99 / lb steamed lobster and fresh sushi for dinner.

Day 12 – Gloucester Whale Watching, Beach Sunset

Day 12 was a spur of the moment evening decision the night prior to sight see Gloucester and a quick Tripadvisor query turned up the main event for Gloucester: Whale Watching. Having never been, we took the whole crew for a 4 hour tour with Cape Ann Whale Watching and sure enough within the hour we had spotted a fin whale and then followed a humpback whale around for a while (even got some video of that available soon in our video galleries). Lunch was at the famous Woodman’s seafood restaurant, and then evening was a beautiful low-tide sunset at which time the ever cool Uncle Dan created a giant sand maze to the amazement of the kids (and a run through video of that available soon), but ultimately the day was topped off with gorgeous conditions for a unattended beach chair Chan Family portrait that has been rare to come by and as seen at the top of this post. Perfect picture to capture one of the most perfect days.

Day 13 – Gloucester to Rochester, New York

Day 13 We left in the early afternoon for a day of driving back towards Niagara Falls with a night pitstop in the other Rochester (NY). Not without our last goodbyes to the beach tough. We found some washed up horseshoe crab shells (one of which impaled me later in the car), and said our goodbyes to the Tappens and also Nai Nai / Po Po (Grandma Chan) who had accompanied us since Toronto but would fly back later through Boston.

Day 14 – Niagara Falls Day 1

Day 14 Splurging for some nice digs, we stopped for two nights in the Fallsview Hilton on the Canada side of Niagara Falls but not until we first made our way through the Niagara Aquarium, the Discovery Center, the Maid of the Mist and Observation Tower and saw most of the American side of things.

Day 15 – Niagara Falls Day 2

Day 15 Moved up 3 times higher to the 46th floor for the night and had an even better view of the falls. Enjoyed the day relaxing without travels and toured around the Canadian Horseshoe falls during the evening.

Day 16 – Niagara Falls to Dayton, Ohio

Day 16 Swung back to Cave of the Winds to stand right under American Falls on our morning exit from Niagara Falls towards great-grandparents Stevens house. The rest of the day was a long commute to Dayton, Ohio.

Day 17 – Dayton, Ohio Great Grandparents Steven, National Air Force Museum

Day 17 A day with the great grandparents and the Stevens side of the family and also a visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force to see some impressive aircraft and also grandpa’s F-4 Phantom jet that he flew throughout Vietnam in 120 missions (pictured below). We were surprised also to see the B-29 Bockscar bomber that dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki on display there. Certainly a lot of history within the museum.

Day 18 – Dayton to Chicago, Medieval Times

Day 18 Said our goodbyes to the great grandparents and drove from Dayton, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois early enough to catch the night showing of Medieval Times. The boys loved it and got spoiled with wooden swords. Our yellow knight was the one who won the tournament and defeated the mean knight so the boys were double thrilled.

Day 19 – The Road Home

Day 19 Finally the road home. We were going to stop by Wisconsin Dells again for a night, but with school out for the summer they were booked pretty full and in full summer price gouging so we skipped through there and arrived a day earlier than previously anticipated (but don’t tell the boys that). After 3,714 miles on this trip we were excited for Minnesota to welcome us back home and we are glad to be back after one long, fun, and memorable vacation!

Photo Galleries for Full Itinerary

Videos Coming Soon!

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Mayo Medical School Class of 2011: Dan Chan, M.D.

Dan — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:01:06 +0000

It’s official! On May 21, 2011 Mayo Medical School held its commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2011, Mayo’s 39th graduating class and with that I received my doctorate of medicine officially tacking the M.D. to my title. My mother and sister came in attendance and of course Carolyn and the boys came out in full force to show their support. Thank you to my extended family and friends and especially to Carolyn for your love and support throughout the years. Enjoy some of the photos from graduation!

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Dan Chan: Biosketch

Dan — Mon, 16 May 2011 06:09:40 +0000

So for residency we had to write biosketches of ourselves, and lest it be entirely drab and sleep provoking I decided to throw a pinch of flair. Copied here for you to enjoy:

Born originally in Canada, I spent the greater part of my early life in Toronto , Canada (Population: 5.6 million) where I was schooled from a young age in mandatory French classes, learned how to tabulate in a sensible metric system where gas and milk were sold by the liter, went tobogganing and wore a tuque in winter time, pledged allegiance each morning to the flag by singing O Canada in both English and French, and nourished myself on a hearty diet of poutine, Tim Horton ’s, and maple syrup. Sounds like a perfect childhood eh? Not so fast.

At the age of twelve I was traumatically uprooted and downsized to Salt Lake City , Utah (Population: 1.1 million) where I spent the greater part of middle school trying to acclimate to funny fractions, decipher American history, and wondered why in the world was I competing in middle school U.S. Constitution bowl in a place where I was still adjusting to the use of monochromatic currency–let alone one dollar bills.

