Kotobuki: Complete review

 Run, don't walk to Kotobuki!  This is an update of my review posted in
 Pgh.food on April 28, 1995.  We have visited Kotobuki an average of once
 every week or two since it opened.  The owners received a copy of my
 previous review and made a little color photo-enhanced handout out of the
 review.  After the review came out, once I visited and learned that the
 sushi chef's "hands were shaking" with nervousness after he saw me walk
 in.  Oh, the power of the Internet!

 Kotobuki is located in the North Hills, at 9801 Old Babcock Blvd., a mile
 and a half north of Passavant Hospital.  Their phone number is
 412-369-7885 (reservations are highly recommended on weekends).  The
 restaurant is completely non-smoking (meaning that you can actually taste
 the food) and alcohol drinkers must BYOB.  It is very clean with a very
 pleasant, attractive atmosphere.  It is unfortunately closed on Sundays.

 After numerous discussions with the extremely friendly owners, I learned
 that this is the second of two Kotobukis.  The first is in Cincinnati,
 and has the same menu.  By the way, the friendliness is rampant
 throughout the restaurant: expect service with a smile from the owners,
 cooks, and servers.  Once in a while, a new server might be a bit
 forgetful, but on balance service is quite good.  Part of the fun is the
 people there.

 The cooking is not to be missed.  In fact, you will become Kotobuki
 addicts.  We have tried most everything we have wanted to try on the menu
 (running up a BIG charge card bill each month in the process), and nearly
 all items have been superb.  A few exceptions are those that were merely
 good (chicken teryaki and steak karasiyaki), one item that was
 controversial (Age Dashi Tofu), and two related items that none of us
 cared for (green tea and green tea ice cream).

 Why am I posting this review?  I do not receive any financial incentive
 from Kotobuki (except that they once allowed me to taste a sampler of
 sashimi after I posted my earlier review and did not say anything about
 their sashimi).  It is important to me that they remain open and thrive,
 so that I might continue to visit them.  You see, I'm an addict and it is
 nice to be able to eliminate my withdrawal symptoms by driving only 5
 minutes.

 I still feel that the servers should REQUIRE every visitor to order their
 ginger tea (NOT the green tea) with every meal, and strongly urge patrons
 to try their superb appetizers: tempura ($5.50 with shrimp), negi-maki
 ($4.95), asparagus beef maki ($4.95), yakitori ($3.95).  These dishes are
 probably the best appetizers anywhere in a 100 mile radius, and I'm
 really lucky to live 3 miles away.  I'm not a big fan of tea, but I
 devour the ginger tea.  It's a sweet lemon-ginger blend that is nothing
 like anything you've ever had.  I have recommended this to several
 people, and all agree completely with me after they try it.  The tempura
 has perfect sauce and nice, light batter.  And, oh the perfect trio:
 negi-maki, asparagus beef maki, and yakitori!  Each has a perfect sauce.
  The first is thin sliced prime rib rolled around green onions, and the
 second substitutes nice, thin asparagus for the onions.  The yakitori is
 a recent addition to their menu, and is the stuff that dreams are made
 of.  It's easily the best yakitori I've ever tasted.  The sauces on the
 trio are similar, but my favorite by a narrow margin is that on the
 yakitori.  We also enjoyed superb gyoza (fried dumpling) with a dipping
 sauce second to none.  I mentioned one controversial appetizer, the age
 dashi tofu ($4.50).  I really like that superb dish.  However, many will
 not because it is actually cubes of tofu (controversial) with a light
 dripping batter that some say is slimy (and correctly so, but it tastes
 great).

 Included with every main course is a salad and miso soup.  As I reported
 earlier, their salad dressing is outstanding.  It is another ginger/lemon
 mixture that has been perfected here.  Their miso soup is very nice,
 although I haven't been able to taste a big variance in miso soup from
 restaurant to restaurant.  I can say that I haven't had better miso soup
 anywhere.  What is really nice about Kotobuki is that our family of 4 has
 always received FOUR miso soups and FOUR salads, even if the two children
 are sharing a meal and dad is having a large number of ala carte sushi
 selections instead of an official "main course" selection.  If you follow
 the letter of the law, we should only receive TWO of each.  This is a
 nice touch, and it is smart for them to do this: our total bill is
 usually substantial thanks to our inability to resist a large number of
 appetizers, and it is smart of them to treat us like others with similar
 bills after ordering four official "main course" selections.

