>There's a place called Kyoto, I think, on the site of a former steak >house. The signs for Kyoto went up about six or seven months ago, I >think. I know nothing about it, however, including whether or not >it's teppanyaki style. Anyone know? > Well, I know NOW. :) We had dinner there last night. While I like sushi, the only Japanese food my wife will eat is teppanyaki.. so we made a deal.. I knew the place was there.. if it was teppanyaki, we'd give it a try.. if it wasn't, I'd grab some menus and we'd go elsewhere. We arrived close to 8 pm, after my massage and my wife's pedicure/manicure at Balance Spa, just up the road in Tewksbury. Brief synopsis, for those of you who don't like long-winded reviews: Impeccably clean, reasonably priced, excellent sushi, great teppanyaki (both food and "floor show") We started out with a Volcano drink, for two, at $8.95. Large drink with 151 rum in the center (I quickly blew out the flame.. why waste all that tasty rum!). Potent drink, much tastier than a similar concoction at Kowloon's. My wife ordered teppanyaki filet mignon, her "standard". I ordered the Kyoto Bento box, which had sushi, sashimi, tempura, rice, and salad. A sampler, if you will. The waiter brought miso soup for me (excellent.. some of the best I've had) and clear broth with mushrooms for my wife. She really liked the soup, said it had great flavor. The salads were iceberg lettuce with a few carrot curls and tomato chunks, and the standard Japanese orange gingery dressing. Which my wife doesn't like, so I ate 2 salads. :) Both were delicious and fresh. The teppanyaki "floor show" was one of the best I've ever seen, combining humor with antics. One thing that particularly stood out was the formation of raw onion rings into a conical "volcano" shape... I had no idea what was coming next, but the chef filled the center with oil, then alcohol, then lit the volcano, and fire spewed forth like a flamethrower, followed by plumes of smoke, or steam. Very nice effect (I'm easily amused!) The piece of filet my wife received was quite large, and exceedingly tender, with good flavor. The important part is that she really liked it, which means we'll be back. She also mentioned that the bathroom was impeccably clean, which is a good sign. Our chef pointed out that the exhaust hoods are cleaned nearly every day. They were silvery and shiny like new! (The ones I've seen at some other restaurants are brown, or even black). My bento box arrived, and was quite large. It included: 2 pieces shrimp tempura, 4 vegetable pieces, the side salad, 6 piece California roll with tobiko, 2 slices of unagi on a bowl of rice, 2 crab/avacado maki pieces, some oshinko, and tuna, salmon, and mackeral sashimi. The tempura was crispy without being greasy, and very flaky and delicate. The california roll was good, and quite large. The unagi... now, I'm really not a huge fan of unagi.. at least I wasn't until last night. This had a high fat content, was expertly prepared, and was moist and heavenly! I believe I will start seeking out unagi from now on. The sashimi was all fantastic, too. The tuna was very tender, as was the salmon, and the saba had excellent flavor.. not the best I've had, but very good nonetheless. I also had fried rice with the meal for an additional $1.50. Excellent, with some of the rice being crispy. Total bill for the two of us came to less than $50.00 including the drink. We'll definitely be back. They have really reasonable lunch specials, as well. Kyoto is located right on Route 38 in the center of Tewksbury. 1487 Main Street 978-863-9889 --Art
Massachusetts