photo:Teri Currie

Japan-ease
By B.A. Nilsson

Dining divides into two major categories: with children, and without. Since I last took a pounding for this opinion, some 14 years ago, the situation has worsened. Gone is the look of furtive guilt that might cross a parent’s face as little Brittany pitches potatoes across the room; now it’s an expression of oblivion, worn while ineffectually chanting, “Brittany, honey, stop that.”

I can only conclude that a generation of babysitters has been thrown out of work.

Thus it was that we recoiled from the hibachi table we’d been shown to during a recent visit to the newly relocated Miyako Japanese Steak House. There’s enough space in this spot, at the corner of Western Avenue and Route 155, to locate those tables in a room separate from the regular tables and the sushi bar, but that only added to our feeling of being trapped when we were placed with a pair of young parents and their three dynamo charges.

Ironically, my wife and I were there with our 9-year-old, whose many years of dining out have persuaded her that it’s worth behaving well to visit nice restaurants. As parents, we were uncompromising on that score.

There’s an added problem with hibachi (also known as teppanyaki) table displays. Some of the more fiery components are dropped when small children are there, and we like it all, right down to the onion ring volcano.

Feigning a more robust interest in tempura and nabemono, we slunk to the other dining room. It’s handsomely appointed, a tribute to the Japanese facility for dressing up a boxlike room into a welcoming salon.

For the record, the hibachi meals are priced from $14 (vegetable dinner) to a deluxe $29 seafood mix that includes lobster and salmon; most hover near $20 and can include any of the most popular meats or fish.

In the other room, you might start with miso soup ($1.75), a gentle soybean-based concoction that warms the palate; there’s also onion soup for the same price, and a $5 seafood soup. Salads can include avocado, tofu or seaweed, among other ingredients; a house salad is served with most entrées, however.

My wife believes that tofu is the key to health and happiness, and thus orders anything that contains the flavor-free bean curd. She got a little more than she bargained for with the appetizer age-dashi-tofu ($5), but that was because of the flavor imparted by the added fish flake. Not unpleasant; just unexpected.

While I awaited sushi, I nabbed a dumpling from my daughter’s gyoza ($5); the full-to-bursting dumplings contain a creamy shrimp and vegetable filling that barely needs the accompanying vinegar sauce.

A sushi roll called “Spicy Dynamite” seems a large bow to western silliness (ditto the ones termed “Spicy Key West” and “American Dream,” the latter working shrimp tempura into the mix.) “Spicy Dynamite” ($5.50) adds “super spicy sauce” to scallops, with the result being . . . kind of wimpy. My wife says I’ve burned out my heat sensors; I’ll leave it to you to decide.

One thing I can’t argue with is her predilection for noodle soup, so charmingly celebrated in the movie Tampopo (the soup, that is; not her predilection). Her bowl of nabeyaki udon ($13) in size alone reminded us how foolish it is to order an appetizer if that’s on the radar. Shrimp tempura is served alongside, which isn’t always the case with presentations elsewhere of this soup; chicken slices and lots of vegetables float alongside the thick noodles in a mild broth that continues to pick up flavors as you make your way to what seems to be the ever- retreating bottom of the bowl.

One way we persuade our child to behave is to let her order stuff you really might want to carefully ration, like tempura. You can’t beat it for crunchy goodness, but it is deep fried, with the attendant fat calories. So we helped solve that problem by insisting that she surrender some of the choicer bits of chicken and vegetable that arrived on the $13 plate.

Tempura, available in combos of vegetables, chicken, shrimp or other seafood, is batter coated; agemono is breaded and fried, and can be ordered with chicken, pork or seafood. Vegetables, meat or fish are also available seasoned with teriyaki sauce and broiled, always a nice way to enjoy a piece of steak or salmon. I opted for a different salmon approach, however, choosing nabemono, or hot pot dish.

Ishikari nabe ($19) is another take on the noodle soup approach, but substitutes tofu for noodles while still including a generous array of vegetables and huge chunk of the seafood. It’s a tribute to chef-owner Toshi Yamaguchi that every dish we received was cooked with care and presented beautifully.

The closely supervised staff is very attentive, and service never flagged even as the restaurant filled. It’s nice to see this longtime Albany favorite has settled so well into its new location.

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