Hibachi

Happy belated birthday Ryen!

To celebrate the man’s 21st birthday, a few of us headed out Friday to Kyoto, the local Hibachi Grill and Sushi Bar on Richmond Road. Now, if you’ve never been to a Hibachi Grill, as was the case for me, you can understand why I approached the experience with a bit of trepidation.

Walking into the restaurant, my vague expectation of the night went as follows: we’d be seated in an intimate, dark room dominated by an industrial-looking grill. A wizened old chef would come in, speaking a language I wouldn’t understand, then proceed to cut vegetables with an extremely long knife. A few tricks would occur, at which point if I didn’t show intensely vocal amusement, I would be the next entrée.

Of course, my paranoia was unfounded, as always. Here’s a video of what appears to be a “typical” Hibachi experience after the cut, in case you’re curious:

After a delicious dinner of chicken, shrimp, fried rice, squash, and cucumber sushi (kappamaki; the only kind I can handle), we were off for movies at New Town. I ended up seeing the recently-popular (and largely predictable) 21, which taught me three lessons in quick succession:

• don’t count cards
• don’t count cards
• okay, it’s okay to count cards after all

We headed back soon afterwards (after all, it was past midnight) and I got to catch a little bit of sleep before Jenny’s senior recital. After a quick f’Real milkshake, that is. Mmm.

(This is my first post with the new WordPress 2.5. Dig?)

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