since we're new to Durango we know virtually nothing about the city we
asked our family and friends for recommendations and actually this
one pretty much fell in our lap thanks to carlos raygoza for the recommendation and
helen and helen and we're gonna learn about one of durango's very first asian fusion restaurants
so we've arrived to the restaurant and it's called - I don't know how to pronounce it
Youkay
and the owner of the restaurant Jose Ramon, it's a pleasure to meet you thank you for meeting with us
no thank you welcome it's a pleasure to have you thank you well tell us what's this restaurant about?
yea sure, it's an oriental kitchen it's a restaurant that is going to turn 13 years of service
13 years of offering oriental food products and asian fusion cooking to the city of Durango where we sell japanese
chinese, thai, and mongolian food wow
now I'd like to invite you in to try some of our dishes and get to know the restaurant
let's go
the restaurant is decorated with decor that ramon brought down from chinatown los angeles
to give the place its asian fusion ambience he was inspired by pan-asian-american food
from the united states so that's the kind of fusion you'll find in the decor as well as the food
stick around for the story behind this unique restaurant
let us borrow the menu just to check it out and see the kinds of asian fusion they have like he said focus on chinese thai
japanese and mongolian cuisine we're gonna get a variety of everything to be able to show you
guys all the cool things they have here we started off with a sushi roll appetizer the kanto roll is
filled with shrimp cucumber and a touch of cream cheese fried and topped with a mango salsa and
bits of fried shrimp on top they explained how to best enjoy the experience with the sauces on
the table guiding us on the appropriate amount of eeo sauce soy sauce and sweet and sour sauce
the sushi was well balanced with sweet and spicy flavors and the perfect amount of cream cheese
this whole sauce combination is super different i don't know if i would have ever thought to do
that myself i just always do the traditional wasabi with soy sauce but this sauce gives it
like a really nice touch it's not sour it's not sweet it's just somewhere in between
and then the fried food balances really well it's looking like a good hangover remedy because this
is mexico of course you're going to skip on the wasabi and get some chiles toreados even though
this is an asian-american inspired restaurant they of course also served a soy sauce infused
with chile toriado to satisfy the mexican palate next we sampled their house cocktails
that were as delicious as they looked and very reasonably priced both are rum based one with
hibiscus lavender and ginger flavors and the other with mixed berries and flower petals
there's a little bit of fizz and it's super good
you get all your antioxidants and a buzz in the same sip
this is dangerous
mhmm this is excellent
I loved it
here i want to try yours you can try mine
trade jinx okay we're trading
this is our mongolian grill bar where our guests can choose the vegetables to their liking choose their veggies and
and add a touch of garlic and peanut sauce and then head over to the grill for the chef to cook it
my name is Miguel Vazquez we will be preparing the star dish of the restaurant Youkay
first, we're going to add the vegetables
the mongolian grill is Youkay's star dish and it's more than just the chef's skilled technique and quality of
the ingredients that make this a standout meal it's also the grill itself ramon brought this
mongolian grill from los angeles to give his guests a dining experience they won't find anywhere else
in durango including a presentation and explanation of the history of this dish
okay chef Kevin!
if the food isn't good, it's my fault
good job
okay let's see how kevin did that smells pretty good so i think he must have done okay
this is my first mongolian grill experience and it was pretty cool watching you
wow i love this combination of sweet and sour flavors
honestly this has to be better than some asian food i've had in the us
this is another highlight of the menu the sesame chicken fusion fried rice dish
with a beautiful presentation of course that just looks like another work of art around here
i have one concern and that concern is what are we gonna do with all this food it's so much food
we're so blessed to have this opportunity let's try this delicious sesame chicken
these are like chicken popcorn popcorn popcorn chicken with a nice
tangy sauce this is all me you're not going to like this is all me right now
wait why did you think i wasn't gonna like this is it because you wanted to keep it all for yourself
rude i do like it we're gonna share
the absolute best of all these plates is definitely the one your chef cooked
no just kidding chef kev
no this is really good and honestly the best thing about this is the special sauce that they
have on it they didn't give us the ingredients or the recipes so we don't know what it is
but it's so good it's well balanced the grilled meat
oh my god this is this one this one's orgasmic impressed by everything we ate and experienced
today we had to ask ramon why did you decide to open an asian fusion restaurant in durango
well, there was a time when I was living in Las Vegas I went there when I finished college here in Durango
and I noticed that asian food in the United States is very popular where a large portion of the clientele are Latinos
so I thought to myself there is something here between Latinos and oriental food
because it was so common to see the chinese and asian restaurants filled with mexicans and latinos
so there's something happening here
I discovered that it's the many flavors of sweet and sour we [mexicans] also have in our cuisine like mole
like our dishes with salsas and pineapple sauces that can go on our tacos with spicy and sweet flavors and it's
just like the flavors in the oriental sauces that the chinese and japanese use in their dishes like wasabi having similar ingredients
and so that was what I began to discover
when I told my friends that I was planning to open an oriental restaurant in Durango
their reaction was no how are you going to do that in Durango people eat gorditas burritos tacos
you'll never succeed here with an oriental restaurant
I said no I need to fight for what I want and show people mainly that there are other types of cuisine that are very tasty such as the oriental cuisine, japanese sushi, etc
they're going to like it
and we were pioneers in opening up an oriental/japanese restaurant and now everyone eats and sells sushi in Durango
but it was something we did initially to introduce people to this kind of food
even when people would say it wasn't going to work, you're not going to succeed
you're not going to fail don't listen to them
make your own dreams come true, make them the best you can and you'll succeed in whatever you desire
thank you ramon for sharing your story and delicious food with us
we look forward to visiting you again if you enjoyed this food vlog and want to
see more of our foodie adventures check out the eat playlist on our channel ciao for now