Ok. I know I should be going to Art Prize. But there's a NEW Wild Chef restaurant on Alpine, and I couldn't help but explore it on my way home from buying dog food at Pet Supplies Plus. Not to mention, the sign said, "Happy Hour! Hibachi for 2- $19.95. 3-6pm." That's a serious deal!!!! Being half Dutch, I squealed around and pulled in (even though I am 1).
I sat at the "sushi" bar. The bartender, Russel, was also the manager. I asked him how many "Wild Chef"s there were, and he replied, "Four."
"Where?," I asked.
"Here."
We both burst out laughing as we recognized the misunderstanding. There is one other location, in Holland. (Turns out he went to Hope College, but is from Ann Arbor, and just moved to GR with his fiance). That explains the worthwhile conversation. I learned a few things that I was wondering about.
1. The price of fish has gone up! This affects our sushi prices. Why did it go up? He wasn't sure. I shall investigate further, later, but I suspect the Gulf may have something to do with it. Although he mentioned tuna and salmon, specifically.
2. Hibachi chefs are like mercenaries. They all claim they are from New York. They start out learning how to cook the food in the kitchen, specific to that restaurant. They also practice "back stage" for their debut. They generally suck, and get fired within a month. Then they move on to another restaurant. Lather, rinse, repeat. (Hint: Judge your Hibachi chef by their egg talent).
Ok, so the review. The martini was LARGE and delicious. The seaweed salad was a Japanese delicacy served in an American portion- ridiculously HUGE. I love seaweed, and could have split the salad with like 5 people. The hamachi (yellowtail) sushi was pretty delicious. The salmon (crap- I forgot the Japanese word) was eh, ok. They put salmon roe on top, which was a step above and beyond as far as garnish, but I hate salmon roe. The pieces were of good size. The sushi chef gave me a spicy crab salad on the house, just trying to win over new customers, I suspect. Very nice. I ordered hibachi rice-- to go. I tried it when I got home. It was pretty flavorless compared to the Kalamazoo hibachi restaurants I frequented, such as Kumo and Sakura. Definitely second rate. Overall, the presentation and service went above and beyond. Quite enjoyable and impressive. The food was...mmm, not bad. I want to jump up and dance about it, but really, can only say it was so-so. Still, I am very happy for a Japanese restaurant on this side of town.
SAKE!
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