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Pete Tittl: Shabu takes concept of self-serve to a new level — but give it a try

BY PETE TITTL, Californian staff writer
ptittl@bakersfield.com | Wednesday, Feb 04 2009 05:00 PM

Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:28 PM

Are you in a dining rut? Are you one of those who say all Bakersfield restaurants are pretty much more of the same?

Visit the House of Shabu. This is new and different, though given what happened to a Korean restaurant in the southwest that had a similar concept some years ago, I am worried about a little issue called survival. At that restaurant, you had to grill your meat yourself at your table. There are hundreds of such places in L.A., but apparently folks who live here feel like Bill Murray’s character in “Lost in Translation.”

Walking into a shabu restaurant, he said something like “What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?”

If, like Bill Murray, you don’t want to cook, there are decent options on the House of Shabu menu. My son ordered the teppan chicken plate ($9.98). It was an exceptional value, very tasty on a sizzling platter with a nice sesame sauce (not too sweet) and an assortment of perfectly grilled carrots and zucchini, with steamed rice on the side. There are other kitchen-prepared entrees, including cuttlefish and milk fish made with pesto.

But the specialty of the house are four shabu selections: sirloin, chicken, shrimp and tofu/vegetarian. The food is brought to the table raw, and each dinner is given a light broth with seaweed called dashi in a metal pan that you lower into a hole in the table that has a heating element. The platter is presented with the meat or seafood, rice noodles, tofu and a great assortment of fresh cut vegetables (carrots, green onions, mushrooms). The staff is available to help teach you how to do it. You bring the broth to a boil, toss the ingredients in as you whish and fish them out with a strainer a few minutes later.

What really makes this food (which has to be low cal enough to fit into any New Year’s diet) worth ordering are the two sauces: ponzu (soy-citrus) and goma (sesame). The goma is a brown sauce that was absolutely perfect with either the chicken or the beef. The chicken breast meat was fine, but the steak looked beautiful before being dunked, so well-marbled I wish I was at the Korean restaurant and had a grill instead of a broth.

I have heard that the way to finish the meal is to mix the rice with the broth, creating something of a soup, but the staff neglected to educate us on this. I recommend a plastic “how to shabu” card be offered to all customers so they can feel comfortable moving into this brave new world of self-serve cuisine. I hope the restaurant, a bold new venture by owners Arnie Bella and Paulyn Mercado, can make it. I had trouble visiting, as my first two attempts in December were frustrated by a dark room, even on New Year’s Eve! What restaurant isn’t open on New Year’s Eve? The place is small but exceptionally attractive with one of those pebble floors and lots of dark woods. What concerns me is that the crepe restaurant next door already appears shuttered. (Mercado said they are working on plans to bring the crepes into the House of Shabu.)

If dining diversity is a priority with you, go visit House of Shabu. It is definitely not the same old Japanese food.