Dinner and a Show

Last Saturday, my family and I decided to treat ourselves and go out to the new neighborhood restaurant, a Japanese hibachi-style steakhouse. The restaurant, Sapparo, stands where the previously maligned Mongolian barbecue J.P. Lee once stood. I didn't think J.P. Lee was as awful as Sarah did, but her culinary experience was so horrible that she never gave it another chance. 

That's the tricky thing about Mongolian barbecues: since it's essentially "make your own concoction", the establishment is at the whim of your own ability to mix ingredients and sauces to create a good flavor. Since most of us aren't from culinary schools, we tend to over saturate our food with sauces with terrible results ("hmm... I like Thai peanut sauce, Vietnamese fish sauce, teriyaki sauce and sweet and sour sauce. It seems to reason that if I mix 'em all together, it'll be delicious!"). Add to that our inability to balance our choices of meats and starches, so we either feel heavy or generally unsatisfied. Of course, we place the blame on the restaurant, and its name is mud.

In any case, Sapporo was a nice change of pace, especially for the kids. I've been to a Japanese steakhouse once, about eight years ago during a consulting gig near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. For Sarah and the kids, it was a treat to see our hibachi chef do his little cooking utensil juggling schtick and oil-fueled fireball show, to which Sarah kept telling Daniel, "Don't try that at home, okay?" The food was actually pretty decent, but at least in my book, it's clear that you're really paying a premium for the chef's little show, which is great especially when you have kids who get bored easily.

Next stop, Medieval Times!