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Hot Fire, Good Food

If you like sushi and the fiery fun of Nakato, you’ll like Ohana. Just don’t expect a hibachi clone.

Photo Kevin O'Riley

Ohana’s take on hibachi grilling doesn’t exclude sushi: Maki rolls range in price from $3 to $13.50.

pbell Avenue in Springfield, is a free-standing establishment that’s pretty swanky on the inside. The mostly dark, modern décor is accented with random punches of bright color, like the multi-hued blood-cell-shaped lights that hang from the ceiling in the entry. There are deep-red walls with cutouts holding vases that look vaguely like chess pieces. The bar is dark and intimate, while the dining room is more a flurry of activity, with lively chefs preparing meals for groups seated around wide hibachi grills like the ones you’ve probably seen at Nakato. And while a room full of hibachi grills can hold quite a crowd, there’s a feeling of private dining when you actually sit down to eat. With an individual chef keeping your attention through a combination of cooking and shenanigans, it’s easy to quickly become unaware of the other diners around you. (That is, until you hear a nearby chef’s viewers gasp in unison when he sets the grill aflame.)

Ohana Japanese Steak and Sushi 310 W. Battlefield, Springfield 417-823-7788 Sun.–Fri. 11 a.m.–2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.–9 p.m., Sat. 4:30 p.m.–9 p.m.

We liked our chef. He was named J.J., and he was a young funky fella with bleach-blond hair who did clever things with eggs and fire on the grill. At one point he spun some eggs around for a while, cracked one onto the grill and then flipped the other into his hat. He set the entire grill surface on fire with flames that shot up three feet. He made a volcano out of a tower of onion rings, and then he put out some flames with a guy-shaped water bottle that squirted from an interesting spot. Don’t compare it too much to Nakato. Similar concept in the world of hibachi grills, but different feel. One doesn’t replace the other.
This is a hibachi place, obviously, so much of the menu consists of combinations for the grill. At lunch, the hibachi menu is $5.95 (for veggies and tofu) to $10.95 (for combos with shrimp, calamari, scallops and salmon). At dinner, the range is $13.95 to $37.95 with some fancier options such as lobster and filet mignon. There is also a variety of appetizers, salads and clever sushi rolls with fun names like the Caribbean Queen or the Spicy Jazz Roll. (And there’s the odd side dish of lobster for $15. What?)

I tried Ohana with GO Magazine art director Kari Engel, who had been there a couple of times before. She and I both opted for seafood hibachi choices. She got tilapia, and I tried the calamari. Serving sizes are generous. You get rice, noodles and crisp grilled veggies with your meal. I definitely got enough food for two people and wound up taking a lot of it home. My entrée came with two big calamari steaks.

It helps to like sweet food here because much of what goes onto the grill comes off of it with a sweet sauce. The calamari was perfectly cooked and tender and lovely, but my favorite part of the meal was the shrimp appetizer our chef gave everyone. It had some barely crunchy, extra-garlicky, super-buttery topping. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I was a fan of everything I tried. Kari liked it, I think, because this was her third visit. There are eight seats per grill, so you can come with a group. But it’s fun to mingle with whatever random people you are seated next to you when you come with just a couple of other people. Kari found out she went to high school with our neighboring diners’ son. Small world, right?

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