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Culinary Connection
Kabuki Japanese Restaurant
By Bruce Wildstein
Kabuki Japanese restaurants have found a formula that has established the chain as a Southern California favorite. They've been around now for 16 years and the newest location is in the rapidly growing city of Valencia in the Santa Clarita Valley. The casual but classy Japanese restaurant is known for its excellent sushi and traditional Japanese dinners, plus great drinks in a relaxing atmosphere. They have ten restaurants and all are company owned allowing them to keep each just as well managed as the others. The newest location is in a still developing outdoor shopping center with plenty of parking. Walking in you find a bar area, a sushi bar, and the main dining rooms. An outside patio is also available. The bar is separated from the other areas by wall dividers creatively lined with many rows of Sake bottles. The sushi bar could probably seat ten diners and there were no less than four sushi chefs behind the counter. At Kabuki, sushi is one of the main attractions, not just a side offering. The rest of the décor has some attractive Asian influences and there are comfortable padded booths as well as stand-alone tables. Fresh and well prepared food at moderate prices are the goal at Kabuki and it works well.
On this visit, we tried some popular Japanese beer, and Kabuki stocks over 200 varieties. Sapporo, Asahi, and Orion are popular choices, and when ice cold, these beers are hard to beat. You might want to try an exotic cocktail or sake before or with your meal. Check out the more exotic drinks like the Red Cheeni (vodka, Lychee liqueur and Pomegranate Juice) or the Mojo Mojito. For the true Japanese experience though, you should try one of the premium Sakes available here. If you're not familiar with the traditional rice drink, they will be happy to advise you. There is a rating system for sake on the menu, which indicates how dry or sweet your choice will be.
For your main meal you could choose from dozens of entrees or appetizers, but Kabuki has a great sampler entrée called the "Love Boat." It must be ordered for a minimum of two people and arrives in a large wooden "boat" serving tray. This behemoth is layered with lettuce then loaded up with California Rolls, shrimp tempura, bar-b-queue beef ribs, broiled mussels on the half shell, Gyoza dumplings, vegetable tempura, and teriyaki chicken. It's truly a feast and a good introduction to the various types of food served here. And it comes with miso soup, rice and small salads to boot. Everything we tried was fresh and quite tasty, we couldn't complain.
On this visit we also tried some of Kabuki's excellent sushi, with tuna, yellowtail, and shrimp making their way to our table. We also had two of their Premium Sushi items: the Spider Roll with soft shell crab, avocado, crab meat and smelt egg, and the Shrimp Tempura Roll with tempura shrimp, crab, and avocado. Both were a sushi lover's dream and devoured quickly! Sushi and sashimi lovers will find most anything else they could want, plus specialty items like the Lotus Hand Roll with baked baby lobster on a California Roll, or the Hanabi with Japanese snapper, salmon, crab, and spicy tuna.
For entrees Kabuki has plenty of a la Carte items and entrees. They also feature "Gourmet Dishes," with Jumbo Scallops, Chilean Sea Bass, Shichimi Shrimp, and Seared Tuna Tataki. If you like the traditional combination dinners you'll find Beef Teriyaki with Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura, Tonkatsu (pork loin) with Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura, and Salmon Teriyaki with Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura. Each comes with with miso soup, salad and white rice. There are also Sushi Combinations, Dinner Combinations, and Hibachi Din-ners. There are also about a dozen salads plus soups and sides to complete a meal.
Desserts at Kabuki are also wonderful. We had Mochi and Tempura ice creams, which go down smoothly with their sweet, exotic taste. They also have frozen yogurts, an Apple Tart Roll, and a Banana Tempura.
Its worth noting that Kabuki has a Happy Hour from 3:00-6:00 PM Monday through Friday, with $2.50 appetizers and drink specials. They also have an award winning kids menu.
So when you're ready for your next Japanese/Asian dining experience, Kabuki is the restaurant you should put on your list. The new Valencia location is at 24045 Newhall Ranch Rd, #A-2, at McBean Parkway.
(661) 799-8655