Good Food,
Entertainment
By Paul Carhartt
Just over a month-old, The Tokyo Steak House, located at 3521 North Freeway Blvd., across from See’s Candies, has already become another great addition to the Natomas dining scene. With fast-food, take out, and chains having made their mark in the area, we finally have another restaurant worthy of first dates, business lunches, dinner parties and that has a true dining-out atmosphere.
Tokyo Streak House is divided into three separate areas: Sushi Bar, Teppan Yaki and Formal Dining.
On this occasion, seven of us decided to have a surprise birthday party for our friend, Bill. One of us suggested Tokyo, with it’s thrilling Teppan Yaki feature, which provides the entertainment value of a chef cooking on a flat grill while surrounded by the guests. Each diner selects their entree from the menu, and it’s prepared in fiery elegance right before your eyes.
Our chef, who obviously knew how to read his audience, tossed plenty of humor in with the delicious fried rice (with egg, bacon, and more butter than I have ever seen added to any dish). After the fried rice had been artfully cooked and packed into individual bowls, the chicken was prepared, then the seafood combos, then the filets. While consuming this bounty, the veggies were prepared…bean sprouts, zucchini, mushrooms and onions.
Our chef skillfully sliced one of the onions, and built a pyramid out of it, poured some seasoned oil inside, and ignited it into a deleterious volcano, which eventually went out, and spewed sweet, white smoke from the creation. While this side show was going on, the rest of the veggies were rendered into bite-sized morsels, and combined to top off our plates of rice and various meat, poultry and seafood.
Everyone at our table/counter exclaimed perfectly cooked entrees. I had the seafood combo: the fried calamari, shrimp, and scallops were melt-in your mouth good. Those who had the chicken were delighted at it’s tenderness, and the filets…well, the aroma said it all. Those who had that refused to share, despite the healthy 5-ounce lunch portion.
My past attempts at stir-fry paled in comparison with this place…as did the tantalizing array of sauces, spices and cooking technique on display before us.
Price wise, I have to say that we all got far more than our money’s worth, and I hope that once Tokyo get’s it’s liquor license, which is supposed to happen later this month, it will be a booming success. The sushi bar, along with the nice TV’s, will be a hotspot for those in the mood for professional sporting events and a sushi boat and a couple of sakis to wash it down with.
If I wore a hat, it would be off to Tokyo Steak House!
I think the place could be a hot spot. The night we went, however, our chef was new to the business. The food was too salty for my taste. I will give it another try in the future in hopes they worked out some of the bugs.
We went there for lunch sat. It was pretty empty for lunch but lunch prices are about half that of dinner. Food was great. Best fried rice ever! Will definitely be back soon.