Atlantic City Weekly

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FORTY YEARS AGO MOST Americans weren't cognizant of what Japanese food was all about. Today the thousands of Japanese restaurants scattered throughout our country are helping diners to discover the wonders of Japanese cuisine. A recent craving for Japanese fare brought my husband Dan and me back to Mikado II. We enjoyed our first meal there soon after the restaurant settled into its Margate location about 15 months ago.

Mikado's dining room is light, bright and airy. Neatly framed Oriental paintings decorate its walls and white paper Japanese lanterns hang from the ceiling. Lining one wall of the restaurant's entrance area is a sushi bar where one can observe managing co-owner and sushi chef (itamae) Henry Zhang as he artfully shapes sushi rolls into delicate morsels. In addition to preparing the hand rolls, Zhang is also one of the restaurant's chefs. He strongly believes that it is very important to use the freshest seafood, meats and produce available and, in order to make this happen, the restaurant's commodities are purchased daily from Philadelphia markets.

If you're not familiar with Mikado II, here's the deal. The diverse menu includes 76 appetizers ranging from edamame (steamed soy beans) to tatsuta age (deep fried marinated chicken wings), and scalmon (broiled salmon and scallion on skewers). Among the many raw sushi choices are ika (squid), tako (octopus), maguro (tuna) and tobiko (flying fish roe). If raw fish isn't your dish, then consider tasty cooked alternatives such as a Philadelphia roll with smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese, or a spider roll (not what the name implies, but rather a soft shell crab roll with caviar, cucumber, lettuce and mayonnaise). Our favorite is a tempura maki roll, prepared with lightly fried shrimp, cucumber, lettuce, caviar & mayonnaise. It's a delicious take on the California roll and a favorite of raw and cooked sushi aficionados. There are also all-vegetable dishes, fish entrées, meat dishes and dinner combos.

Diners have the choice of sitting at a conventional table or booth for lunch or dinner, or dining "hibachi style" at a Teppan table. Dan and I prefer the latter because we can actually watch our knife-wielding "personal" chef demonstrate the art of hibachi cooking in a very entertaining way. We were seated at one of the room's seven horseshoe-shaped Teppan tables. Each has a metal cooking surface in the middle and seating for eight people around its three sides. We were soon joined by a family of five, including 13-year-old twin girls. Our waitress, Winnie, dressed in an authentic Japanese kimono, brought us a pot of hot green tea which we sipped while exploring the menu. Next we were each served a bowl of hot miso soup, a hearty soup traditionally made with a soybean paste and flavored with seaweed and diced green scallions. This was followed with a salad of iceberg lettuce topped with a ginger-flavored ranch dressing. While I noshed on a California roll ($3.75; crab stick, avocado and cucumber -- very tasty) our table partners shared a platter of assorted sushi and sashimi. Their comments and empty platters indicated that they were satisfied with each item.

Among the menu's hibachi entrée choices are a vegetable platter ($15.95), chicken ($17.95), scallops ($21.95) and lobster ($31.95). Also available are hibachi combination dinners such as chicken and shrimp ($21.95), New York steak and scallops ($24.95), filet mignon and shrimp ($25.95) and filet mignon and lobster ($31.95). All entrées include the miso soup, salad, two hibachi shrimp and vegetable fried rice. We can almost guarantee that nobody is hungry when they leave Mikado II.

For our dinner choices Dan chose the filet mignon and shrimp combo; I had the chicken and New York steak ($22.95). Our table partners ordered similar meals. And then the show began! Jerry, our hibachi chef, twirled his cooking utensils, flipped eggs in the air, built volcanoes from onion rings and then set them afire. Conventional tricks, yes. I've seen hibachi chefs perform feats with greater dexterity and theatrics, but nonetheless this was very entertaining. Jerry also adeptly cut, sliced, diced and stirred the vegetables and cooked seven steaks to the various requested degrees of doneness. Dan's filet mignon was tender and delicious; my steak was of the melt-in-your-mouth variety. The shrimp and chicken were very tasty.

The twins at our table shared a dessert of banana tempura (fried banana) with vanilla ice cream ($6.50). It looked delish, but the restaurant's complimentary pineapple chunks and fresh cantaloupe served as the ideal finale to our meals.

Everything was delicious and our yen for Japanese food was fully satisfied. Knowing that Japanese cuisine is deemed to be low in calories and saturated fats made our Mikado II dining experience even more pleasurable.

Mikado II, 9210 Ventnor Avenue, Margate. Non-smoking restaurant; BYOB; open year-round seven days a week. Closed only on Thanksgiving. Current winter hours: Lunch served Monday-Friday from 12 noon-3pm. Dinner served Monday-Thursday from 4:30pm-10pm; Friday from 4:30-11pm; Saturday from 1pm-11pm; Sunday from 1pm-10pm. Open Christmas and New Years; reservations currently being taken for holiday parties. Special dessert served "on the house" to birthday celebrants when manager is told ahead of time. Large takeout menu.