Yummy Yummy Hibachi Sushi & Buffet

FOOD

The hibachi station is a good place to begin, with noodles, vegetables and shrimp among the choices for cooking to order. Broccoli, shredded cabbage, sliced onion and mushrooms are laid out for you to select, then hand over to the cook. That combination gives noodles and vegetables a substantial role alongside the seafood. It also makes the grill a distinct part of the meal, rather than another serving tray. The lineup changes, so the dishes and rolls described here are representative choices rather than a fixed menu for every lunch and dinner.

General Tso chicken and orange chicken bring two familiar Chinese-American favorites to the hot line. In Chinese-American cooking, General Tso typically combines a sweet-and-savory sauce with some heat, while orange chicken takes its identity from citrus. Both styles generally use battered or breaded chicken, giving the sauce something to cling to. If sauced chicken is your usual takeout order, these are recognizable choices within a meal that also includes the grill, shellfish and sushi.

Pork dumplings and fried chicken offer other preparations among the hot dishes. The dumplings bring a filled wrapper to the selection, giving pork a place alongside the chicken and seafood. Fried chicken is a straightforward alternative to the sauced Chinese-American mains. Together, these smaller dishes and familiar favorites give this part of the buffet more to consider than two versions of chicken in sauce.

Egg-drop and hot-and-sour soups are worth remembering too. In their familiar Chinese forms, egg-drop soup has ribbons of egg stirred into broth, while hot-and-sour soup balances sharpness with peppery warmth. For anyone who regularly orders soup with Chinese food, these bowls deserve attention alongside the more conspicuous grill and sushi. Either makes a natural accompaniment to pork dumplings, especially if you enjoy the soup-and-dumpling side of a Chinese meal as much as its larger mains.

Among the shellfish, look for mussels served with cheese sauce and peel-and-eat shrimp. The mussels are one of the more distinctive named preparations here, bringing cheese sauce into a seafood selection that also includes simpler shrimp. Peel-and-eat shrimp calls for a little work at the table, so allow yourself time to enjoy it. It is a separate offering from the shrimp available for cooking at the hibachi station.

The sushi selection includes California and salmon & cream cheese rolls, with salmon and cooked shrimp among the nigiri toppings. Nigiri pairs a topping with an individual portion of rice, giving those pieces a different form from the sliced rolls. Sesame-coated rolls add another choice, with soy sauce and wasabi alongside. The cooked krab and shrimp are useful to remember if you enjoy sushi but prefer cooked seafood. You can explore that part of the buffet without making raw fish the focus of your meal.