Benihana and the Question of Cultural Appropriation

It isn’t the food that does it for me; not the USDA Choice steak and certainly not the chicken (though I’ll admit I’m a sucker for shrimp of any kind, for Benihana’s bad dipping sauces, for the mushrooms that are invariably over- and undercooked at the same time). It isn’t even the exuberant faux friendliness of the service, even if I get a little thrill of excitement whenever the entire floor sta

[naotoj]

“What most Americans want isn’t “Japanese”: what they want is Japanese-y.”