Japanese restaurants Archives

Typhoon of Tokyo

March 8, 2017

Typhoon of Tokyo is a popular quick-service Hibachi restaurant that’s been around in Red Bank, Tennessee for years. They’re known for their white sauce!

When Philip and I were first dating, he lived in an apartment off of Mountain Creek Road in Red Bank. When I revealed to him that I had never seen the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, he was pretty much beside himself and insisted that we plan a date night in which we would get dinner from Typhoon of Tokyo, a restaurant of which I had never heard, and watch the movie, which, of course, he owned. Naturally, I loved both immediately! Once we got married, we actually lived in that same apartment complex for the first year. I miss three things about apartment living: 1) no yardwork; 2) weekly trash pick-up that consisted of putting the trash outside the door of the apartment; 3) close proximity to Typhoon of Tokyo.

Sadly, for many years we rarely got to go there because they were a cash-only establishment, but a few years back they rocketed into the 20th century (not the 21st century, because everyone else was taking cards in the nineties) and were finally accepting credit and debit cards. Now we can go there whenever we want! Of course, now we have lots of other places to go, so we don’t get to go there super-often, but Typhoon of Tokyo is one of those places that I get a craving for on a pretty regular basis. I wrote about it very early in my blogging days (July 2011, to be exact) so I thought I’d update with some nicer pictures.

Typhoon closes briefly after the lunch rush, at 2:30 each afternoon, and reopens for dinner at 4 p.m. We went for a very early dinner at about 4:15 on a Saturday. It was early enough that there were not a lot of people, but it definitely wasn’t dead. Several tables were occupied and several people came in to pick up take-out orders while we were there.

When you walk in to Typhoon, there is a seating area the size of your average fast-food restaurant (the building used to be a Bojangle’s) and you walk up to the counter to order. Once you have paid, the server (usually there is only one server, and somehow they manage to keep up with it all!) brings you your drink, a bowl of very simple chicken broth based soup, and a small bowl (or two if it’s dinner time) of white sauce for dipping your food. Their sauce is the best I’ve ever had, though mine is a pretty close second. We also ordered some spring rolls. The soup is maybe a little bit too salty but still delicious. The spring rolls were okay, but not the best I’ve had. They were a little more doughy on the inside than we prefer.

For many years Philip and I both went with the small chicken dinner but on this visit I decided to order the teriyaki chicken, which only comes in one size. It’s a huge portion of fried rice served alongside chunks of dark meat chicken, zucchini, onions, and a little bit of broccoli. They used to serve mushrooms in their vegetable mix but there were none today, so I don’t know if they have stopped serving mushrooms or if perhaps they were just out. The fried rice here is always good and the white sauce makes it even better! I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the regular chicken dinner and the teriyaki chicken. It’s lightly sauced with a slightly sweet soy sauce based glaze, and it’s delicious.

Philip has moved from the chicken dinner to the chicken and steak combo dinner, but on this visit he decided to get just the steak. The steak dinner is basically the same as the chicken dinner – steak and vegetables served alongside fried rice. The steak was very tender and lightly sauced just like my chicken was.

The teriyaki chicken dinner, the steak dinner, and two spring rolls (and two waters) was $15.59 pre-tip. The menu items all fall into this price range (I think the actual price on the small chicken dinner is $6.25) with the larger meals costing a dollar or two more. It’s tasty, quick, and consistent-the chicken dinner is exactly the same now as it was in 1999 when I first started eating there.

Typhoon of Tokyo is a great quick dinner and also a great take-out option. I highly recommend it!

Typhoon of Tokyo is located at 3953 Dayton Blvd., Red Bank (Chattanooga), TN 37415. Their phone number is 423-875-6142. They are open Monday through Friday, 11-2:30 and 4-9 and Saturday from 4-9. You can like Typhoon of Tokyo on Facebook.

Two Ten Jack Chattanooga

June 15, 2016

Two Ten Jack Chattanooga is an izakaya (Japanese gastropub) and ramen house located in downtown Chattanooga’s Warehouse Row.

