Benihana is the name of a chain of Japanese restaurants known for the flavor of its food as much as the showmanship with which it is prepared in front of the customers. Image File history File links BenihanaLogo1. ... Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld A restaurant is an establishment that serves prepared food and beverages to order, to be consumed on the premises. ...

History

Patrons are mesmerized by the quick hands of the Benihana chef.

Benihana has its roots in Japan in the years immediately following World War II. Yunosuke Aoki, a samurai descendant and entertainer, along with his wife, Katsu, opened a small coffee shop in Tokyo. The shop was named "Benihana" ("scarlet flower" in Japanese) after a red safflower that grew in the streets. Run by the Aokis and their four sons, this coffee shop eventually became a full service restaurant. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x903, 310 KB) Summary Description: Dinner at Benihana restaurant Source: Image taken by Larry D. Moore (User:Nv8200p) using a Kodak EasyShare Z740 Date: February 12, 2006 Permission: Released under the GFDL and Creative Commons licenses shown below by Larry D... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x903, 310 KB) Summary Description: Dinner at Benihana restaurant Source: Image taken by Larry D. Moore (User:Nv8200p) using a Kodak EasyShare Z740 Date: February 12, 2006 Permission: Released under the GFDL and Creative Commons licenses shown below by Larry D... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Coffee Shop is a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers from their 1995 album, One Hot Minute. ...   , literally Eastern capital) is a unique subnational administrative region of Japan with characteristics of both a prefecture and a city. ... Binomial name Carthamus tinctorius (Mohler, Roth, Schmidt & Boudreaux, 1967) Safflower is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual, usually with many long sharp spines on the leaves. ...

The eldest son, Hiroaki (later Americanized as Rocky) took after his father's appreciation for the theatrical, including the notion of combining Japanese food with entertainment. Rocky opened his first restaurant in 1964 in New York on West 56th Street with room enough for just four tables. Hiroaki Aoki, (born 1938) was an Olympic wrestler. ...

The interior of the restaurant was styled after a Japanese farmhouse. The food was prepared before the customers at their tables in the teppanyaki style (Teppan meaning "steel grill" or "griddle" and yaki meaning "grilled", "broiled", and "fried"). Partly due to the restaurant's proximity to Broadway, Aoki believed showmanship and entertainment at Benihana was of great importance. The chefs would not only cook the food with flair, but also make sure all the different ingredients were served simultaneously. With emphasis placed on high customer contact service, the restaurant can be recognized as a service innovation, while Aoki's grouping of eight people per table ensured a profitable cycle time. See service management. Misono - the first restaurant to offer teppanyaki a teppanyaki chef cooking at a gas powered hibachi in a Japanese steakhouse Teppanyaki (鉄板焼き) is a type of Japanese cuisine that uses an iron griddle to cook food. ... cast-iron iron enamel stainless steel The cooking pan is a type of food preparation utensil commonly found in the kitchen which includes many more specific cooking vessels such as saucepans and frying pans (or fry pans). ... A view of Broadway in 1909 Broadway, as the name implies, is a wide avenue in New York City. ... Service Management is integrated into Supply Chain Management as the joint between the actual sales and the customer. ...

Within six months after opening, particularly following a rave review by Clementine Paddleford, restaurant critic for the New York Herald-Tribune, business boomed, and the Aoki family initiated massive expansion projects. Again, the experience at Benihana was highly choreographed, with guests spending time buying alcoholic drinks in the bar while waiting for a table to be assembled for eight guests. For many years, Benihana was the face of Japanese cuisine within America, thanks both to corporate-owned and franchise locations through the country and the novelty of preparing food in front of patrons. While the authenticity of Benihana's Japanese cuisine has been questioned by food experts, it remained the most popular exponent of Japanese food until the explosion of credible sushi bars throughout the United States beginning in the late 1980s. The New York Herald Tribune was a newspaper created in 1922 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald. ... Alcoholic beverages are drinks containing ethanol, popularly called alcohol. ... Franchising (from the French for honesty or freedom[1]) is a method of doing business wherein a franchisor licenses trademarks and tried and proven methods of doing business to a franchisee in exchange for a recurring payment, and usually a percentage piece of gross sales or gross profits as well...

Benihana owns all Samurai restaurant locations. All Samurai locations but one have been converted into Benihana restaurants. The last Samurai is located in Miami, FL.^[1]

Legacy

Benihana claims that they have served more than 100,000,000 meals since the opening of their first restaurant in 1964. Many people credit Benihana with bringing ersatz Japanese food to the attention of many Americans as well as making sushi and soy sauce household words. Benihana's famous figural "tiki mugs" for exotic cocktails, the most common of which depicts "Hotei" a chubby buddha-like figure with arms raised in the air, have become highly collectible. Many types of sushi ready to be eaten. ... Soy sauce (US) or soya sauce is a fermented sauce made from soybeans (soya beans), roasted grain, water and salt. ... Tiki mugs are ceramic drinkware originating in mid-century American tiki bars and tropical themed restaurants, believed to have been pioneered by Don the Beachcomber. ... Statue of Hotei in the familiar likeness of the Chinese tradition. ...

The famous Benihana "Tiki Mug" has become highly collectible.

