OEC Japanese Express

OEC Take-Out Tempura Chicken Plated At Home
To See What An In Restaurant Serving
Would Look Like

OEC Japanese Express  March 4, 2013

2438 66^th St No
St Petersburg, FL 33710
(727) 345-4088
HTTP://www.oecexpress.com

 

It surely is a nice day when you have a pleasant surprise. Today was one such day. A year or so ago I received a flyer in the mail advertising OEC Japanese Express. It was an interesting concept; a storefront fast food Japanese emporium. At the time I did not think I had ever encountered anything like that before. It was on my list of things to do but often was put aside for other things that came to light; maybe someday…

What is in the bag? This is what I got when I ordered a
Teriyaki Chicken Bento Box to-go.

It was the wife’s day out today. She was on a shopping trip with her girlfriend. That left me free to find my own lunch. I rummaged through some of my papers and found the flyer for OEC and decided to give it a try. I wasn’t sure what I’d find. In my mind I was comparing it to several storefront Chinese restaurants in the area which are very bare boned; edible but really nothing to brag about. On the way to OEC Japanese express I was reminded of the old axiom of location, location, location. OEC is located on one corner of a very busy intersection. Access has to be planned ahead of time and casual drive-by encounters with OEC would be rare. In spite of being a difficult to access location, OEC has prospered and is still in business. That is always a good sign. Looking up OEC Japanese Express on the Internet I could only find one reference and that to the store in St. Petersburg. This restaurant is apparently not part of a chain and is a unique entity which may explain why the employees seem so dedicated to their store.

The Bento Box - The teriyaki chicken and vegetables.

The store is more than just a takeout counter. It is also a small sit down eat in restaurants as well. It is subtly decorated and does have a bit of the feel of Japan. I know more than entered the door then I was approached by the hostess. I informed her it was a takeout order. She has guarded me to the counter and provided me with a menu to make my selection. The menu is very complete. It features most of the items you would find in a more traditional sit-down restaurant. My selection was the bento box on the lunch special for $11.99. For the main course of the bento box you have a choice of teriyaki chicken, steak, shrimp, salmon or white fish. I selected the teriyaki chicken ($11.99 Choose from Teriyaki Chicken, Steak, Shrimp, Salmon or White Fish It is served with a California roll, house salad, white rice, and you have your choice of shumai or an eggroll). I chose the pork eggroll. The bento box gives the opportunity to sample many of the dishes at one time; the sushi, the rice, and the other traditional entrées. I was curious about how they would package the bento box to go since it usually requires a special plate.

The Bento Box - The California Roll

After I placed my order I sat down in one of the booths and looked around the restaurant, taking in my surroundings. There are several booths along one wall and tables and chairs occupied the rest of the area. I also noticed a few tables outside for alfresco dining. There is also a sit at sushi bar with about a half a dozen stools. From my vantage point I could watch the sushi chefs preparing foods for the day’s customers and I also had a peek inside of the kitchen and could watch many of the activities as they prepared my order.

One of the sushi chefs was preparing cucumbers. He was peeling the cucumbers into a paper thin strip. He worked his way around the cucumber making a long continuous strip. It w3as one continuous cut until he reached the seeds which were then discarded. I was amazed at his skill with the knife and thoroughly entertained while waiting for my order; his skills were excellent. From what I could see the kitchen, it was neat and tidy and very clean as was the rest of the restaurant. It was a little before noon and there were only three other customers in the restaurant (the small open-air patio outside had several customers but they had apparently already been served). My order was completed in a very short time. Neatly packaged in a plastic bag it was brought to me by the hostess. I hurried home to see just what I got.

This is what I got when I ordered
Tempura Chicken and California Roll to-go.

The accessories included two pouches of soy sauce, a pair of disposable chopsticks, and just in case, a fork. The house salad was in a small Styrofoam container by itself. The main part of the salad was coarsely grated lettuce, some finely grated carrot and a slice of tomato. It was accompanied by a small container of a mild dressing similar to 1000 island dressing. Lettuce was crisp and not discolored. The slice of tomato was from a nice ripe tomato that had good flavor. The dressing, though mild and taste, was a good accompaniment to the salad. The eggroll was also in its own little Styrofoam container with a small container of what appeared to be duck sauce. The eggroll was neatly wrapped crispy and fried to a nice Golden Brown. The filling was flavorful and consisted of a mixture of pork and cabbage. The dipping sauce was slightly fruity, slightly sweet with only a hint of sour. It also was a good accompaniment to the eggroll.

