The New Cauldron

Yesterday I was meeting with friends after they got back from a week long Business trip to Bethel. While sharing war stories, we dined at The New Cauldron located in the University Mall on Old Seward Highway. 

This eating establishment is located on the second floor near the Sadler’s entrance. 

It is very retro, with orange, olive green and brown colors. There was plenty of seating and a pretty casual atmosphere.
Their menu was extensive with lots of exotic looking descriptions. Seems most of their food boarders on the Asian with a mix of teriyakis and wasabi thrown together with traditional american foods. They did offer brown rice in most dishes which is a nice healthy touch.

I finally chose the Smoked Salmon wrap which had smoked salmon chunks, brown rice, capers, cucumber avocado and wasabi sauce. I did omit the capers though. Across the table we had burgers, salads sandwiches and chicken teriyaki. 

Mine was the first to arrive. It was wrapped in foil and placed on a naked plate. It looked very dull and unappealing. A few minutes later a burger and beef dip arrived. Unfortunately the fries on my companions plate were ice cold. He did send them back and got them refried (not a good call, should have given him NEW fries). 

Soon all of us had our food and the over all appearance was good. The Salads were HUGE but the blue cheese dressing was only ranch with a few blue cheese chunks in it.  

The Halibut Club did not come with fries nor did my own wrap. (Honestly, the menu was so huge I never noticed that some items do not come with sides)

So, I did enjoy the wrap for the most part. The Wasabi was just spicy enough to bring tear to my eyes and my nose twitch. The smoked salmon was really good and I felt there was a generous amount in my wrap. The veggies were crisp but there was a bit too much brown rice. It was also served with a whole wheat tortilla. I give them kudos for trying to create a healthy menu.

The thing about the New Cauldron is that some of the food was really good but some of the food was not good at all. I’m thinking it is a case of trying to hard to provide a wide array of foods and not specializing and creating a few amazing things.