Anyoku, Ifeanyi
Professor Kevin Kelleher
EN 104-001
26 February 2023
My My You’re Too Generous!
Where is the perfect place to eat out when you spend the day tagging along with your cousin and her adulting friends and are beginning to feel like an outsider? What is an establishment that serves food typical of fine dining but gives you the freedom to act in an uncivilized manner like you were at a McDonald’s? Have you ever eaten at a place that leaves you believing you have eaten more than your money’s worth? When was the last time you ate out and the waiters treated you like you were at some Five Star hotel because they cared and not because they wanted a bonus to their tip?
I found these qualities on a trip to Long Island, New York in the winter of 2022. In case you are wondering how this commute was possible, on Long Island it takes some time for the snow to build up, so many establishments are still open by New Year’s (haha take that Minnesota!) My party of four stepped into JBBQ and Shabu Shabu, a medium-sized Japanese Restaurant on 11 E Main Street, Bay Shore with themes borrowed from Korean BBQ, to get ourselves a late lunch. It was a busy evening and there was a wait time of ten minutes. While we waited, I took in the waiting area. It was small – it might fit 20 people but only if they squeezed like sardines. Sure, it was sparkling clean, but at that moment my mind only questioned its little size. This made me have qualms about the quality of the meal I was going to get at the restaurant. Even more, the soundtrack playing was not exciting. When you go to a restaurant at 7 pm you expect either groovy hip-hop to raise your spirits or silky jazz to make your mind concentrate solely on the meal and shut out worldly distractions. Sadly, JBBQ was playing some playlist full of screechy electronic music. The music reduced my appetite more and, in my mind, I had begun fabricating a tale for why my party should go elsewhere for our meal. I was not sure of what excuse would work because the rest of my party, each of whom had visited the establishment at least once before, seemed very excited about the place for a reason I could not fathom.
Before any excuse could be proposed, the wait for a table ended. It only took 5 minutes. This was a green flag for me. This was contrary to most restaurants, where the actual wait time to get a table is longer than the communicated wait time. The next green flag came with the menu. It included a varied assortment of meats of different types prepared in different manners – marinated, salted, spiced – and shaped in different manners – diced, rolled, deboned, or made into strands. This variation also applied to the seafood and vegetarian options. The vegetarian options represented on the menu looked just as tantalizing as the meat options: king mushroom, fresh lettuce, corn surprise, onion splashes, spiced sweet potatoes, etc. Some of these items were to be grilled and some of these were to be cooked in a hotpot. Before I continue, I just must tell you that the moment I spotted salmon fillet and diced chili calamari on the menu, I knew I must have those. The menu clearly had items you would not expect on the menu of a casual dining establishment, yet there they were before my very eyes. Once again JBBQ proved itself to be a real exemption to the norms of the culinary world.
Rudimentary to your understanding of my dining experience is the knowledge that at JBBQ, once every member of a party has paid for entry, the group gets an hour and a half to order, prepare, and eat as much as it wants. I repeat. AN HOUR AND A HALF to fully explore the splendiferous menu presented before me! All this for a price of $34.99.
The tantalizing menu at JBBQ and Shabu Shabu
First off, my party ordered 4 servings of Sliced Beef Brisket, 1 serving of Sliced Pork Belly, and 4 servings of Udon Noodles. Those formed most of our hotpot for the rest of our evening. We had to be careful not to let the items cook for more than five minutes. When I put the first piece of the rolled-up Beef Brisket into my mouth, my tastebuds felt like they had gone to heaven and come back. The Beef had been salted by the chefs before it was handed to us. It was not salted in the manner that makes you twist your tongue and make a funny face. It was the type that brought out the intricate uniqueness of the meat. Unlike certain establishments where a beef sandwich, chicken sandwich, and pork sandwich tasted the same, the salting techniques applied by the chefs at JBBQ & Shabu Shabu made the tastes of beef, pork, flounder fish, and lamb distinct. Even better, the salting techniques made the Beef Belly I ordered later in the evening taste beautifully different from the Beef Brisket – to emphasize how awesome this is let me remind you that both parts come from the same animal. The reaction between the Udon Noodles and the Kimchi and Miso bases we choose for our soup was incredible: it can best be described as a nice break from the carnivorous tasting lens and a glimpse into the utopia of cellulose-based spices and texture.
The grill had different items slapped onto it: Garlic Chicken, Lettuce, Chili Chicken, Shiitake Mushroom, Chili Cha Siu, Lettuce (again), Head-Off Shrimp, and Chili Calamari. I opted to eat all these with a serving of Fried Rice. Two members of my party had for themselves a serving of White Rice – while I found this strange, I must admit they loved the White Rice as much as I loved the Fried Rice. The rice was well-cooked: neither stony and undercooked nor soggy as if left swimming in water for an hour. The rice was solid but pliable enough for my teeth to enjoy breaking it up. The curry in it was just right. Unlike some establishments, where the fried rice is unintelligently coated in curry, JBBQ stuck to standards and let the curry simply be an agent that adds a little tinge. There were two other flavours in the fried rice that I could not identify, but I could recognize that the synergy between those spices beats whatever one will find in Olive Garden.
Special mentions belong to the grilled Head-off Shrimp. I ordered two different types of this: deshelled and shell retained. The deshelled Head-off Shrimp was soft and made a lovely combo with the Teriyaki sauce. The Head-off Shrimp with the shell retained was pleasantly crunchy, and I was satisfied eating it without Fried Rice or any sauce.
The splendid shrimp
I saved the best for last: Chili Calamari. This rare squid delicacy can easily be abused in the hands of cooks but the cooks at JBBQ knew their stuff. The squid was very spicy but not in excess. After 3 minutes on the grill, the squid retained its toughness but become enchantingly velvety on the outside. The newly acquired velvet property culminated in a rich sensory experience as each chop of grilled chili calamari slid down my throat. This, I tell you, is a dining experience many are not lucky to have.
JBBQ and Shabu Shabu had great food, but that was not the only great thing. How do you think a restaurant with such an eccentric style of service runs efficiently? There were no fires, no burns, and no fungus growing in places where fungus ought not to be. How was that so? I must admit to you that the staff were more than a hundred percent efficient. The waiters were always available and nearby without making me feel suffocated. They offered to change my party’s grill plate whenever it got charred before we could even ask; they offered us drink refills right when our drinks were done (not before or after). The waiters’ genuine niceness showed in how they repeatedly replaced my chopsticks without ever giving me the stink eye. I did not want to stand out as the only person in my party oblivious to the use of chopsticks, so I struggled and failed to use chopsticks rather than a fork and knife the entire evening. I wasted about ELEVEN SETS of chopsticks that night at JBBQ. If the waiters were displeased, they graciously avoided showing it.
If you are on Long Island, if you are with a group of people, if you love binge eating, if you want an amazing dining experience for an affordable price, then come to JBBQ & Shabu Shabu on 11 E Main Street, Bay Shore, NY 11706. For more geographical accuracy, it is in Suffolk County. If none of what I have said so far piques your interest, then come for the chance to get complimentary ice cream. Yes! You heard me! They gave me and my party members free ice cream on our way out! My first time at JBBQ & Shabu Shabu was magnificent, and I look forward to visiting Long Island again for another chance to dine there.