The Tempura Chicken with a crispy - flaky crust.

My curiosity about how they would serve the bento box without satisfied. It is served in a compartmented plastic to-go bento box; a nice touch. The main food compartment contained the teriyaki chicken. Under the chicken were some vegetables consisting of broccoli, carrot, onion and scallion and some nice slices of mushroom. To say the vegetables were under the chicken is not mean they were skimping a chicken. The chicken was all white meat, cut in small bite-size pieces and was a very generous serving. The teriyaki sauce was thinner than I would have expected, it didn’t cling, but had an excellent flavor. I saved some of the steamed white rice to sop up the teriyaki sauce after I had finished my chicken and vegetables. The white rice was an ample serving as well overflowing its compartment into the small compartment that would normally be occupied by the wasabi and beni shoga. The next compartment contained the California roll. There were six slices. The rice layer was very thin; the filling of crab and avocado and daikon was more than ample. The California rolls were freshly made but some of the ingredients may have shared space with sashimi and had just a slight taste of fish. Other than that, the California rolls were excellent. The last bento box compartment contained a small Dixie portion Cup had the essential wasabi and beni shoga. Thinking of other bento boxes that I have sampled, I recall that that one of the compartments would usually have a small selection of vegetable tempura. What I mean to say is that although this bento box selection was smaller than others I have tried it contained all of the items listed on the menu in ample quantity.

California Roll with Masago (capelin roe)

What started out as a curiosity quest ended up being a voyage of discovery. OEC Japanese Express is close by, is very clean and well-maintained, provides ample servings of good tasting, well-prepared food at a fairly reasonable price. I do believe that OEC will become one of my favorite places to go for a fast bite to eat when I don’t have time to cook at home. To anyone who asks, anyone who likes Japanese food, I would say yes, try OEC Japanese Express for a bit of sushi or other traditional Japanese dishes prepared for the American palate. I enjoyed this encounter very much and I will be going back again. I do believe I’ll try the tempura next…

A Revisit  to OEC Japanese Express March  17, 201

Over the next week or so I remembered fondly my first encounter with OEC Express. Enough so that I was back again for lunch and would now sample the chicken tempura ($8.99 Served with white rice. It includes containers of tentsuyu dipping sauce and another creamier sauce). I was a bit on the hungry side so I also ordered a side of California roll ($3.95 8-pieces Crab, cucumber, avocado and masago in place of the usual tobiko. Includes a container of beni shoga and wasabi). The California roll tasted good; it had a fresh smell. The filling was more than adequate which made the rice layer a bit thin. The rice was perhaps not as sticky as it should have been and the roll was, how should I say, tender and I had to handle them very carefully. Other than that small bit, the roll was excellent, the dipping sauce flavorful. The chicken tempura had a bit of different coating than I would have expected for a tempura batter.  It was more like a fried coating on Southern-fried chicken, crispy and flaky. It was more a difference of style than substance in the long run because the coating was excellent, light and not greasy. The chicken inside was cooked through to perfection; hot, steamy and still moist. The tentsuyu sauce was favorable but seemed a bit thin.  The creamy sauce was mild in flavor but I really can’t say what the main flavor was; not as prickly as a 1000 Island nor was it as pronounced in flavor as a Ranch dressing.  I alternated between the two but looking back I would say I preferred the tentsuyu; perhaps I am just a traditionalist. The side container had a nice serving of sticky white rice. I was able to eat it with chopsticks. Two single serving packets of soy sauce were included.

Both of these dinners were package to go for take home.  That is not the best way to showcase your food product. However, the packaging shows care in preparing the food to go. The end product is tasty and attractive. OEC Japanese Express will certainly be on my list of favorite places to go.

You can call in to order ahead, take out, eat in or perhaps linger at the sushi bar. For a minimum order of $15 they offer free delivery in the local area. OEC Japanese Express has a website at

HTTP://www.oecexpress. com ;  there you will find information about the restaurant including the unusual name, directions to get there, their menu, and some pictures of the foods they prepare.