Oct 3: From 2002 to 2004, I was a full time MBA student at UC Irvine. While there, I was lucky enough to be stuck with the best study group ever. Group 3F was made up of Chris Yount, Ken Lu, Anil Suren, Joe (Behdad) Rad, and me. Two white guys, an Asian, a Persian, and a Turk. It may sound like a joke, but it was the best group of guys ever. Plus, they all have great spouses and it is a great company. We continue to be very good friends and continue to try to get together frequently. However, since Chris moved to Reno and Anil back to Turkey, our number were a bit small so we recruited our good friend Jenn Wolfe to be an honorary 3F-er. We now try to get together every month of two to each some chow and catch up.For this particular month, we finally got to a restaurant we have been talking about over a year - Benihana. I had never been, but heard about it for years. I was excited to see what is was all like, eat some great grub, and be with my pals.
The evening did not disappoint. Unfortunately, Jenn could not joins us, so it was Joe, Hoonoosh, Ken, Katherine, Julie and myself. It was very strange, though, that the girls all wanted to sit with each other. While the guys were offended, we did enjoy being together. :) The table seated eight, so a quiet Persian couple joined us. Ken and I found it very funny that after dinner and our quiet couple left quickly while only saying goodbye to Joe.
In this fine Japanese restaurant, our chef Juan took good care of us. Juan started us off with some shrimp appetizers then made this huge pile of fried rice. Then followed the veggies and that impressive onion volcano. Throughout the meal, Juan was tossing food around, cracking jokes, and showing some skills with large knives. The meats were the last items on the grill. Between all of us there was shrimp, lobster, scallops, chicken, and about 3 different cuts of steak. It was beautiful to see all that meat cooking. I guess it appealed to meat and fire instincts. The food was excellent and company even better.
In all, Benihana lived up to my expectations. I was stuffed as I left and had a great time. A great meal with friends - not many better things.
