Wednesday, July 17, 2013

H is for Hibachi Grill, Sushi and Chinese Buffet

Went to dinner tonight with a friend. I wasn't too interested in going here, but it was this or another place I wanted to go to less, so we ended up going to the Teppanyaki Grill and Supreme Buffet. I figured that since it included a hibachi grill, it would be my perfect 'H' topic for the A to Z Challenge.

Now, I learned something while I was looking for appropriate photos to include with this. One is that teppanyaki grill and hibachi grill are not the same things. A teppanyaki grill is basically a flat top grill similar to those we are all familiar with in diners where all the burgers, eggs, bacon, hash browns and other traditional flat grilled items are cooked. Different sections are different temperatures depending on the amount of heat being applied underneath. These apparently began to appear in Japan after the war was over, but because they weren't overly popular with the native Japanese (they offered more Western-style foods), they became popular with the tourists who were now flocking to see Japan. They then arrived in the USA during the 1960s when Benihana began to offer their cooking entertainment to all who wanted to see flying shrimp, balancing eggs and

flaming towers of onion rings. Plus, a flat top grill was a much better place to incorporate rice into the show since there was no grill to fall through. I found an image of a teppanyaki chef to include with this story.

Meanwhile, Hibachi Grills are very similar to our own charcoal or gas grills. I have included a photo of one I found online being sold on Etsy. It looks almost identical to the one my parents bought while we were in Venezuela. My daughter now has it, but I have no idea where. We need to find it because it does no good being stored somewhere and never used. I like that it has notches where the grills can be raised and lowered depending on how direct you want the heat to be on the food. And, because there are two grills, one can be hotter than the other. Or, you can keep a pot warm on the top notch. Perfect for camping, I think.

My friend is a fiend for sushi. He had at least three plates of it when we first got to the restaurant. Then he had raw oysters and clams (or was it mussels?) After that, he had the Teppanyaki chef cook him some steak to order. Then he made the rounds of the various buffet tables for some more to fill his bottomless stomach.

I had eaten the last of my sweet and sour chicken and fried rice for breakfast, so I wasn't really in the mood for more Chinese food, but this restaurant also has roast beef, salmon, ham, Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and other non-Chinese offerings. I had the roast beef, some ham, some fettuccine and a few pieces of General Tso. I finished that and went back for some fried flounder and something else that I'm blanking out on. Can't believe I can't think of what it was. 

When we finished, we got some ice cream. I had chocolate chip mint.


Hibachi grill photo borrowed from a seller on Etsy because it's identical to the one we own and I can't find that one to take a picture.
Teppanyaki chef photo from Wikimedia Commons.


Previously published on Bubblews.com.

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