So, there we were in north-east Illinois on the second weekend of August in preparation to attend the second-helping of the Woodstock Mozart Festival. (Editor’s note: This is a MUST ATTEND for all Chamber Music aficionados out there.) With the pangs of hunger gnawing at our innards, we ventured to the Crystal Lake Region of Illinois to try out Kyoto Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. Sheb had had a hankering for Asian food for quite a few weeks and this place seemed like a safe place to sate those needs.The décor was standard Japanese Steakhouse and nothing to get too excited about. The faux Japanese artwork, hibachi tables and shoji screens were in abundance but we hadn’t come to appreciate the furniture. Tonight it was about the food… so bring it on!
Round 1 –The Sake Martini: This one was a bit of a disappointment. Well, it actually was a bit more than ‘a bit’. When you order a sake martini you kind of expect sake to be the predominant tone but not in this case. Even on their second attempt, the sake was only a fleeting memory.
Round 2 –House Salad with Creamy Ginger Dressing: We were very glad that this was included in the cost of our main course because if we had been forced to pay for this we both would have been irate. Now in vegetal matters I tend to be more gracious than Sheb, but this salad was not good at all. The lettuce was wilted and flecked with brown age-spots that the chef had hoped to hide under a soupy abundance of cloy ginger dressing. So as my wife so aptly put it, “Ick!”
Round 3 –Sushi Appetizer Plate and Harumaki Plate: I refuse to go to a sushi house and not order sushi, even if it is just for an appetizer. Sheb on the other hand can refuse sushi 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Faced with this conundrum we each ordered our own appetizer, with Sheb going for the Haru-maki (Japanese Spring roll) and I venturing into Sushiville. Sheb was happy with her order and found the dish to be light, fresh and a good opening course. For her, it was the first ‘thumbs up’ of the day.
I found my choice as ‘just acceptable’. Why? Well one of the fine points of sushi is the artistry of the dish and in my view this was lacking. It appeared that the items were just piled on the plate… no flair, no eye for the dramatic. It was just raw fish and rice.
Round 4 –Miso Soup: Since it was not Miso Soup, I guess that this one doesn’t qualify for a grade in the Miso Soup course. Instead we were given an anemic version of Chinese Egg Drop Soup, which we both found tasty… however what that had to do with a Japanese restaurant still has us baffled.
Round 5 (Her) – Hibachi Chicken Teriyaki: Sheb thoroughly enjoyed the dish, while I thought the chicken was a bit dry… no doubt a function of the excessive cook-time that she had requested of our chef. Moresthepity, but it was her meal and she can have it any way she likes.
Round 5 (Him) –Hibachi Steak and White Tuna: I was disappointed that this was done with a ‘white’ Albacore tuna rather than a ‘red’ Yellow fin tuna. The subtle flavor of yellow fin would have complemented the steak portion of the dish better but alas, it was not offered, and while the steak was cooked to perfection I did find the dish in it’s entirety to be ‘only average’.
Honorable Mention: Bar none, the brightest spot of the evening was our chef… a Masaharu Morimoto look-alike who was also quite the comedian. We have seen the ‘standard show’ at Japanese steakhouses many times in our travels so the ‘initial flame-on, onion volcano and smoking choo-choos’ don’t hold our attention as much as they once did. Our chef, on the other hand, seemed to sense this and pulled out all the stops to make the dinner preparation the centerpiece of our evening. From his amalgamation of Spanish and Japanese to his self deprecation to his bumbling antics, he managed to salvage a mediocre evening and bump it up to ‘enjoyable status’. Thank you sir for a great show!
As for the restaurant as a whole… well, I am going to have to give this one a ‘Thumbs Down’. The food wasn’t special, the décor was cliché and I have to ask myself, “Is a Benihana-look-alike really the best we could have done?”
- Chez
