Kobe Steakhouse

Its a family tradition of ours to celebrate with just the four of us on our actual birthdays. This year, we decided to try the Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for Carl's birthday on Monday night. It was an overwhelming success. Not only did both boys eat a ton of good food, but they had so much fun Ryan wants to go back tonight for dinner. And Alex is already planning a trip to Japan for us so we can eat like this all the time. He is so my son. I love having a little travel buddy!

It started off with some miso soup for all, little boys included. They didn't care for the miso soup, but they did try it. Alex even tried it a few times, before he decided that it tasted good in his mouth, but not so much in his stomach.

Next came an appetizer we ordered, gyoza (commonly known as potstickers to those of us who mainly frequent chinese restaurants), and finally a salad.

Then the show started. "Teppan'yaki" is a style of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food wile a skilled chef performs a show for the diners. We were at a table of eight, and they do put you with people you don't know. Quite European. (And it may be an Asian thing, too, but since I haven't been fortunate enough to travel across the Pacific yet, I wouldn't know.)

Our chef began by banging a gong and performing all sorts of cool knife tricks. Team Danger was a bit turned off by the loud noise at first, but the knife throwing quickly won them over and they uncovered their ears.

What could be better than playing with knives during dinner?

FIRE!!

Our chef making some stir fry rice. The boys adored watching some pieces of rice POP! up off the grill.

Alex was so proud of himself: he and Danger Daddy were the only two people at our table who managed to catch some bits of fried egg in their mouths that our chef tossed at us from her spatula. Here he is showing off the egg in his mouth.

Alex's favorite part of the night: the Onion Volcano!!

My favorite part of the night: while our chef was chopping up all the vegetables and adding sauces and seasonings and stirring things, Ryan was siting next to me emulating her every move with his hands. It was hysterical. She would stir, he would move his hands in a circular motion. She would toss the veggies up in the air, he would make a motion with his hand as if he were tossing them. Every thing she did, he did. For the first time, I was really sorry I didn't have the iPhone 4 just so I could record his actions, and not just try and take pictures. Everyone else at the table was highly amused with my little chef, too.

The salmon and terriyaki chicken being cooked. Our steaks came later.

Alex and Ryan adored their Terriyaki Chicken and their rice. I wasn't sure if they would eat the chicken after they saw how much was being added to it - they are generally pretty bland eaters who don't care much for sauces. But they both loved it, and ate way, way more than I thought they would.

As an added bonus, kids eat free on Monday nights!!

We had so much fun, and I give a full five stars to Kobe. In fact, I rate this as one of my five favorite meals of all time. Definitely my favorite one with children in tow. ;)