I ventured into new restaurant territory last night.

My friend Lauren has been raving about Tsukasa for weeks. A Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant? Doesn’t take much to convince me to try it out (ahem, Benihana). And so, last night, we did.

Gorgeous image courtesy of Tsukasa’s Facebook Page

The menu looked a lot like what you would usually see at a teppanyaki restaurant. But once they started bringing out the soup and salad, the similarities ended. The broth was much darker and heartier than usual. The bowl was filled with mushroom and onion. It was wonderful!

The salad did not vary quite as much – your average bowl of mixed lettuce – but the usual ginger dressing was outstanding. Does anyone know of a good substitute that you can buy in stores or make at home? I have yet to find anything, anywhere.

When our chef came to the table, he immediately set the grill ablaze! I was so startled, I did not get a picture. Lauren was laughing at me. I’ve seen fires at these tables before but never such a big one deliberately set at the beginning. It was crazy!

He started with his usual tricks and whipped up the fried rice, which was too mouthwatering to pass up.

I love the concentration on his face! The sauce he poured over the rice (after making it into a heart shape, of course) was a thick teriyaki. At other restaurants I’ve been to, they use soy sauce. I think it made a difference.

This fried rice was definitely one of the (if not the) best I’ve ever had. Speaking of sauce making a difference, at Tsukasa, they provide three options for dipping: mustard, teriyaki and ginger. Oddly, I was the only one at the table who asked for all three (where was the sense of adventure?!) but I was glad I did because they were all tasty and paired with different parts of the meal.

Next up, our chef prepared the yummy assortment of side vegetables.

Can’t promise no onions were singed in the making of this volcano.

And then, there were the shrimp.

Lest this simple image of the shrimp fool you, they were soon piled high with other ingredients.

What could that be, you ask? Usually I’m just happy with good ol’ grilled shrimp! But at Tsukasa, they came in either “garlic” or “golden” varieties. You can see the garlic on the left – the golden taking over everywhere else.

Lauren recommended the golden option which, in her words, is something you “enjoy without thinking about it.” A rich egg sauce, it is so popular that the restaurant even sells it on the side.

The shrimp was good – but very heavy. It essentially tasted like a runny egg on top and felt like I was eating a savory dessert! Since I wanted to save room for the rest of the food, I brought most of them home for leftovers. Even better to get two meals out of the deal.

The last component was the hibachi chicken, which was cooked in soy sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds and served with mushrooms. You can never go wrong with ordering the chicken. Yum.

What. A. Meal! A fun experience, good company and enough to bring home for the next day. I can definitely see why the yelp! reviews say this is one of the best teppanyaki restaurants out there. I wish they had more locations!

Tsukasa, you are welcome to move closer to mi casa anytime. 🙂

The rest of the evening was spent watching Adventureland and That Thing You Do! Both great movies, although it was admittedly difficult not to confuse Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart for Mark Zuckerberg and Bella Swan, respectively.

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Abrazos,