Looking for a go-to-place to satisfy your foodie craving? Y’all I’ve found it. It’s called Genghis Grill and its fab-u-loussss. Natalie and I stopped by for dinner tonight to try out the Build-Your-Own Bowl menu at the Houston West U location and we found some things that we didn’t even know it was possible to crave.
For instance, the Asian Guacamole served with teriyaki rice crackers. Or the Chicken Pot Stickers with the “3G” sauce. Or wait for it….COOKIE BUTTER WONTONS. Yes, ladies and gentleman my food craving spectrum has just been expanded to include cookie butter encapsulated in grilled wontons and served with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream. Don’t hate it.
If you’ve never been, Genghis Grill is a fast, casual restaurant that specializes in make-your-own stir frys. Although they have full service restaurants with a wait service, the West U location you order at the counter and create your bowl yourself. So many options! So much responsibility!
First you order the size of your bowl. We both went with the regular and it ended up being the perfect amount of food. Next you move over into the food line where you fill your stir fry bowl with meats, spices, veggies, and choose a sauce. Then you deliver your bowl to the stir fry station and choose your starch (rice, noodles, pasta, tortillas, etc.) and wait a few minutes until its done.
The options and combinations of toppings are endless–plenty of opportunity to get creative and edgy. But for those of you who need a bit of inspo for your bowl, Genghis Grill has a wall of little notecards with potential bowl combinations. I yolo’d it and made my own from scratch, and Natalie modified and made the “Firecracker Shrimp” recipe her own.
I did a delightfully spicy combo of tofu, broccoli, snap peas, green peas, sprouts, cilantro, cabbage, baby corn and mushrooms. Phew that was a lot to write. And was pretty hard to balance in the bowl — but totally worth it. For sauce, I did half Khanzu sauce (spicy seasame and ginger) and half Dragon (spicy sweet chili). And then I choose udon noodles as my starch. Props to Genghis Grill for reserving a special vegetarian section of their grill for people like me!!
Natalie did a gumbo-esque stir fry –aka she choose sausage, bacon and shrimp as her meats, seasoned with fun spices like “dragon salt and pepper,” a healthy serving of veggies, and the signature sweet chili Dragon sauce. She went with the fried rice as her starch.
Overall, very enjoyable, fairly healthy and a delightful take on customizable stir fry. You’ll never get bored!
Win $25 to Genghis Grill!
Want to get in on this stir fry madness? (Answer: Duh). Refer a friend to It’s Not Hou and get entered to win a $25 gift card from Genghis Grill. Submit names by February 9 at 12:00pm. The more people you refer, the greater chances you have of winning! We’ll announce the winner in our Wednesday newsletter on February 10.