 Let's turn to the main courses.  We have become hooked on our favorites:
 tempura ($11.95 with shimp, $9.95 vegetable only), nabeyaki udon ($9.95),
 yakiniku ($14.95), and sukiyaki ($13.95).  All are superb and cannot be
 beaten anywhere.  We also loved the Yose Nabe (Japanese boullabaise).
 Already mentioned were two items that were merely good (chicken teriyaki,
 $11.95, and steak karasiyaki, $14.95).  The chicken teriyaki was typical
 of a good restaurant, and the steak karasiyaki has an interesting but
 definitely non-addictive mustard sauce.  The four addictive dishes can be
 compared to their counterparts anywhere.  The tempura and nabeyaki udon
 are related dishes, both containing shrimp tempura (lightly battered and
 fried shrimp).  It's hard to choose between these dishes.  With the
 regular tempura dish you miss the great noodles, and with the udon you
 miss the perfect dipping sauce and vegetable tempura.  It's amazing how
 the shrimp tempura in the udon retains a perfect texture even as it sits
 in the noodle soup broth.  If you order the tempura main course, don't
 forget to ask for the mild horseradish dollop you can use to give the
 tempura sauce a little, very subtle, zing.  The yakiniku is a plate
 filled with thinly sliced prime rib and great sauce.  Don't miss this one
 if you are hooked on the negi-maki and asparagus beef maki appetizers.  I
 am told that the sukiyaki is a bit unusual, and has a delightful light
 flavorful sauce that almost seems like a broth.  There are many great
 ingredients in the sukiyaki.  We had this dish three times, and asked for
 the traditional raw egg twice.  Our request was granted by the owner's
 daughter the first time, but the second time a different (new) server
 seemed to be unable to do so, saying that they didn't have any.  We
 speculated that it is probably not recommended by the health department
 to serve customers a raw egg, and the first server knew me well enough to
 grant the request.

 Speaking of raw food, the next major category is the sushi and sashimi
 items.  I most often order their california rolls, rainbow rolls,
 octopus, crab, and tamago.  I discovered that I prefer sushi (with rice)
 to sashimi (without rice), because the rice seems better at capturing the
 soy sauce/wasabe mixture and thus contributes more intense flavor.  They
 are extremely generous with the wasabe (the green, potent horseradish
 paste that you mix with soy sauce for dipping each piece of sushi) and
 with their pickled ginger slices.  Their rainbow rolls, now downsized a
 bit because they had previously been a bit expensive and difficult to fit
 into your mouth, will give you a colorful and tasty introduction to raw
 sushi.  The rainbow roll includes some salmon, tuna and other fish
 varieties.  Actually, all of the other selections I order are not raw.
 For those who are nervous about ordering raw fish but would like to try
 sushi, a California roll is highly recommended.  From coast to coast, a
 California roll includes some rice wrapped in a thin slice of seaweed,
 surrounding a slice of avacado and steamed crab.  Colorful and tasty,
 it's still one of my favorites here.  Ask for help your first time mixing
 the soy and wasabe, and you'll be hooked too.

 A special note needs to be made about their octopus, another steamed
 sushi.  Everyone I know agrees that their octopus is easily the best
 anywhere.  Their octopus is fresh, tender yet firm, and very tasty.  With
 its perfect texture, their octopus is not to be missed.

 After my previous review telling of small portions, the sizes of most
 sushi items seem to have increased without any price increases (once
 again, the power of the Internet speaks for itself!).  Actually, I really
 enjoyed the previous version of the rainbow roll ($11.50) for its color,
 and it offered a really huge quantity at only a few dollars more.  One of
 the owners said that it can still be ordered in the "old" version.
 However, because the pieces were too big to fit into most normal mouths,
 I always order the new version.  There is plenty even in its smaller
 size.

 The last major category is dessert.  We are hooked on three of their ice
 creams: ginger, red bean, and plum wine.  All are excellent.  My favorite
 is ginger (very smooth), one of my daughters prefers red bean (with
 little smooth beans), and the other prefers plum wine (with some small
 fruit chunks).  There is also a green tea ice cream, but it has the same
 problem we have with their green (hot) tea drink: a bitter flavor.
 Actually, it is interesting that they have both my most favorite tea
 (their ginger tea) and my least favorite (their green tea).

 What prevents us from eating at Kotobuki on a weekly or more frequent
 basis?  The cost.  As I mentioned above, we usually cannot prevent
 ourselves from ordering 2 appetizers ($10), 2 main courses ($25), 3
 ginger teas ($4.50), a bunch of sushi ($15), and a few ice creams ($4).
 We spend around $60 each time we visit, and leave extremely full.  We
 have no control.  No control indeed.

 When Kotobuki first opened, we had to drag our 5-year old and 12-year old
 there.  They wanted no part of a new restaurant.  Now they have become
 passionate fans.  My 5-year old was actually in tears once when I said
 that we had to go somewhere else because Kotobuki was closed (it was
 Sunday).  She is hooked on the asparagus beef maki (with asparagus
 removed), tempura (she will eat all 4 shrimps if we let her), tamago, and
 red bean ice cream.  My 12-year old is hooked on those, and also on
 ginger tea and California rolls.  When my 12-year old was injured on her
 bike and could only drink foods that were mixed in a blender, nearly
 every day she had take-out servings of miso soup and ginger tea.  Her
 first priority after waiting 6 weeks for her jaw wires to be removed: to
 visit Kotobuki.

 As I said in April, I waited 10 years for a Japanese restaurant in the
 North Hills, and this one was well worth it!  Bravo!  The ownership
 obviously values quality above all else.  Come one, come all.  Keep this
 place in business so that we can continue to make our short trips there
 and feed our addictions.

 DG

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 Dennis F. Galletta                     Associate Prof. of Business Admin.
 Katz Graduate School of Business,                University of Pittsburgh
 Pittsburgh, PA  15260        phone: 412-648-1699        fax: 412-648-1693
 Internet: [email removed]                  AT&T Mail: !galletta
 Uniform Resource Locator:   http://www.pitt.edu/~galletta
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