Today, I went back home to Altoona for the weekend. My aunt told me the other day that a new Japanese restaurant opened in town called Aki. There are a few other Asian restaurants in Altoona, but none of them offer even close to what I would consider to be authentic Japanese food. My dad and I both love Japanese food, especially sushi, so we decided to check out this new restaurant for dinner tonight.
We ordered a steak and scallop hibachi and eel and tuna sushi. We are both very big fans of eel, and to our surprise, their sushi was excellent. Then came the hibachi dinners. A chef came and did several tricks, juggled his spatulas and knives, and told jokes before lighting the grill. He spun an egg on the grill and tossed it around with his spatulas. He then would throw it and catch it on his hat or in his pocket. Then, he poured oil over the top of the grill and lit it on fire which made a huge fire only an arm’s length away from everyone. He then fried a massive pile of rice and vegetables and served some to everyone at the table. At one point, he tossed pieces of eggs at everyone for them to catch in their mouths. Then he made a volcano with onions and made fire come out of it (as shown in the picture on the left). Finally, he cooked all of our meat and served us the rest of our dinner. At the end, he jokingly squirted a sauce at a girl, but it was actually just a string that came out instead of sauce. It was funny to see her reaction, and it was unexpected. It was definitely an entertaining and delicious dining experience. The food was definitely very good and, compared to the other restaurants in Altoona, I would say that this is the closest we can get to something that tastes like authentic Japanese food.
However, the “performance” that the chef put on while cooking our food on the hibachi grill is nearly, if not entirely, identical to other American hibachi places that I have been to. It is interesting considering the background of hibachi style cooking in Japan. For example, in Japan, there are countless restaurants where a chef will cook on a hibachi grill (there are even some where you cook on the grill yourself!), but they are not always as performance based. Most places, they just skillfully prepare the food in front of you without any jokes or tricks for entertainment. Apparently, this style of cooking on a hibachi grill became more popular to tourists in Japan rather than Japanese people, so they emphasized the entertainment factor to attract more tourists. This is where the strange and funny tricks and jokes came. It’s interesting that in America, cooking on a hibachi grill is done the same way, because they are replicating a style in Japan that was catered to tourists. This is by no means a criticism, rather a curious observation and a review of a restaurant I went to tonight.
Either way, the food was excellent, the chef was entertaining, and most importantly, I enjoyed a great dinner with my dad. Currently, this is our favorite local place for sushi (other than making it ourselves; I make excellent sushi).