Eric Courtney

I’m through putting off dinner and lunch dates because I truly think I’m missing out on the best life has to offer. I always think the status quo will be available by the time I get around to joining friends to do something.

NOT THE CASE!

I have friends I have promised to go to lunch with for years. Chelle, Renee, Janna, Ildi, Lisa, Michael, Lee, Cat, Bonnie, Jane, Tina, and whomever else I have delayed enjoying a meal with in order to slow down a bit, and get to know each other a bit more on a personal level.

Last night I went to Benihana with Rhonda. Anyone who knows Rhonda, knows that Benihana is like the claim that every gold prospector in Alaska knows is going to yield the motherload! Knowing what Rhonda knows means the meal is going to be worth the cost of the check. No regrets. I disagree.

The food is good, yes, but I tend to look forward to the entertainment that comes along with the experience. You’re sitting at the grill, where your meal is being prepared, for crying out loud! Anyone who has experienced the Benihana environment knows that you can expect a lot of noise, tongue-in-cheek humor, and some serious “cutlery acrobatics!”

So Rhonda and I show up a little later in the evening, and we immediately get seated behind a grill. We wait a wee bit longer than normal because the restaurant expects a steady flow of cliental throughout each evening they’re open. With this philosophy in mind, each seat around the grill typically gets filled. It’s ok because Rhonda orders a Tempura appetizer, and we enjoy our drinks and starter food, with a little small-talk, before the real magic is about to begin. A few minutes go by, but no new customers.

Enter the Chef!

Everyone who knows me, knows that I am not prejudice in any way, and I will not tolerate stereotyping in any way. Rhonda? Janna? Care to dispute this fact? I think not!

That said, the chef comes to our grill and introduces himself, “Hi I’m Jose!” As Rhonda and I don’t pay too much attention to the fact that our chef is obviously not Japanese, or Asian for that matter… I look over at the table next to us to a party that is celebrating a birthday party. The party is one group, and they are babysitting a very old man in a wheelchair who has no idea where the hell he is. I wondered if it was actually his birthday because he was wearing a cone-shaped hat, along with the rest of his party surrounding the table, and resting his head against the wall. Their party was still waiting for a chef.

Jose started off with the typical routine at our table, while Rhonda informed him not to leave the fat on her steak. I thought to myself… This is great! We have the whole table to ourselves; nobody else to spoil our experience! Apparently there’s a policy.

As our shrimp and rice hit the grill, I look over to the birthday party next to us. Chef Hiro has arrived. He bows his head and introduces himself. Hiro starts banging his salt and pepper shakers around, flipping tongs and spatulas, catching flys with chopsticks, all the while a small pleasing applause roars from the party’s appreciation, and then I look at Jose. Jose rolls an egg down the backside of a spatula and jokingly refers to it as a “Benihana Egg Roll.” Nice… Rhonda, in an excited fashion, says… “Wait for the volcano! (onion rings stacked on top one another with smoke spewing out through the top.)” Sure that was cool. But then I looked at Chef Hiro.

With the noise coming from the table next us, it would seem that Chef Hiro busted out a Samurai sword, carved up everyone’s meal, in mid air, and with no miraculous effort, every meal ordered landed on the appropriate plate of the appropriate consumer. Cheers raged as the old man snored.

Jose, God bless him, did his best not to drop the utensils he was trying to throw around, but it was obvious he was a rookie. He made the “volcano” and Rhonda was impressed, but then I looked at the table next us, and Chef Hiro lit the faces of all the hungry customers in front of him on fire without burning them. A raging applause ensued!

Chef Hiro then busted out a pair of nunchucks, did the Bruce Lee thing, and cleaned all the biological waste from the shrimp on the table without dulling a knife. The patrons roared with appreciation.

Jose thanked Rhonda and I for letting him serve us, and we thanked him, and we ate the food he prepared for us. He then left as Rhonda and I continued to consume our meal and watch the show next to us.

We watched the remainder of Chef Hiro’s entertaining performance, while enjoying our cuisine, and just when we couldn’t believe our eyes, Chef Hiro pulled out a short-blade and committed Hari Kari!!! The party screamed “ENCORE!!!!” The old man opened his eyes long enough to roll them and went back to sleep.

Of course this is a slight fabrication of what actually happened last night. Slight fabrication. But I couldn’t help feeling a slight loss of satisfaction when our bill came. Although Rhonda and I were happy leaving the place with full bellies and a small sense of satisfaction, I couldn’t help but think of what our experience had been like had we ordered taco salads with Carnitas, beans, chorizo and Flan!!!!

So it is obvious I am missing out on the ultimate meal experience by delaying the dates of potential lunch or dinner dates I have promised in the past. I now vow not to delay planned dates from here on out! Please forgive me, if you are a victim of me saying, “Sorry! I’m too busy to go right now!”

Know what could have been.

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