Our chef, Herry, cooks up some steak and veggies at Kirin House Hibachi Steak & Sushi.
OK, so the other night I had the kids for dinner. It was a Friday night—not usually my night for them—but given the chance, I jumped. When I picked them up, they had a friend in tow, who was having a birthday party the next day but the girl couldn’t make it and wanted to treat her friend to a birthday dinner. She had everything planned out, she said. All I had to was to drive them there and to pick up the check.
“Oh, alright,” I said. “Just where are we going?”
“Kirin House!” the three of the said in unison, with vigor.
I had never been to Kirin House, a Japanese Hibachi, steak and sushi place, but the kids had. Several times. My two kids have been there enough times to know exactly what they were going to order when they sat down at the cook-top table. Their friend Bre, also a Kirin House vet, was ready to order, too. I, on the other hand, was caught off guard and needed a couple of minutes to catch up.
But really, who am I kidding. Given the opportunity to have sushi, I’m going to, and the first item I marked down on the menu was the spicy tuna roll ($5.95). I will invariably go for some spicy tuna (as can be seen here, here and here)—looking for the best around—and whatever else catches my fancy. Tonight, I decided I would also try their spider roll (soft shell crab tempura, crab stick, cucumber and masago, $8.50). I also marked down some two-piece nigiri sushi of maguro (tuna, $4.50), hamachi (yellowtail $4.95) and unagi (barbecue eel, $4.50).
So, while I was figuring out what I wanted, the waitress came around and the kids shouted out their hibachi requests:
“I want the sirloin steak!” said the boy.
“I’ll have the filet mignon!” chirped up the girl.
“May I please have the shrimp?” asked Bre.
While I was trying to calculate what this little birthday dinner was going to cost, the waitress showed me that there was a children’s menu for kids 10 and younger. Having just made it under the wire (the kids will be 11 in July), I saw that the prices for my kids’ high-end palates was between $7.50 and $8.95, as opposed to the adult prices of $14.95 to $21.95 (the filet).
Conversing about school, homework, scouts, the upcoming birthday party and other serious and weighty topics carried us through soup and salad (which had a very nice ginger dressing) until our chef, Herry, appeared with a cart full of ingredients. If you have never been to a hibachi restaurant, it is where the chef, wielding knife and spatula in practiced and precise arcs, prepares the meals on the cook-top table.
He starts with a few tricks with a raw egg, which he flips up into the air and catches it first on the back of the spatula and then in his tunic pocket before breaking it to make fried rice. Next come the veggies and meat and seafood. An occasional burst of flame can be expected, so it’s wise to keep hands back from the cook-top.
In just minutes, Herry had produced three plates and the kids dug in as I was served two platters of sushi.
 Barbecued eel, yellowtail and tuna nigiri sushi at Kirin House. |
 Spicy tuna roll and spider roll. |
And it’s not just my kids who like Kirin House, evidently, as there were children of various ages at each of the tables, oohing and aahing as the flames erupted from onion-ring volcanoes.
Now, just as I was about to dig in, the boy—who is about as conservative an eater as there is—says he likes sushi and wants to try some of mine. Shocked, I agreed to let him have a try. He grabbed pieces of the tuna and yellowtail, dipped it in the soy-wasabi mixture I had just prepared, and scarfed them down.
“Yum!” he said as he turned his attention back to his plate.
“Would you like any more?” I asked.
The kids and their friend Bre celebrate a birthday.
“No thank you. I don’t like the other stuff you have,” turning his nose up at the rolls and the eel.
Fine. I like rolls. And I liked the spicy tuna roll especially, as the fish was chopped fine, but not too fine, and the spicy sauce was enough to provide a little kick but not enough to be uncomfortably hot. The spider roll was also top-notch, as was the tuna, yellowtail and the eel. Because I could, I made them each try the eel. They made the appropriate faces and went back to their meals.
With dinner over, Bre was served a dish of birthday ice cream and we were done. I’d have to say the kids have good taste in sushi places, even if their taste in sushi itself is underdeveloped.
Kirin House Japanese Hibachi, Steak & Sushi
1064 Old Peachtree Rd NW
Lawrenceville, Ga. 30043
770.995.5885
Post by and photos credited to Gregory Watkins.