Wednesday we headed downtown to have a birthday dinner with Matt Anderson. The Japanese resturant on State Street was a bit difficult to get to with the evenings Concert on the Square traffic. But we found a spot in a nearby parking garage and gathered around the Hibacci table. Everyone but me ordered Hibacci (I got a nice tofu terriaki with no added onions) and we all enjoyed watching the chef cook right before our eyes.
First the chef cleaned the surface of the grill with leaping flames. The first dish was Mark's fried rice- with everything already pre-cut, the chef put down the rice, the diced veggies and joined it all together with an egg. Next came the main dishes. In the center, was a large pile of veggies to be stir fried surrounded with thinly cut pieces of salmon and steak. The hot spot for the grill must have been the center, next to the chef because he kept everything there moving quickly. The cooler spots must have been the outer edges where the fish cooked since they were left on their own for longer portions of time.
While these main dishes were cooked, we got our sushi dishes- I had the best californian rolls ever! I don't know what they did, but the results were wonderful! My meal came out just as everyone was getting their hibbaci dishes- perfect timing.
The table next to us started filling with young women- who sat down and ordered large amounts of beer and saki. Occationally they would place two chopsticks on top of their beer mugs with the little saki cups balenced above. Then in a big hoop they would all pound on the tables in hopes of displacing their saki cups to fall in the beer- every time scaring me crazy.
Fortunately the rest of the guys in our party finished their meals relatively quickly- and everyone picked an ice cream of their choice. Mark and I split vanilla, there were several green teas and some adventurous red bean (not on the menu but you could request it).