How many of us can honestly say that we don’t remember teenage or college days slurping 50 cent packets of ramen noodles from cheap plastic bowls, struggling to get the long strands into our mouths – perhaps even twirling them on a fork – then sipping the sodium-laden broth. I cannot count myself into that group. Determined to not ask my parents for grocery money, I probably wouldn’t have survived my college days without ramen, peanut butter, Chex Mix, and over-sweetened coffee.

Though ramen consumption is a rare occasion in my life these days, when Two Ten Jack Chattanooga opened last spring, I felt a rush of excitement. It seems irrational that it took me over a year to dine there. As silly as it is, something inside of me felt like I just wasn’t quite cool enough – I’m certainly no hipster, and it seemed, based on the hype, to be a trendy, hipster-ish sort of place, the sort of place where thirty-something educators who do most of their shopping in the business casual section at Target probably look a little out of place.

But I digress. That was a ridiculous notion. I finally got over it and Philip and I hit Two Ten Jack last week with a friend who was visiting from Nashville (where the original Two Ten Jack is located in trendy East Nashville, though he had never been). I was a little concerned about a crowd during a weeknight dinner time, but needn’t have been. A steady stream of diners came through but it was not packed.

Dimly lit with high-backed booths, Two Ten Jack Chattanooga presents a true dining “experience”. Parts of the dining room are open to the inside of the shopping area, as Two Ten Jack is located in the basement of Warehouse Row in what was formerly the food court – more specifically (and recently), Southern Burger Co. and Crave. Those dining alone or with one other can also choose a seat at the bar, and standing tables are perfect for those who are truly there for a quick drink or meal. Water, chopsticks, appetizer plates, soy sauce, and cloth napkins wait on the tables for you.

Even the menus are an experience, printed and bound into their covers with string. Because we had not dined with them before, our server, Erin, took several minutes to explain each section of the menu to us, starting with small plates (tapas-style appetizers), moving through sushi offerings (maki, nigiri, and sashimi) and salads, yakitori (skewers), and ending with ramen, with which Erin encouraged us to end our meal.

Philip and Brian quickly busied themselves with choosing beers from the list. Two Ten Jack Chattanooga boasts a full bar along with a fairly comprehensive beer list, including a good selection of local beers. Both chose the Chattanooga Brewing Company Chattahooligan lager (Philip usually does not enjoy lagers but had tried this one before and enjoyed it immensely). My focus was also singular, but not on drinks. Instead, I was concerned about the crispy Brussels ($9) on the small plates menu, which had been recommended to me numerous times. Cooked to a nearly charred crisp and tossed with a salty hit of miso vinaigrette and Rice Krispies, the Brussels did not disappoint and were a perfect opportunity to practice my chopsticks skills, since learning to use chopsticks is on my bucket list. After they had ordered their beers, Philip and Brian were able to focus on food; Philip came very close to ordering the okonomi-age ($7) with tots, pork, shrimp, and okonomi toppings, but not wanting to overdo it, he decided against it. Brian was curious about the shishito peppers ($9), tossed with figs, sticky peanuts, and honey-soy dressing, topped with katsuobushi (bonito), or dried shaved fish. Erin compared the peppers to Anaheims, typically mild but one in ten is spicy. The peppers were smoked, tender and flavorful. When the bowl was delivered to our table, we were fascinated by the way the katsuobushi was moving in reaction to the heat from the peppers, almost as if it were alive. I was most enamored with the bits of chewy fig and the peanuts that had sunk to the bottom of the bowl.

Skipping sushi, we moved on to yakitori. My eye was drawn to pork belly with mustard ponzu ($5) and asparagus-bacon with sea salt ($4), with Philip ultimately choosing the pork belly. Rich, fat rectangles of pork belly, browned and a little crispy around the outside, were skewered with two thin skewers, in a puddle of sweet and savory ponzu sauce. A bite yielded a fatty rush of porkiness, with the ponzu being the perfect complement. Brian chose the avocado yakitori ($4), an avocado half pitted, warmed, and served with its center full of the ponzu sauce, a large dab of wasabi decorating the flesh. Salty, spicy, creamy…the avocado yakitori hit several senses.