I gradually adapted and by high school I had earned my Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout award, somehow found myself as a delegate at Utah’s Boy’s State, and even aspired to student government in the footsteps of our high school’s famous alumnus: Karl Rove. Then I found out what Karl Rove did for a living and quickly fled from any political aspirations I may have had and escaped to the antithetical domain of: electrical engineering.

Enter Provo , Utah (Population: 112,000). You could find me hunkered down in the step down lounge of the Clyde Engineering building at Brigham Young University for the greater part of any waking or non-waking hour as I attempted to wrap my brain around Maxwell ’s equations, decipher Fourier ’s transformations, fathom the implications of Einstein ’s theory of relativity, and figure out how in the world a Smith Chart is supposed to help me plot out transmission lines, let alone wonder how Smith drew the thing in the first place.

After my sophomore year, I took a quick time out from engineering for two years and represented my church on a mission to Dallas, Texas speaking Mandarin Chinese, but when I returned to the stifling surroundings of the engineering building entering my junior year I was quickly wondering why in the world designing the next iPod chip was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and looking at my engineering colleagues questioned: Where are all the girls?

So a long story short, there were no girls to be found in the engineering building, so I found one in the Dance department majoring in ballet. A year later we were married and I was soon re-calibrating life and aligning myself towards a career in medicine. Being stubborn, masochistic, or just plain insane, I finished off my electrical engineering degree with a math minor to boot, along with another two years of pre-medicine, rounding off with about seven years worth of academic credit on my transcript. Quoting the premed guide I picked up one night while studying for my junior year midterms: “On choosing a major: choose any major…except for electrical engineering.”

So here we have it. Rochester , Minnesota (Population: 106,000), I have officially become one of Aesop ’s Fables, after graduating Mayo Medical School I will have spent four years in what I can only describe as the medical analogue to the Emerald City of the Wizard of Oz, rising out of the nothingness of corn and soybean as one follows the yellow-brick road of US-52 from the last human outpost of Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Nevertheless our time has been wonderful here as we enjoy the great outdoors camping, boating, hiking, biking, and geocaching. My ballerina wife Carolyn now keeps her hands full with our three boys, Mikey 5, Davey 3, and Dougie 6 months. I became a United States Citizen last year but still have no concept of the imperial measurement system, and am happy to report that I have found great satisfaction and happiness within medicine although I’ll admit that I’m still tinkering on computers and electronics, programming the stray app in my off time, dabbling in amateur photography, running a few blogs and websites, designing Lego robots with the boys, and building and shooting off model rockets as weather permits–but hey, “you can’t spell geek without double E right?”

In the end we could not ask for more and we are thrilled to be able to continue our adventures here at Mayo Clinic for the next many years in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. I look forward to meeting and working with all of you, and congratulate you on making it through my autobiography.

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Photo Gallery Overhaul

Dan — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:12:42 +0000

The sad truth of technology is that as it evolves, our capacity to keep up lags in stride. Take digital photography for example, my first digital camera, took a whopping 1 megapixel image, and in 1999 that would have been professional standard resolutions. Now, 12 years later my photos are nearly 30 times that in size and as such I have amassed over 600 GB of family pictures in the past few years, much of which I would love to share and archive without the bane of you downloading a 30 MB image just to check out the back side of a tree that I took. Announcing our photo albums 2.0. I am in the process of updating all our albums to use a slicker cloud based interface that will allow you to view our galleries faster, but also in full resolution, and even support non-flash devices such as our Apple iOS systems. Take a look at a new album test album and let me know what you think! Thanks.

New Albums (Continuously Updated):

2011

2010

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Pho Chau, Rochester, MN: Red Snapper Takes an Hour to THAW?

Dan — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 04:42:13 +0000

Pho Chau

1014 Broadway Ave N
Rochester, MN 55906

(507) 281-3342

As seen on Urbanspoon, Yelp, Tripadvisor, Google Hotspots ‎

2/5 stars

Well Pho Chau is the second Vietnamese restaurant to open its doors in the past month in Rochester (the other being Far East Fusion which I haven’t yet tried but I hear it’s predominantly Chinese food) and is here to bring some competition to the longstanding Rochester Vietnamese exclusive Pho Tai. Perhaps ill-fated to by its location, perched on the same site of the late Vietnamese Cafe turned Tony’s Cafe (I never saw a soul ever go in either of those places), according to the local paper this new location is run by a Vietnamese brother and sister who run Hunan Wok Express and at the urging of a catering clientele decided to open up Pho Chau.

While Pho Chau is still ironing out its quirks such as pretty green and awkward waiting staff, mis-communications to the kitchen on orders (we got our appetizers at the end of the meal, and the table next to us was missing something until the end too), I won’t fault them much on that. I’m sure as the place matures a bit, the wait staff and dining experience can improve. The atmosphere is rather bland with an assortment of elevator music playing overhead and the tables a little too cramped for comfort, but otherwise it can pass as a cafe, but definitely not a classy restaurant.

