Otani: Must Go Back!

So after class today a couple of friends and myself wanted to go out to dinner. We contemplated on where we should go. We decided to go to a Japanese Restaurant across the street called Otaki, when really, it was Otani.

My first reaction to this was like, 'Okay, it'll be cool, even though it's misnamed once you see it.' It sounded like another 'Engrish' restaurant to me, but was it really that?

Going into the restaurant, I was amazed. I could see the Japanese decorations around the restaurant, along with the hibachi table where we would be sitting. The menu that was given to us was rather disappointing... it only had one japanese word I saw: 'Arigato' in Hiragana (which by the way, I read easily without noticing the english translation under it). After flipping thru the menu I decided to order the Special B: Steak and Chicken. It came with vegetables, Fried Rice, and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream for dessert, all for the price of about 20 dollars.

After a bit of wait (and a bowl of Japanese Chicken Noodle Soup with a salad and ginger dressing on the side), a man dressed in a chef suit with an apron emblazoned with the name Otani on it appeared. He was pushing a bland metal cart with bottles that were used to hold ketchup and mustard, although ketchup or mustard were not found on it. He introduced himself, and while doing that, he pulled out one of those metal cooking skewers you'd use during Turkey cutting at Thanksgiving, and what looked to be something like a burger flipper. He then twirled them into the air, effortlessly flipping, catching, and flipping them up again, as if he was magically controlling them. Amazing, yes.

After that, he then turned on the hibachi in front of us. The fumes of gas were floating in the air. He took one of the yellow bottles, and sprayed what looked like cooking oil onto the grill in front of us. He took a lighter from his pocket, sparked it up, and lit the oil, and almost instantly a trail of fire danced along the top of the grill. It flew in front of our faces, I even had to jump back a bit because I was a bit afraid of being burnt! Nevertheless it was a good start to a great evening.

The food was very delicious. The meat was tender enough to enjoy, but hard enough to chew to really taste the flavors put into it. The vegetables were cooked very well, but as I am not too much a veggie eater, I ate only the broccoli. The fried rice was very good as well. The sesame seeds added into it really made it special. Not to mention... it was ALOT of food.

During the course of the visit, I felt sad that I didn't see any real japanese people there (they were Korean according to Isaac), but the food and the experience was well worth it.

Overall, I enjoyed my dinner at Otani/Otaki, and after seeing my friends' facebook statuses raving about their dinner, I believe they enjoyed it too. :)


Otani 9/10
Best: The fire, the show, the presentation, the food!
Worst: No real Japanese people... Wanted to practice my Japanese. =(

P.S. I should be a food critic... ;D