This week we experienced the “dinnertainment” of teppanyaki at Ichibiri in The Center at Rancho Niguel at Greenfield and Crown Valley Parkway.
An Internet search informed me that teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. The word teppanyaki is derived from teppan, which means iron plate, and yaki, which means grilled, broiled or pan-fried. I’ve only heard it called teppan.
If you’ve never been to a teppan restaurant you should go. The chefs cook the food right before your eyes and inches in front of your plate. They talk while they put on a cooking show using salt and pepper shakers as percussion instruments along with a slew of knives and spatulas and each with their own witty schtick. Don’t go if you are in a hurry-this is event dining.
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Prior to every restaurant I go to I do an Internet search using the name of the restaurant and the word coupon, this works with amusement parks and many other things as well. I came up with no coupons but was pleasantly surprised to find an early-bird menu from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and an in-store coupon special. Ichibiri has six specials that are about 25 percent off its regular menu or the coupon we used was “buy three and get one free.” Don’t worry, they give you the coupon. I was expecting the dinner to be expensive but in the end it was a very good value.
The portions are enormous so come hungry and you will still take home a full to-go box.
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My oldest daughter ordered salmon, I had the Albacore, my youngest daughter had the New York steak, and my wife Susan had the chicken. Another translation for teppan is yummy. The meats are cooked at high temperatures so they were tender on the inside and seared on the outside. They use plenty of butter, salt and pepper and soy sauce so, of course, it tastes wonderful. The high quality meats all melted in the mouth.
The dinner starts with a brown broth soup not the usual Miso soup. It tasted like a beef onion soup and had bits of green onion, mushrooms and fried onions in it. Next, was a typical salad of iceberg lettuce and ginger dressing, and then the cooking show begins.
The chef brings out six layered trays of raw food and begins with the fried rice. While the white rice is cooking he does a show juggling and scrambling the eggs then adds vegetables and is in perpetual motion until he mounds a heap of the delicious mixture on your plate.
Meanwhile the fresh veggies are cooking: zucchini, broccoli, carrots and cabbage which made Susan happy even though they were cooked in butter. The side show here is his steaming then flaming onion ring volcano.
Next he sautés a pile of quarter-sized shrimp and gives everyone a few. Then he cooks the fish, cleans the grill and cooks the beef and chicken. By now you have been grazing on rice, veggies and shrimp and are nearly full when he cooks grilled mushrooms and Japanese noodles. We all applaud as he packed up and headed to another grill to entertain and cook another meal. For the 4 of us before tip it was $64.
The teppan grill seats eight so part of the fun as Forest Gump would say, is “you never know what you’re gonna’ get” when you dine across from strangers. We met some fun people who enjoy ,stilt walking. They showed us pictures of themselves dressed in various stilts and costumes and explained the wonderful world of stilt walking. They ordered the filet mignon and said it was melt-in-your mouth good.
We came for teppan but Ichibiri also has an extensive sushi bar. As I was leaving, I saw our friend Jim, who I found out has been a regular for 15 years. He comes every week for a treat and we could see why.
Ichibiri has three South Orange County locations, including San Clemente and Dana Point.
