Japanese Steak House

Flames from a “volcano” in the midst of grilling zucchini, mushrooms, and onions proved how creative one can be with a few large onion rings!

We were seated at the longest griddle I’ve ever seen – it must have been 10 feet long. Of course most Japanese steak houses are known for flashy knife work, and we weren’t disappointed.

About 14 of us enjoyed delicious food and the “show” of preparing it after another uneventful eating day (the conference sessions were fabulous, the conference food was not). One of our teachers is allergic to shellfish and the chef prepared her entire meal in front of us, cleaned the griddle, and then began the other meals. It was like getting two “shows” in one sitting!

You can probably tell from the photos that the food was fresh and colorful. Also delicious, especially when accompanied with hot sake!

I opted for scallops and was pleasantly surprised by the smothering of sakura sauce. The sauce was like a glorified hollandaise in which I could taste a sweetness, but yet a touch of garlic – its texture was that of custard. After the scallops were grilled for a bit, he covered them with the sauce (it almost looked like raw egg at that time), poured on a little sake, then covered them with a lid while other entrees continued cooking in the open.

Chopsticks were my utensil of choice and I was able to get through the entire meal – until the pineapple sherbet was served in a bowl. Now, if that would have been in an edible “dish” I would not have picked up any silverware – oh, well!

FYI - Compared to Nagoya at Levis Commons, the prices were reasonable: hot sake was $3.75 compared to $5 at Nagoya and the scallop entrée (with soup, salad, shrimp appetizer, steamed rice, and fresh vegetable) was $20 compared to $24 at Nagoya. Our meals alo included hot green tea (upon request) and a dessert; Nagoya’s does not.~~K