On to ramen. Once Erin mentioned tonkotsu ($14), with pork broth and a soft egg, my brain could not compute any of the other options. Luckily for me, this was a wonderful decision. My first slurp of the richly pork flavored and interestingly creamy broth was so intense that I am fairly certain my eyes rolled back into my head and I immediately made Philip taste it (he concurred). A slice of chashu – marinated, braised pork belly – decorated the edge, along with menma (fermented bamboo shoots), kikurage (or wood ear mushrooms), deeply caramelized baby Visalia onions, mayu (black garlic oil), and half of a soft-boiled egg. There were some spicy hits of ginger in there too, along with, of course, the ramen noodles. I heard Erin tell the table behind us that “the louder you slurp, the bigger the compliment to the chef.” I certainly hope that the chef heard my slurpy compliments, which I was wearing on my shirt by the time I was finished (and had to mop off the table with my napkin.

Philip and Brian were both sold on the spicy crab garlic noodles ($15), a brothless version of ramen (mazemen) tossed with crab butter, black pepper, and kokuto (brown sugar). Since there was no broth in their bowls, they did not have the same slurpability issues that I did, which means that they laughed at me and my broth-stained shirt (no regrets!). The crab butter was rich and spicy, with bits of crab in it. They were not stingy with the butter, and the kokuto added a balancing sweetness to the spiciness of the crab butter. Unlike my bowl, their ramen did not include a lot of other elements.

While mochi was available for dessert, we were in no shape for dessert after that deeply satisfying meal (though I’ll admit that I did have some homemade ice cream when I got home, but that was an hour and a half later). Philip’s and my bill (for crispy Brussels, pork belly yakitori, tonkotsu, one garlic crab noodle bowl, and a beer) was $51 – certainly a little more than we typically spend, but as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, this restaurant is intended to be an experience, and it certainly is. Erin was very helpful, spending a great deal of time educating us on the menu and making recommendations, and the surroundings are unique and beautifully designed.

Our meal at Two Ten Jack Chattanooga was one of the best that I’ve had in a long time. If you have not been there, I highly recommend you give it a try.

Two Ten Jack Chattanooga is located at 111o Market Street, Suite FC4, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (in the basement of the south building of Warehouse Row). They are open for lunch Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday 12 p.m. to 2 p.m., and for dinner Monday – Friday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Saturday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. They also offer a happy hour with snacks and small plates from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday – Friday and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday – Thursday.

You can call Two Ten Jack Chattanooga at 423-551-8799 or email them at chattanooga@twotenjack.com. You can find their website at twotenjack.com/chattanooga. You can like Two Ten Jack Chattanooga on Facebook and follow @TwoTenJackChatt on Twitter and @twotenjackchatt on Instagram.

58 Teriyaki Grill

March 9, 2016

58 Teriyaki Grill is one of the great restaurants in Chattanooga to get delicious teriyaki, hibachi, or Thai food!

A few weeks ago, Philip and I visited Thai Chili in Ooltewah. A reader suggested 58 Teriyaki Grill, which I’d never even noticed even though I travel Highway 58 a few times a week. This past weekend I decided that I was craving chicken teriyaki. Our choices were 58 Teriyaki Grill and Teriyaki House (in East Ridge). Since 58 Teriyaki Grill was closer, we decided to go there.

When we walked in, we immediately noticed a sign to order at the counter. We were quickly greeted by a very friendly cashier/server, Hope. I immediately knew what I wanted – chicken teriyaki. Philip started to order hibachi steak, but then he noticed the Thai menu to the right of the regular menu. Hope urged him to order something off the Thai menu, so he decided to order pad-see-ew with chicken, which he just tried for the first time when we went to Thai Chili. We also ordered a couple of spring rolls.

We seated ourselves in the dining area, which is dimly lit but very nice. Straws and chopsticks are in a glass on the table (BTW: one of my bucket list items as of last week is that I must learn to eat with chopsticks). Hope brought our drinks along with forks and napkins. Our spring rolls came out quickly and she warned us that they were very hot, so we waited a few minutes to eat them. They were extremely crispy and filled with cabbage and noodles. They were simple and delicious.

