Benihana: The Birthday Tradition continues.

(Because I met people a promised I would)

            It has finally come to an end. Birthday season for the school year is finally over. Not to say I don’t enjoy them, I do. However, birthday’s kind of bleed you dry throughout the year. Well, it was Rocky Roads’ Birthday and as a time honored tradition amongst our refrigerator cooler of friends, we go to Benihana’s for some relatively authentic food. But let’s be honest, it’s a show and the performance is just better when you’ve had some sake.

            So here we are, another year later, celebrating a friend’s birthday, deciding what rolls to get, who sits where, and having to share a hibachi grill with some other cooler of ice cream that we do not know. Awkward. Enter server, who has her parts memorized and over rehearsed. Very lack luster and without emotion. “Anyone celebrating a birthday?”, she says non-chalantley. Both Ashley and a person of the other group hide in a brief moment of shame, and excitement, or perhaps anticipation and embarrassment as their friends make a large hoopla of their birthdays.

Charles Buckel, the middle man separating our two groups, R&D Manager for The Sherwin-Williams Company based out of Ohio, knew just how to break the ice. Passing the porcelain, off white half egg shell of sake to Ashley, who really just wanted her wine, had to decline thus transferring the liability to Rasha. Charles, host to a business dinner, seemed a bit tense and drained of energy, However, I must stress just how hard he was working to keep his energy level up in order to keep everyone on a night high as it was reaching 9:30 pm.

In all honesty, it’s not that the food was bad, but after you’ve seen the same exact routine, which is performed at so many play houses, I mean restaurants, across the country, it turns into your favorite movie. A once a year type thing. I had the Chicken Yakisoba noodles and a tangerine margarita. Of course, by the time you’ve had some sushi, the shrimp, a bowl of rice, and about 7 glasses of water to keep you sober so you can drive, you really are not very hungry by the time you reach Act III. Although, in case you were wondering, this entry really has nothing to do with the food. I really enjoyed my food but don’t have much to say other than it is just a source of sustenance.  I would much rather find a dirty hole in the wall owned by two Asian-American immigrants who have built their life around a restaurant rather than a company owned dinner theater.

SIDE NOTE: I am in no way a racist, however, our cook was Hispanic.

At any rate, we enjoyed our meal but talking with Charles was my highlight of the evening. Actually, his whole party was from Ohio and being someone from Michigan who lived 15 minutes, and having family in Ohio, gave us great conversation. Of course, we exchange our places of origin. I don’t really expect anyone to know my hometown as it is only 1 square mile, home to 1,000 people.  Low and behold, they knew right where I was from, and some have ate and drank at Ray’s Tavern, voted best burger in the United States by USA Today; an accomplishment almost as old as Ray’s itself but still true none the less in my eyes.

Now, dining with a group of business adults was a little uncomfortable for me as we really wanted to let loose, joke and drink, but it must have been just as hard for them to sit with some college students who are obviously trying to condone ourselves in a civilized manner as they were there on business. A play within a play if you will. Me, having a huge ass canon T3i switching lenses all night trying to get some really cool shots of food being cooked, I’m sure, was also moderately a distraction. Charles being the liaison for his party to ours, inquired about said camera. It was very exciting to tell them about my food blog, even if it is just starting out but by the end of the night, we exchanged information and I gained some new followers.

I think one of the best parts of the evening was when we left, and we gossiped about them. Truly, nothing nasty was said and we talked about how fun it was to sit with a bunch of business professionals and feel like equals by the end of the night. Good food, something to bitch about, something to relate on, and alcohol to spark a conversation. That’s what Benihana’s is about. That is the formula for great conversation.