But something inexcusable was my experience with the red snapper which I ordered only to find out a few minutes later that I needed to order that an hour ahead, because “we need time to defrost the red snapper, it is frozen.” Instant shudder. Even if that is what you would be doing with the fish, please don’t tell me at the table side. Same is true for the walleye which is off by $10 on the takeout menu, so it’s actually $19.95 not $9.95, plus of course, an hour wait. The lesson here is too much info can be detrimental. If it is on your menu, it better be serve-able, otherwise why is it to begin with? This place screams of inexperience when it comes to something as simple and practical as that.

The rest of the meal that we ordered, a large bowl of Pho Chau’s special pho, braised tofu, broken rice pork special, Vietnamese egg rolls, and spring rolls were mediocre at best. There was nothing memorable about the meal, and it compared to the dozen or so Vietnamese cafe’s that I have eaten in in my days in Dallas, Texas — everything tasting homecooked, yet leaving just that impression that it was just another homecooked meal, not something that I would take the time and effort to go out and eat at a restaurant. Certainly something I would not pay a premium for.

This is where Pho Chau does come through though. It’s pricing is very reasonable and entrees (with the exception of my frozen fish friends) are generally less than $10 and are served with rice and accouterments. You leave full, but maybe not so satisfied?

Tip for the restaurant: Take off the frozen entrees from the menu, or serve it fresh and ready to order, emphasize your marketing that you are not the same owners of Vietnamese Cafe, or Tony’s Cafe or the stigma that you are version 3.0 will impair you.

Pros: Inexpensive, new Vietnamese food option

Cons: Service is inconsistent, some menu items require 1 hour de-freezing time and really shouldn’t be on the menu, is in the location of two defunct Vietnamese restaurants, food and options mediocre with nothing enticing me to come back for more.

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San Diego Trip Photos

Dan — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 05:42:56 +0000

Many pictures from our trip are now up in our Family Photos album. Navigate above, or hit these links directly. Enjoy!

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Greetings from San Diego!

Dan — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 05:15:41 +0000

We took advantage of my opportunity to present a poster at the American College of Physicians national meeting in San Diego this month and enjoyed the balmy California weather. We made a whirlwind tour of Sea World, Legoland, the U.S.S Midway Museum, the San Diego Zoo, and even saw Hop (terrible) and Rango in a drive-in movie theater while there. Ultimately we probably could have saved the time and money as the kids were more preoccupied with digging holes on the beach and running away from waves than most of the sights and attractions we visited. Davey wanted to be buried in one of these holes and realized when neck-deep, it wasn’t as fun as he thought it would be. We had an enjoyable few days there and I enjoyed taking some fun pictures. The Caribbean San Diego is not, and I can only imagine if ever its muddled waters were ever so azure blue as I’ve colored them to be below. Nevertheless it’s a city that is close to our hearts, our honeymoon destination, and a place that we’ve frequented since. We’ll get some pictures of the boys on their vacation up in our galleries soon for you to peruse.

Sunset on the Beach, Mission Beach, San Diego, California

Children’s Pool, San Diego, California – Color accurate of the drab grey day we visited

Children’s Pool, San Diego, California – Corrected to what I wish it looked like

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Asian Kitchen: Surprisingly good sushi for a Chinese restaurant and all-you-care-to-eat pricing makes for budget sushi adventure dining

Dan — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:22:11 +0000

Asian Kitchen, Rochester, Minnesota
Barlow Plaza
1117 Civic Center Drive, Rochester, MN 55901-1888
(507) 252-8888

As seen on Urbanspoon, Yelp, Tripadvisor, Google Hotspots ‎

4/5 stars

Being an Asian Rochester resident confined to the selection of Rochester’s Asian cuisine scene for the past four years I am happy to report that the Asian Kitchen has been an unexpected happy sushi surprise that graces our palates with decent sushi at a reasonable price. While I have been a fan of Sushi Nishiki and Sushi Itto (now closed), I have always felt a little gouged by their roll prices which range upwards to $15 per roll and never have I felt satisfied by the value of what I received at those places. Sure the International Buffet (now closed) and Kingdom Buffet offer Chinese sushi variants, however these sushi selections are distinctively buffet-class and lack the freshness, quality, or finesse of made-to-order sushi. Jenpachi in my opinion is a disgrace to sushi in the one and last time I went there, and the recently opened Osaka is still on my list to visit. Lastly in my humble opinion, Hyvee, Trader Joe’s, Target sushi are supermarket sushi and a class lower than Chinese buffet sushi so they aren’t even worth mentioning as I would never touch that stuff. With these biases I describe Asian Kitchen’s offerings as follows:

