Events
Tokyo Steakhouse & Sushi Bar
It's OK to play with your food -- if you're the chef
By Dale Rice
American-Statesman Restaurant Critic
February 19, 2004
They're a child's fascination -- and a parent's nightmare.
But in the right, controlled setting, they also can be mom and dad's dream: theater to keep children entertained through dinner.
Judging by a recent Sunday night at Tokyo Steakhouse -- all but one of the eight grills in action included children among the parties -- many parents are concluding that a Japanese grill offers a dining experience that appeals to the whole family.
Spend an hour and a half there and it's easy to see why.
With three chefs handling the eight grills (out of 12), which each seat up to eight diners on three sides of the large grilling surface, dinners abounded in varying stages.
So, while the children at one table were eating miso soup and a small, mostly iceberg lettuce salad, they were eyeing other tables where the action was in full swing.
Upon arriving at our table, the first thing the chef did was smile at the young girl seated between her parents at the other end of the grill and ask her name. He had the child's attention from that moment forward.
The first big thrill came when he squirted oil on the grill, producing a spectacular flame that leaped high toward the stainless-steel exhaust hood overhead.
In making the fried rice, the red-hatted chef flipped an egg in the air, cracking it on his spatula and letting the egg drip onto the grill. Then he tossed the empty shell in the air and caught it in the indentation on the top of his chef's hat. That (no surprise) elicited a big smile from the girl.
While the chef prepared the vegetables (mushrooms, zucchini and onions), there was ample twirling-spatula and slicing-knife action to keep everyone's attention.
Then he constructed a mound of onion slices, pouring oil in the center and lighting it to create a "volcano" with erupting flames.
Finally, he wrapped up his performance by throwing bits of shrimp to willing diners who tried to catch the morsels in their mouths. It may not be behavior that you want to replicate at home, but it is entertaining.
Beyond the performance, the food was varied. The miso soup (complimentary with the meal) had a robust flavor, but the fried rice ($2 extra per person) was bland.
For the main course, the rib-eye ($20.95), cut in small cubes on the grill, was tender. While not strongly flavored -- perfect for the mainstream palate -- it got a boost from the mustard sauce served on the side (along with a ginger sauce for the seafood and vegetables).
Although the shrimp ($18.95) was not quite tough, it was well into the chewy stage -- from an especially long time on the grill for those of us who like our seafood moist and tender.
The chicken ($13.95), the cheapest of the meals, was the star that night. It was juicy and flavorful, heightened by a teriyaki sauce added during the grilling.
The meal ended with a scoop of Japanese plum ice cream that had enough of a sweet fruit taste to be appealing to children.
The Japanese grills may occupy three-fourths of the restaurant, but the sushi is an equal partner on the menu.
All of the fish -- fatty salmon ($3.25), yellow tail ($2.50), freshwater eel ($2.25) and saltwater eel ($2.25) -- was exceptionally fresh (which means no "fishy" taste or odor on the plate).
However, the rice, the key ingredient in sushi, did not have the sweet edge that marks the rice of several of the top chefs in the area.
Among the rolls, the salmon skin ($5.75) and the yellow tail-scallion ($5.50) were on a par with most sushi bars in town, while the orange and rainbow rolls were two of the most colorful I've seen.
In the orange roll ($9.75), tuna, salmon and yellow tail were wrapped inside an orange-colored soy bean paper drizzled with an orange sauce.
The rainbow roll ($9.75) featured seven kinds of fish rolled on the outside of the rice, which made for unusually bright and big bites of sushi.
Phoenix Pai, a longtime Austin restaurateur who also owns China Cafe by Phoenix, has struck a good balance for a new restaurant in the La Frontera shopping center in Round Rock.
There are items to please the more sophisticated adult sushi palate at the same time there is entertainment to enthrall young children. That makes Tokyo Steak House one of the area's few upscale restaurants for family dining.
drice@statesman.com; 445-3859