As varied as the restaurants in Los Angeles are, Benihana remains an anomaly. Few, if any, other establishments prepare food at the table while the customers look on. The uninitiated are always surprised to discover, upon a first visit, that the diner is a willing participant in the culinary spectacle for which the restaurant is best known. In other words, first-timers are always surprised when the chef slicing up their shrimp intentionally lobs the tails in their laps rather than at their plates. If a server in a traditional restaurant threw food at a customer, it would be safe to say the dinner would be comped and the server would be out of a job. Thankfully, Benihana is anything but a traditional restaurant.

The meals are served with soup and salad, both of which are delivered by a somewhat anonymous server before your chef arrives to prepare the entrees. (Interestingly enough, the soup and salads are delivered to the dining room by female employees who deposit the dishes at the tables. A male server then places the food on the table in front of the customer. The female employees have no interaction with the diners.) The soup is good, but unimaginative. The fried onions are a nice touch that gives the soup enough flavor to prevent it from being bland. The salad is just that. It hardly differs from run-of-the-mill starter salads served at restaurants throughout the city.

The real fun begins when the chef arrives, knife and spatula at the ready, to prepare the entrees. The menu is heavy with meat, specifically beef and chicken, although seafood is a possible option for those who refuse to eat anything that walks on terra firma. Benihana is not for the vegetarian. Their vegetable choices are limited. Vegetables are merely props that entertain the diners while the protein cooks. The onion volcano, complete with smoke erupting from the hole at the top, is an interesting diversion, albeit not one that leaves the mouth watering for a bite of the almost raw herb.

Benihana may take a little thinking “outside the box” for some American sensibilities. The food is not delivered all at one time on a plate to the customer. Instead, food is served by the chef as each course cooks. Rice is served first, then the vegetables, then the meat. Those who are accustomed to mixing their food together into one large conglomeration of flavors might be disappointed. Such a reaction to the Benihana experience is a mistake. The joy of Benihana is its departure from the ordinary. Only at Benihana can you interact with both the person who cooks your food and the food itself while your meal is being prepared. Although the food is not life-affirming, it is nevertheless fresh, flavorful and filling.

Photos by Mary M

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