General: Definitely could have used a restaurant designer to coordinate the interior arrangements. Seating is cramped with a set of booths extending longitudinally, and some odd seating along the entrance corridor for two. The sushi chef’s bar lacks any seating area and is adjacent to the cashier’s counter with some seating next to the soda fountains for those waiting for their take out orders. Tacky stock photography of the random dishes from the menu tell you very little of what’s being served, and a giant green and hideous life-sized “we-don’t-use-MSG,-we-use-some-other-type-of-flavor-enhancer” bogus certificate really poisons the well for making a good first impression on this place. Styrofoam plate ware and plastic cutlery is also a downer for any classy dine-in. So atmosphere? Yeah a 1/5. Not a place to take your first date, your business contact, or your fiancee to propose. But if it’s decent food at a reasonable value you’re looking for, read on.

Sushi: Sushi is made to order and is price a la carte per piece / roll, or if dine in all-you-care-to-eat during certain times. Current pricing a la carte ranges upwards to $11 per roll, but lunch sushi ‘buffet’ is priced at $16.95, and dinner ‘buffet’ at $24.95 — the difference being that dinner includes sashimi options. Prices include soft drinks and either wonton or egg drop soup. Menu can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asian-Kitchen/156392657742810 and offers a decent selection of classics and a surprising variety of special rolls and sashimi which was all surprisingly fresh beating most of my expectations. The downside is there is only one sushi chef, so your order may take a few minutes to make, especially when there are multiple orders in que, however, the made to order nature ensures the freshness of the sushi so this is more of a plus rather than a minus. Hibachi and terriyaki options are on the menu but I have not yet tried them so I cannot comment.

Chinese: If you’ve been to China Star, China King, Great Wall, you’ll recognize the menu and the food that you’re served as this is another extension of the owner’s locations (although I am told by the staff Imperial Wok is the exclusion to the rule). It’s Americanized Chinese fast food and nothing to write home about, but that being said it’s relatively cheap ranging from $6-9 for small entrees to combo specials, and if General Tso’s chicken is really Chinese food, this place makes a pretty good version of it, but again, the Chinese food is the same ubiquitous Chinese takeout found in Rochester–30-40 dishes made with essentially the same stir fried ingredients tossed with different types of sauces.

Conclusion: Since Soriya left Asian Kitchen’s strip of retail lots I’ve been waiting for Asian cuisine to make a comeback. While Asian Kitchen is a cloned extension of the Rochester Chinese Take Out scene, and as such not the most favorable addition to Rochester, it nevertheless does surprise with a well executed, fresh, and relatively economical sushi selection. So long as they can keep up the quality and the value this place will be one place that I will frequent to satisfy my hankering for raw fish.

Pros: Surprisingly fresh sushi options, all-you-care-to-eat pricing to allow for budget sushi adventure dining.
Cons: Atmosphere is lacking. Chinese food is cloned.

Update April 4, 2011
An update from my third trip to the Asian Kitchen for the sushi buffet. Looks like the owners are open to criticism, read this review, and kudos to them for listening as lo and behold the “We-don’t-use-MSG,-we-use -some-other-type-of-flavor-enhancer” poster is gone! I applaud them for actually listening to the feedback and their efforts to improve their service.

Sushi this time around was still top notch, meticulously prepared, and still as fresh as you are going to get in Rochester, MN. I took many more pictures and tried to hit up the menu a little more diversely to show you more of the options within the photo gallery, so make sure to go salivate over the new entries. Personally the Rock and Roll and the Phoenix Roll or Happy Roll are my favorites. Hope the pictures help visualize some more of their options.

Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery.

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Matched to Mayo’s Internal Medicine & Gastroenterology Fellowship!

Dan — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:47:12 +0000

Happy Match Day to all! Just got back from our school’s ceremony and I’m happy to announce that I matched into my top choice for Mayo’s Internal Medicine Clinical Investigator track that also matches me into Mayo’s Gastroenterology Fellowship program! Couldn’t be happier and I am excited that we have the opportunity of staying here in Rochester, MN for the next 7 years. We’ll have 19 colleagues staying at Mayo from our class so it should be a fun crowd. Congratulations to all, next stop graduation May 21, 2011 — and let me tell you, it cannot come sooner!

It’s hard to fathom how such an austere letter can command such power to influence the course of the rest of your life. So it begins!

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Douglas Laughing

Dan — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:08:26 +0000

Douglas laughing last night, caught it on video.

Announcing Baby Boy Douglas! 7 lbs 7 oz

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Seasons Greetings From the Chan Family!

Dan — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 19:01:21 +0000

Seasons Greetings From the Chan Family!

To you and yours, we wish you all the best in this holiday season and in the upcoming new year!

- Dan & Carolyn, Mikey, Davey, & Dougie Chan.

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