Our entrees came out almost immediately after our spring rolls. My teriyaki chicken was served with a simple fried rice (the only detectable vegetable in the rice was corn) and sautéed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, and cabbage). The vegetables were very tender and lightly coated in the sweet and sticky teriyaki sauce – I would have liked more carrots and broccoli, though. The chicken was cut into perfectly bite-sized pieces and browned until just a little bit crispy before being coated with that wonderful sauce. It was fantastic. The rice was nice…as I said before, very simple, but with a good texture and flavor.

Philip was given the option of ordering his pad-see-ew mild, medium, or hot. He went for medium. At first as he ate it, Philip commented that he thought that the spice made it a little more interesting than what he had at Thai Chili, but as he continued eating he started sniffling and remarked that if he were to order it again he would probably go for mild because it became so spicy that the spice distracted from the flavors of the dish. He loved the flavors, though…I think pad-see-ew really has replaced Panang curry as his go-to Thai order.

Hope came to our table several times to check on us and make sure that we had everything that we needed. She was extremely bubbly and helpful and thanked us profusely for coming in (and she didn’t even know I was a food blogger!). As we walked out Philip gave her a Chattavore card and we met the daughter of the owner, who also thanked us for coming in. They told us that they hoped we’d be back, and we will. The prices were good (right at $20 for my teriyaki – $5.99, Philip’s pad-see-ew – $9.99, and two spring rolls – $.99 each), the place was very clean and nicely decorated (I was especially intrigued by the reservations-only Thai lounge!), the people were so friendly and welcoming, and the food was delicious. Definitely worth a trip.

58 Teriyaki Grill is located at 4762 Highway 58, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37416 (in the same strip mall as United Grocery Outlet). Ignore the hours on the menu I’ve included below; Hope told us that they are open Monday-Friday, 11:30-2:30 and 4:00-9:00 but they are open 11:30-9:00 on Saturday. You can call them at 423-296-2899. They don’t have a website, but you can like 58 Teriyaki Grill on Facebook and follow them on Twitter (@58Teriyaki).

For the menu, click here and here.

Little Tokyo Express (Hixson, Tennessee)

November 25, 2015

Little Tokyo Express is a quick, tasty, casual, and reasonably-priced hibachi-style restaurant located in Hixson, Tennessee.

A few weeks ago I blogged about Soho Hibachi in Hixson. Someone commented on my Facebook post that she liked Soho but preferred Little Tokyo Express. We’d visited Little Tokyo several years back (before Chattavore sprang into existence) and as I recalled we liked it fine, but for some reason we hadn’t been back. We decided that it was time to go back and give it another try.

Little Tokyo Express is located on Hixson Pike in a building that used to be Wendy’s. It’s pretty basic inside, but clean and well-kept. The menu is limited, which is always a good thing: a regular menu with about ten items, a children’s menu, and a menu of sides. You order at the counter, get your drinks from a fountain, and are given a number to put on your table for the food to be delivered. The cooks are located right behind the counter, so you can see everything that they are doing as they are prepping your order (if you are so inclined, anyway).

I decided on the teriyaki chicken. All orders come with fried rice, but you can add noodles if you prefer for an uncharge. You can also order your meal with mixed vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions). I ordered mine with mixed vegetables. The chicken was well-browned and tender, coated with a light, sweet and savory sauce. The rice was well-seasoned and had just a few peas and carrots in it. The vegetables were well cooked and lightly seasoned, except for the onions, which could have used a few more minutes of cooking. They were still a little crunchy and had a bit of a raw onion bite to it. I didn’t eat very many of them.

Philip ordered the steak and chicken. He also got mixed vegetables and rice. If we had realized before we ordered that we could have gotten noodles, one of us would have ordered them to try, but I didn’t know until I saw that the couple who ordered before us had noodles on their plates. His rice, vegetables, and chicken were essentially the same as mine. The steak was cut into thin slices that were about 2 inches square. Like the chicken, the steak was lightly browned on the outside and was also very tender.

Here in the South, the white sauce or “Yum-Yum sauce” is very important. So far, I have not found any white sauce at a restaurant that quite measures up to the white sauce served at Typhoon of Tokyo (or the white sauce that I make myself), and I’ll be honest…Little Tokyo’s doesn’t quite either. It’s good, but a little sweeter than I prefer; it had a good consistency. I mixed a little soy sauce into mine to make it a little more salty and a little less sweet. That worked out well. They are very generous with the white sauce, as they have lidded containers of it next to the register as well as pump containers on the counter with the forks, napkins, etc. where you can serve yourself more if you need it.

