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 TV DINNER:
Through the magic of television, Frank Lin thinks he's giving his customers the excitement of watching their teppanyaki dinner sizzling at tableside, without some of the drawbacks. Most teppan restaurants have the enormous flat griddles throughout the room. At each one a dexterous chef flashes knives and jokes with customers sitting around the griddle as he prepares their dinners. Little Tokyo has only two of the big griddles side by side in the back of the restaurant. Over closed-circuit television, diners watch the chef from their tables in the front of the restaurant. With this method, Lin says, diners don't get splattered with grease, they aren't seated with strangers and they don't have to feel they should keep up with others at the table who are ordering expensive lobster or drinks. What's more, he, the owner, doesn't have such a big investment in those big griddles. Before he opened in May, Lin wanted to put his television show in the window of the restaurant. "But Mt. Lebanon didn't go for it," he says with a laugh. Sushi bar customers go for it, though. All eyes are on the television set tonight -- except when they're watching sushi chef Diane Xuan (Mrs. Lin) at work. Isn't it unusual to have a female sushi chef? Not at all, Lin counters. Women make very good sushi chefs. Besides, "women work harder and faster than men," he maintains. (Note to Diane: Ask for a raise.) Whatever, she has made a beautiful plate of sashimi for me -- tuna, salmon, mackerel, octopus, yellow tail, surimi (fake crabmeat), pickled daikon and more, arranged on a bed of crisp, thread-like "white carrot." His Honor, of course, can't believe I'm eating this stuff. Noodles, or udon, are more his speed. His "happy udon" is a big Japanese hot pot of wonderful broth, thick noodles, broccoli, shrimp, scallops and beef, with a poached egg plopped on top. Thank goodness it's OK to slurp in a Japanese restaurant. We started with miso soup and salads, which accompany most entrees. Another night when we ate here, the miso, or soy bean, soup was lukewarm and uninteresting. Tonight it's piping hot and tastes as though it was just made. House salads are mostly iceberg lettuce and the usual American ingredients, topped with the ginger dressing that's routine in Japanese restaurants. Another night, too, we watched on the television set as the chef seared shrimp and scallops and fried the rice with carrots and peas for H.H.'s dinner. As soon as the chef finished, and the plate was being served, the television shifted to a war movie while the chef waited for the next order. Chicken, beef and a variety of seafood can be cooked on the teppan grill, plain or in any combination you like. Big spenders can have all lobster ($25.95) or lobster and filet mignon ($22.95). They're listed as hibachi selections on the menu, and are good choices for non-adventurous diners who aren't about to try something they can't pronounce. But I like to try different foods. So while H.H. ate his scallops (excellent) and shrimp (a little soft and overcooked), I was having salmon dengaku -- marinated and grilled salmon, a little crisp on the outside but moist inside, rice, and a mustard greens salad with bonita flakes. Next time I'll pass on the mustard greens. Too many hard pieces of stalk. So far, Lin says, about 60 percent of his business has been sushi. People sit at the bar or at tables to eat California, tuna, yellow tail and other popular sushi rolls, beautifully arranged. Actually, Little Tokyo specializes in four types of Japanese cooking -- udon, hibachi (or teppenyaki), teriyaki, and sushi. When cold weather comes, he expects the hot teriyaki dishes to be more popular. Lin and his family are Koreans who lived in China before coming to the United States. That explains why the traditional Korean dish, gal-bee, or marinated, charcoal-broiled beef short ribs, is on the specialties menu. Lin has also been involved in the restaurant business in Chicago and Boston, and worked at several Chinese and Thai restaurants in Pittsburgh the last 11 years. At Little Tokyo, the big surprise for me was the desserts. The menu is so authentic and typical, from shumai (steamed shrimp potsticker appetizers) to buddha zushi (an entree using wild mountain plants). But then you get to dessert. The choices are green tea and red bean ice cream (both traditional), fresh pineapple (appropriate), fried ice cream with chocolate and whipped cream (Chinese restaurants often have fried ice cream) and cheesecake with strawberry topping. Cheesecake with strawberries? What's Japanese about that?
Little Tokyo
-- Review by Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Dining Critic
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Hours: Lunch, Monday-Friday,
11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner, Monday-Thursday, 4:30-9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday,
5-10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4-9:30 p.m.