FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2000
ibachi dishes out a delicious dose of food and excitement
by Roger Burlingame
staff writer
I have not reviewed an ethnic res
taurant this semester, so I asked a
number of people for a recommen
dation, and several people suggested
the Hibachi. I took their suggestion,
made a reservation, and drove to
West 12th Street to try this highly
recommended Japanese restaurant.
Eating at the Hibachi made for an
excellent dining experience. The at
mosphere was great. The outside of
the restaurant had the traditional
sloping rooftops straight out of the
Orient. On the inside of the restau
rant there were painted paper parti
tions, and Japanese paintings
adorned on the walls. I don't mean
there were pictures on the walls, I
mean the walls are painted with ori
ental scenes. The waitresses all wore
geisha robes, which was a wonder
ful touch.
My date and I were a hit early for
our reservation, so we sat at the bar
and had a drink. The Hibachi has a
great selection of Japanese beers,
riends find fun in a road trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
On Monday. October 9, 2000,
my friends John, Ed, and I took a
trip to Cleveland to tour the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. We had
been planning this trip for a long
time. Because jobs kept us from
going there over the summer, my
fall break was the perfect time for
all of us to get away for a few
days.
John goes to Pitt-Titusville
and Ed goes to Duquesne. The
trip actually began in Erie, he
cause I had to pick up both of
them from school. 1 left Mon
day morning at 6 a.m. from my
house. I got on 1-79 only to be
stuck in traffic Melt little i;vliire.
The cars had been collecting up
because of a combination rush
hour traffic/ accident/ construe-
non mess
Finally at 6:30 I was able to
get on to 1-90. From there I got
off on exit 8 and proceeded to
continue my journey to pick up
John. School bus after school
bus kept stopping in front of
About an hour and 15 min
utes later, 1 got to John's dorm.
I didn't realize it until I got
there that 1 didn't ask him for
the name of his dorm and his
dorm number. I had to go to the
information desk and try to con
vince the secretary that I was his
friend. She got him on the phone
and asked him if he knew me. He
Doyou finally want to get
exposure as a cartoonist?
surprise, surprise. They also have
specialty drinks called the samurai
and the geisha, and they come in por
celain glasses in the shape of the
drink, so my samurai was served in
a glass that looked like a samurai.
My date had a geisha and the glass
was a little Japanese woman. These
glasses were just great, and I wish
that I could have bought a set.
For dinner we sat at a big flat top
grill, which was perfect for keeping
sake, a Japanese rice wine, nice and
warm. Eating at a grill also added to
the exciting setting. The menu was
great; there was a lot of selection, so
it took us a while to decide. While
we were deciding, we had an appe
tizer. We enjoyed crab rolls, which
consist of a delicate egg roll pastry
filled with cream cheese and crab
meat. They are deep-fried and fat
tening, but they are quite good. We
ordered, and the waitress promptly
brought us soup. We received and
onion and mushroom soup which
you drink with your hands. After
soup, we moved on to salad, which
was served with a creamy Japanese
kept saying as a joke that he didn't,
so of course she wouldn't tell me
his room number. I found a pay
phone and called him. He finally
told me his room number after like
fifteen minutes of me yelling at him
because of what he did to me.
Around 8:30 a.m. we headed out
to pick up Ed in Pittsburgh.
While heading to 1-80, we en
countered yet another accident. A
truck had hit a tree, spilling its mer
chandise out of the back of the
truck. There were boxes of toilet
ATlEhmow Al-[. caßroomisrs;
Brian Tome crashes in the back seat during a road trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
I=M!M!WEEI
dressing. It was quite tasty
When it was time for our main
course, the chef came out to our table
and began to cook. He flipped his
spatulas and threw food in the air and
behind his back, and he even threw
food in my mouth. He did a number
of tricks and showed off for an hour
and a half, while the food cooked
right in front of us. Our chef was
amazing, and he did all sorts of
things that impressed my date and
me. 1 had steak and scallops, which
were cooked to perfection; the scal
lops melted in my mouth, and the
steak was wonderful. There was not
any special sauce, just the wonder
ful flavor of two different meats with
a little soy sauce and garlic that was
added during the preparation. My
date also seemed to have really loved
the meal. We both had too much to
eat, so we could not eat dessert. The
restaurant overall was exciting, de
licious and different. I would defi
nitely recommend this unique din
ing experience for it will be one you
won't soon forget. I happily give the
Hibachi four out of live stars.
paper all over the road. John had
told me that weird things happened
in Titusville, but I had no idea that
they ever got this weird.
While traveling along I-80, John
got hungry. I told him about the
cooler that I had packed for the trip
that was on my back seat. He turned
around to get the cooler, when all
of a sudden the engine started to
sound funny. I put my foot on the
gas, and the car didn't accelerate.
Finally we realized that when John
had reached back for the cooler he
The Hibachi is on West 12th St
had bumped the gear shaft, putting
the car into neutral.
Finally at 10:45 a.m. we got to
Pittsburgh. We headed downtown
to Duquesne to pick up Ed. Sur
prisingly we had no trouble finding
his dorm; there weren't any freak
accidents along the way, and we
were on the road again by 11:30
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
was pretty neat. Even though we
had planned to stay the night and
party, John and Ed had to get back
Any(
subm
dire(
ema
to school. I was pretty mad that
we had driven all that way just to
go to the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, and that was it. So we
headed back to Titusville.
I let John drive until we got to
Titusville. That was a big mistake.
He was so tired from the weekend
that he kept dozing off. I was
sound asleep (as seen in the pic
ture), and so was Ed. Needless to
say we spent a little time off road,
but luckily he was awake enough
to keep us out of any ditches.
We dropped off John and then
headed south to Pittsburgh to take
Ed back to school. At this point it
was 2 a.m., so Ed told me to just
spend the night at his place. Lucky
me!! I got to meet his Satan-wor
shipping roommate!! After getting
like three minutes of sleep the
night before, I decided to pack up
and head home at one in the after
noon. About four hours later, I fi
nally got home after almost side
swiping a U-HAUL truck and af
ter almost slamming into the back
of a horse truck. It was definitely
an experience that I'll never for
get.
Brian Tome
Plastics Engineering, 02
PHOTO BY JEFF MILLER
Cruisin l 4
cASFI
Contest Rules
Any Behrend student can sub
mit a 300-500 word story about
a road trip they have taken
since the end of the spring
2000 semester. The trip must
be more than 150 miles from
the original location. A photo
must accompany entry with
sufficient proof that the trip was
made. Insufficient proof will
lessen chances to win contest.
If more than one student took
part in the road trip, only the
student submitting the story is
eligible, unless all members
send name in with entry. If
more than one student name
appears on entry, prize will be
divided amongst the students
who entered. Send in entries
as soon as possible to ensure
publication in the Beacon.
Only entries appearing in the
Beacon will be voted on.
Beacon members are ineli
gible and will vote on the
winner.
win
$250