Children and Chopsticks

     For a fun and entertaining family dinner, we love Japanese Steakhouses. The chefs prepare a teppanyaki (Japanese stir fry) dinner on a hibachi right before your eyes, set flame to onion volcanoes or steam trains, juggle knives, and throw shrimp into the mouths of coordinated dining guests (Ron catches them about 75% of the time, I have a success rate of about 5%). If you’re not a teriyaki fan, each of these restaurants also offer delicious sushi. Dinner typically includes miso soup, teppanyaki, sushi (optional), salad, and a small dessert (often sherbet).

    My girls (ages two and four) love it as well; after all, it’s the one time throwing food is not only allowed, but encouraged at dinner time! The chefs are very entertaining and typically love having children in the audience. Plus, the girls enjoy the novelty of using chopsticks too! Many restaurants specially prepare children’s chopsticks making them easier to use. If they don’t come wrapped and rubber banded for kids, you can do it yourself.

Preparing Chopsticks for Children (and new learners):

1. Take 2 chopsticks and lay them side by side. Fasten the ends together (not the tips used for grasping the food) with a rubber band about ½" from the end. The chop sticks should be lying together nicely.

2. Take a piece of paper and you fold it up into a fat rectangle. Push the paper rectangle between the two chopsticks down to the rubber band, forming a spring and the points are now apart.

3. Squeeze your fingers to get the points to come together.

Where to Eat:

The menus are virtually identical from one Japanese Steakhouse to another, but the atmosphere is unique with each one.

    Go Jo Japanese Steakhouse (4163 Broadway Street Kansas City, MO 64111-2619, (816) 561-2501) is one of our favorite restaurants after a night at the Nelson or Plaza. What sets Go Jo’s apart from other local Japanese Steakhouses is the atmosphere. It has been described by some as a restaurant reminiscent of a “back alley in Japan” from the wooden bridge over the small waterfall leading to the dining room to the low ceilings and dim lighting.

     Nikko (10800 Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, KS‎ - (913) 451-8000‎) is located in the Marriott Hotel of Overland Park. It is fairly stark, but the food and service are good. Tip: Find coupons on their website and in the Entertainment Book.

    Shogun, near Oak Park Mall (12028 West 95th Street Lenexa, KS‎(913) 438-3888), offers sushi tables (sitting on the floor) or hibachi seating and it is very family-friendly.

   You won’t forget dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse. While I love trying recipes and cooking ethnic dishes, having even prepared sushi at home, we have not installed a hibachi! This is an experience you can’t replicate in your own kitchen. And, with all the flames, knife tricks, and shrimp throwing… laughing and clapping preschoolers are welcome!

    What are your favorite restaurants in Kansas City?