Sep 01 2008
Explore Asia with Kane/Miller and a family meal at Benihana’s
Children’s book publisher, Kane/Miller recently released four World Box Sets:
At $35-36, these boxed sets are half of the retail price of buying the books separately. They of limited quantity, so you may want to purchase one or all of them now and dole out the books over the course of the year, or save these for Christmas and birthday gifts.
After a trip to our local Benihana’s, courtesy of a gift card from Pierson Grant Public Relations, I’m especially intrigued with the Asia box set
From India: Kali And the Rat Snake- From Japan: The Story of Cherry the Pig
(previously reviewed here)
- From South Korea: While We Were Out
- From Japan: Singing Shijimi Clams
I think it would be fun to go on a trip to an ethnic restaurant while you reading through the box set. There’s nothing like experiencing the cuisine of other countries to teach your children about other cultures. It makes them adventurous diners, too.
Benihana’s restaurant review – a special family night on the town
We didn’t having any clams, singing or not, at Benihana’s. But we did have a terrific meal. For those of you not familiar with the restaurant, it features “hibachi-style” Japanese cooking where you sit around a large cooking area with other people. (Hibachi is an American term for “teppan-yaki.”)
When I was in high school, Benihana’s was the place to go with your prom date, so I was surprised to see many families with very young children dining there especially since the food is a pricey. Even so, Benihana’s is very family friendly and actually fairly affordable if you plan well and don’t get extras like smoothies for the kids and appetizers for the adults, both of which the servers will push.
Nathan and Lucie both had the Hibachi Steak Jr. ($10), which came with salad, soup, a large portion of cooked vegetables (onions and zucchini), steamed rice, and ice cream. (Green tea, vanilla or chocolate. Nathan went for the green tea – delicious!) The portions were very generous – in fact there was enough food for four children. 
Paul and I both had seafood dishes. He had the Seafood Diablo ($21), a very spicy dish, and I had the Calamari ($18). The kids thought it was funny that I was eating Squidward from Spongebob. Both of our dishes came with salad, soup, vegetables, and steamed rice, too, but no ice cream. (Boo!) While the meals are basically healthy, they use a generous scoop of butter – what our chef called “Japanese peanut butter” – on the veggies, seafood, and fried rice during cooking. No wonder they taste so good!
Between our meals and snacking on the kids’ leftovers, there was more than enough food for all of us. In fact, I was painfully overstuffed. Also, if we hadn’t ordered extras like drinks, a rainbow roll, and fried rice, the bill would have been around $60 instead of double that.
Now granted, $60 is still a lot for a family of four, but for special 
occasions it’s worth it – not only for the food but for the entertainment. The chefs tell silly jokes, flip knives and salt shakers in the air, turn a stack of onions into a “volcano,” and toss vegetables into their toques. It’s fun and keeps the children entertained and occupied. Besides the food, it’s the table side show makes Benihana’s popular with families, I’m sure.
Our local Benihana’s also features a sushi bar and two of the most impressively large – and gorgeous – salt water fish tanks. If the chefs couldn’t keep the kids occupied, a trip to the tanks to see “Nemo” and “Mrs. Puff” would have worked, too.
Go to the Benihana’s website to find out their locations closest to you.
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