Image File history File linksMetadata Benihanamug01. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Benihanamug01. ...

Pop culture references

• Richard Pryor played "Hana Benny", a house-calling showy chef, in an opening skit for one episode of his short lived Richard Pryor Show. He visits someone taking a shower in a humorous parody of the famous Psycho shower scene.
• Tony Soprano mentions that the bills at Benihana when he was young 'killed him', financially speaking.
• In the TV show Road Rovers, Colleen mentions she got her "Hi Yah!" from a Benihana's.
• On the TV show Yes, Dear, Greg Warner's father asks if they can go to Benihana.
• At one point in the movie Shanghai Knights, Jackie Chan says his name is "Benny Hana".
• Rupert Jee of New York's Hello Deli was at one point featured on the Late Show with David Letterman trying to quickly train as a Benihana chef, with less than optimal results.
• The Christmas 2006 episode of the NBC comedy The Office is entitled 'A Benihana Christmas' Benihana is referred to as 'Asian Hooters'.
• Rapper Obie Trice mentions it in his 2006 song "Snitch"
• Rap artist Adrock of the Beastie Boys refers to himself as the Benihana chef on the SP-1200 sampler
• Rap artist Young Jeezy gives reference to Benihanas in one song by saying "Getting my Benihanas on; working two pots." This is an allusion to cooking crack cocaine
• Benihana is featured in the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin where you can see some typical chef tricks, the Tiki Mug and Happy Birthday being sung by the staff.
• Benihana is referred to in the book The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger; the book was later turned into a hit film of the same name.
• In an episode of Lupin the 3rd, someone who can never remember Inspector Zenigata's name calls him "Benihana".
• In Duel Masters, Mimi's brother is named Beny Haha, a pun on the name.
• Yung Berg mentions going "straight to Benihanas" in his song "Sexy Lady".

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American comedian, actor, and writer. ... The Richard Pryor Show was a short-lived controversial comedy, variety series starring Richard Pryor. ... Psycho is a 1960 suspense/horror film directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano about a psychotic killer. ... Information Aliases Ron Spears, Kevin Finnerty, Mr. ... This entire article, especially the controversy section and the discussion of its cancellation does not cite any references or sources. ... Yes, Dear is an American television sitcom which aired from 2000 to 2006 on CBS. It stars Anthony Clark, Jean Louisa Kelly, Mike OMalley, Liza Snyder, and Joel Homan. ... From left: Fann Wong, Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson star in Shanghai Knights. ... Rupert Jee at his Hello Deli Exterior of the Hello Deli Rupert Jee (born July 16, 1956) is an American entrepreneur and television celebrity who has gained fame through frequent appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman. ... The Late Show with David Letterman is a multiple Emmy Award-winning hour-long weeknight comedy talk show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City. ... The Office is an Emmy Award and Peabody Award-winning[1] American television comedy that debuted on NBC as a midseason replacement on March 24, 2005. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Office (US) A Benihana Christmas (Parts 1 & 2) is the ninth & tenth filmed and tenth & eleventh aired episode of the third season of the US version of The Office. ... Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an African American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. ... Adam Horovitz (a. ... The Beastie Boys are a musical group from the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. ... Jay Jenkins (born September 28, 1977 in Columbia, South Carolina) formerly known as Lil J currently known as Young Jeezy, is an American rapper. ... A pile of crack cocaine ‘rocks’. Crack cocaine is a form of cocaine. ... Poster for The 40-Year-Old Virgin The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a comedy film starring Steve Carell that is set to be released on August 19, 2005. ... The Devil Wears Prada (2003) is a best selling novel by Lauren Weisberger about a young woman who, freshly graduated from college, is hired as a personal assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor, a job that becomes hellish as she struggles to keep up with her bosss capricious... Lauren Weisberger (born March 28, 1977 in Scranton, Pennsylvania) is an American novelist and author of the 2003 bestseller The Devil Wears Prada, a speculated roman à clef of her time as a put-upon assistant to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. ... Lupin III or Lupin the 3rd (ルパン三世, Lupin the 3rd, not Lupin 3) is an anime and manga series originally created by manga artist Kazuhiko Katō (加藤一彦) under the pen name Monkey Punch (モンキーパンチ) in 1967... Duel Masters (デュエルマスターズ Dyueru Masutāzu) is a franchise based on a manga, anime and a trading card game. ...

Documentary

• The story of Benihana's emergence into American culture is documented in Terry Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in Japan (see "External Links" below).

Terry Sanders is a two-time Academy Award winner, having produced and/or directed more than 70 dramatic features, televisions specials, documentaries and portrait films. ...

References

• Collier, David A.; James R. Evans (2006). Operations Management: Goods Services and Value Chains, 2nd ed., South-western College Pub.. ISBN 0-324-17939-1. 
• Sasser Jr., W. Earl and John R. Klug (2004-07-20). "Benihana of Tokyo". revision, orig. pub. 1972. Harvard Business School Case. Retrieved on 2006-06-13.
• Rosengarten, David (2003). It's All American Food, 1st ed., Little, Brown and Company.. ISBN 0-316-05315-5. 

David A. Collier is a professor of Management Science at the Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 164th day of the year (165th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Benihana Restaurant homepage
• The Japan Project: Made in Japan (American Film Foundation)