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Friday, May 04, 2001
By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
You know sushi. Teppenyaki, and the chefs with slashing knives and flying shrimp, too.
Maybe it's time to try tempura and teriyaki, bento and gyoza.
His Honor usually closes his ears when I talk like that, but he must have been listening. "I'll have the hamachi kama," he said, the first night we ate at KotoBuki.
That's the chin of yellowtail snapper, broiled and served with ponzu sauce. I know because I, too, read the menu, which has translations for the classic Japanese dishes.
The kitchen was out of chin, though.
So he settled for kushi yaki. "That's really good," said the jolly young woman taking our order. (Why do servers always say, no matter what you order, "That's a good choice" or "That's really good?")
In this case, she was right. Kushi yaki is two big skewers of grilled shrimp, scallops, onions, mushrooms, carrots and green pepper, served on a bed of chopped cabbage. The carrots were a mistake; they don't cook as fast as the other veggies and fish, and came to the table hard and underdone. The rest was delicious.
It's also one of many fish items on the menu at KotoBuki, near North Park, a modern Japanese restaurant with traditional dishes. It's an attractive restaurant, too, with colorful geometric designs on the walls and the tables, a sushi chef at work at one end of the dining room, and lots of greenery throughout.
You could make a meal of the sushi. The sushi a la carte list is long. You can also order sushi as an appetizer, but don't be surprised when it arrives in the middle of the meal. Our order of assorted sushi was freshly made, and delivered as soon as it was ready, the waitress said. The six little rolls were on a wooden platter, and accompanied by the traditional mouth-shocking wasabi, pickled ginger and a little bowl for soy sauce.
KotoBuki dinners start with an excellent miso soup, all broth except for a few bits of green onion and a small cube of tofu. That's followed by the usual salad of torn iceberg lettuce, maybe two thin slices of radish, and the best ginger dressing I've had around Pittsburgh. It's fresh and a little thick, with bits of ginger in it.
Soup is consumed by lifting the bowl with two hands and sipping. Forks were on the table, but when she delivered the salads the server asked "Are you chopstickers?"
With a challenge like that, of course we are.
We've had dinner at KotoBuki on a weekend night, when it was busy, and early in the week, when only a few tables were filled. Both nights there were tables with children who seemed to be enjoying the experience as much as the grownups. Large groups of six or eight diners order a variety of dishes, pass them around and seem to have a lot of fun. Many diners seem to be unfamiliar with Japanese food, but interested in trying it.
The restaurant is BYOB and we did, of course. Wine bottles seemed to be on most of the tables. If you don't drink wine or beer, try the hot ginger tea. It's made from fresh ginger, sugar and a touch of lime, and, like the servers always say, "It's delicious." I've had the ginger tea cold, too, and I think hot is better.
For an entree, tempura is a good choice. The light batter adds a little crunch to the deep-fried vegetables and shrimp, or, if you're a big spender, vegetables, scallops and lobster. (The shrimp and vegetable tempura dinner is $12.95; substitute scallops and lobster for the shrimp, and it's $24.95.) A bowl of soy-based dipping sauce is served with the tempura.
One interesting way to try a variety of KotoBuki specialties is by ordering a bento box. In my KotoBuki special bento ($21.95) individual compartments held shrimp and vegetable tempura, a potato cake with two little steamed dumplings on top, salmon teriyaki, a selection of maki sushi (the rolled kind) and nigiri sushi, hand-formed rice balls with slices of salmon, fluke and tuna.
For the adventurous, KotoBuki has many unusual dishes such as una ju (broiled eel over rice), gyoza (fried Japanese dumplings) and ika shouga yaki (broiled squid with ginger sauce).
For those (like H.H.) who don't like to venture too far away from broiled fish or meat and potatoes, steak teriyaki is a good choice. The boneless New York strip was cut into thin, easy-to-eat pieces and served with teriyaki sauce, mixed vegetables and a side bowl of rice. KotoBuki also serves salmon and chicken teriyaki.
A branch of the restaurant, with a limited menu, is open for lunch in the food court of One Oxford Centre, Downtown, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Open for six years, KotoBuki is owned and operated by Dong and Debbie Cho, who are actually Korean. Dong also is the chef. There are a couple of Korean dishes on the menu, too, but you won't find hamburgers or french fries. Even the ice cream, mango and ginger, is different; Dong Cho imports it from Chicago. It's so good it's worth every calorie that must be in it.
Kotobuki
Dong Cho, owner of the KotoBuki restaurant in Allison Park, arranges sushi and California rolls with his wife, Debbie. (John Heller, Post-Gazette) 
9801 Old Babcock Blvd., Allison Park
412-369-7885
www.ekotobuki.com
Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Monday-Friday; 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday; dinner, 5-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 5-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.The basics: Classic Japanese food, including a full sushi bar; typical prices: assorted sushi appetizer, $8.95; shrimp and vegetable tempura, $12.95; steak teriyaki, $16.95; hamachi kama, $16.95; large parking lot; seats 88; wheelchair accessible; no smoking; BYOB; major credit cards; reservations.The last word: 