Our Teppanyaki chef Michell Garcia rolled a cart past the side of the large top of the Teppanyaki bar with an amazing selection of vegetables and spices.  We had been asked in advance what meats we liked or didn’t like and if we had any vegetable or peanut allergies.  After lighting the grill, the Chef was waiting for it to heat up and check with a little butter spread across the grill, while he also showed his skills with the tools of the trade – flipper and fork – tapping and throwing.  He also used an explosive fire fueled with alcohol to warm the grill.  I noticed a pot on the corner of the grill and the chef added rice noodles to two bowls on the side of the grill, while it was heating.

As the grill got to his desired temperature it became clear that the first course was shrimp.  He placed the four shrimp on the grill and seared them with a huge flame with some alcohol.  Spices were added to the shrimp and they were turned until they were cooked to perfection.  Our server, Joe, took the plates from the Chef and served each of us.  The shrimp with a small piece of red pepper were delicious.

As we were eating this first course, the chef was cooking some salmon on the grill.  He also moved the two bowls to the front grill near us and added the broth from the pot with a ladle to the rice noodles.  He then cut the salmon and added the pieces to each of the bowls of soup.  This was our second course.  Another hit.

While we were eating the second course, the chef added vegetables – carrots and zucchini – that had been chopped into small cubes and cooked them on the grill.  He then spun an egg on his flipper and on the grill, cracked it and carefully scrambled it.  After cooking it was also chopped up and pushed to the side with the cooked vegetables.  The next step was adding a large amount of white rice to the grill.  He broke up the mound of rice and moved it around to fry it a little too.  After adding the vegetables and eggs and then some soy sauce, he formed it into a heart and used his flipper to make it look like it was beating.  Two more bowls were filled with this fried rice – our third course.  Beth absolutely loved it.  I tried to control myself as I am not supposed to be eating a lot of carbohydrates on my current diet.  About half of it was left to take home for Beth for another meal as she had finished her whole bowl.

In between courses the chef put out a small bowl of grilled garlic chips.  I could eat them as a snack all night!

While eating the rice – me with chopsticks and Beth with a fork – two big pieces of filet were brought to the chef.  Once again he added vegetables to the grill – carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, red pepper – with spices and garlic.  After they were cooked he added a peanut sauce to each of the piles of vegetables.  As the filets were cooking, he plated the vegetables – with all the mushrooms for me and all the broccoli for Beth.  He asked how we like our beef cooked – medium for me and medium well for Beth.  He showed us each before slicing it and placing it on our plates.  There are two things to say about this fourth course – the vegetables with the peanut sauce were absolutely incredible and the meat was cooked perfectly.  But the portion was so large that we both ended up taking half of it home for our lunch the next day.  Not to complain, however!  I just finished having my lunch before finishing this story.

During our meal, Jose came by to pour me more of the Don Leo Sauvignon Blanc, which went well with all courses.  I am allergic to reds so I couldn’t enjoy them. the right pairing with the beef but it went well with the vegetables with a touch of peanut sauce.