For teriyaki chicken, a steak and chicken meal, and two waters, our meal was $17.87 before tip….not a bad deal for the large portion of food that you are given (to-go boxes are readily available near the counter if you need them). The staff was friendly and the food was tasty. I’ll admit that Typhoon is still my favorite but I would definitely go to Little Tokyo again. Little Tokyo Express in Hixson, Tennessee serves good food at a good value.

Little Tokyo Express is located at 4516 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee, 37343. They are open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at 423-874-0500. There is a Facebook page that appears to be for Little Tokyo Express, but the information is not accurate as the website points to a restaurant in Pittsburgh.

Soho Hibachi (Hixson, Tennessee)

October 26, 2015

Soho Hibachi is a popular hibachi and teriyaki restaurant that provides tasty food and quick service on Highway 153 (near Target) in Hixson, Tennessee.

As I type this, I am lamenting the fact that tomorrow is the last weekday of my Fall break. I love my job, but the chance to stay up late then sleep in (8 a.m. is sleeping in for this old girl) and hang out doing whatever I want is pretty much my favorite. On top of that I visited the Small Business Development Center earlier this week and got several ideas for building this blog thing into something larger than life.

Anyway, it’s Thursday right now and tomorrow we are going apple picking at Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. We decided to go grocery shopping today so that we wouldn’t have to do our usual Friday night shopping trip after our day trip. Before we shopped, we decided to eat a late lunch at Soho Hibachi since it is right next door to Aldi, where we do as much of our shopping as possible.

I’ve been hearing good things about Soho for a while, but we generally only go to that little plaza on Friday nights when it’s pretty crowded, and if you know anything about me you know that we avoid crowds like the plague. It definitely wasn’t crowded when we got there at about 2:00 on Thursday afternoon so we waltzed right up and placed our order.

They have a lunch special of two Japanese spring rolls for $1.50. We generally order spring rolls, summer rolls, or egg rolls at any restaurant where we dine that serves them. The spring rolls came out quickly. They were small, wrapped in very thin spring roll wrappers and fried until shatteringly crisp (and mouth-searingly hot!!). They were vegetarian, filled mostly with cabbage, and were very good but not exceptional.

When ordering you are given two menus from which to choose: hibachi or teriyaki. The lunch special is chicken, either teriyaki style or hibachi style, for $5.95. I am a fool for teriyaki, so I chose teriyaki. You can choose steamed white or brown rice, fried rice, or noodles. I decided on the noodles. The chicken was white meat chicken, cut into thin strips and seared till brown along with broccoli, zucchini, and onions, then tossed with a sweet but not overly so teriyaki sauce. It is definitely not the thick and sticky sauce that you get at a store and was quite delicious. The noodles (udon, for the record) were a little chewy, well-seasoned, and delicious, mixed with wilted Napa cabbage.

Philip decided to go for the hibachi-style filet mignon with fried rice for $9.25. The filet was cut into small chunks and seared on the hibachi along with broccoli, zucchini, and onions. Everything was seasoned well and cooked to a perfect texture. The fried rice was also well-seasoned, with carrots and peas, and cooked to a good “chewiness” level.

Soho Hibachi has a “serve yourself” condiment bar where you can get white (yum-yum) sauce, ginger sauce, duck sauce, Sriracha, etc. We tried the white sauce (of course) and thought that it was quite good-a little salty, a little sweet. Not as good as what is served at Typhoon of Tokyo, which will always be our gold standard for quick hibachi food, but good nonetheless.

The decor in Soho Hibachi was nice…simple, basic, clean with a few embellishments. The service was quick and professional and there were quite a few people picking up carryout orders while we were there. At $18.03 before tip, the price is competitive with other similar restaurants in the area. For a quick hibachi or teriyaki-style meal in the Hixson area, definitely check out Soho Hibachi!

Soho Hibachi is located at 5510 Highway 153, Chattanooga, TN 37343. There are open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. You can all them at 423-877-8808. They do not have a website or a Facebook page.