Blog 087 > Japanese Cuisine & Comedy!

One or two weeks ago, as part of her ongoing HTML studies, Vanessa suggested a weekend study session followed by lunch at the Osaka Japanese Restaurant on Sahara Avenue (Las Vegas). She later decided to skip the library, and on Saturday (yesterday), we finally went to the restaurant! Due to circumstances, I reached the place about 45 minutes before she and her sister Arlene did. But during the wait, I recorded a little video (at the bottom of this post) to pass the time, lol…

Since I forgot to take a photo of the front, and I was unsure about taking photos of the interior, these first three pics come from the US Menu Guide website. The three of us sat at a table overlooking the sushi bar (Image 002), which was fine. But on my way to the bathroom in the back, the tatami rooms looked amazing (Image 003)! After all, I already sit on the floor rug with a little table when I eat in front of the TV, lol. If I’d known earlier, I would’ve requested one of those tables!

Needless to say, the food was amazing. For our appetizer, we chose the shrimp tempura. For my lunch box (makunouchi bento), I chose chicken teriyaki and grilled salmon which came with green salad, pickled veggies, fried gyoza dumplings, California rolls, rice with one umeboshi on top, and soup. For my drink, a normal lemonade, lol. But what’s funny, is that even though I fumbled with the chopsticks at the beginning of the meal (I’ve rarely used them till now), by the end, I was using them fine without even thinking about it! Hahaha, both Vanessa and Arlene still wanted to request a normal spoon and fork for me. How sweet, lol.

Fortunately, I remembered to take photos of MY “Dream Bomba” dessert and the dessert menu (Photos 001-003), with permission from our polite waitress, lol. Oddly enough, even though V and A said they were full, they decided to finish half of MY dessert! Caramel surrounded by peanut butter gelato and coated in chocolate, mmm!

After the meal and coming back home, I decided to check out their website. While LasVegas-Sushi.com is a rather slow and clunky Flash site, it’s still rather entertaining and illuminating if you have the time. (Wow, the only Japanese Restaurant outside of Japan given the honor of being named in Shukan Asahi magazine’s “50 Best Japanese Restaurants”!) However, for those short on time, here are a half-dozen screencaps with enlargements (Screencaps 001-006).

At last, the comedy! While this was Vanessa’s second time to Osaka, this was Arlene’s and my first time. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a cute girl who also happened to be our waitress. While I replied with a “Hi”, I then added in a softer tone “Konnichiwa” (both Hello and Good Afternoon). The waitress smiled back “Konnichiwa”, and asked how I knew this. I answered, “Because I watch anime.” LOL.

Over the next hour and a half, our lunch was fun! Laughing about eyeglass frames (Whose idea was it to get my current frames? Vanessa’s or mine?), about my going back into dating (Have you tried Match.com? Expanding your MySpace? Speed dating? LOL) and Arlene’s own dating experiences. And the waitress’s service was very considerate and polite. So naturally, during this time, I think Arlene got the idea that there was chemistry between the waitress and me, and the waitress was interested in me, especially since the “Konnichiwa”! And Vanessa agreed! Wait! What?! LOL, towards the end of the meal, Vanessa joked about the situation (lovey-dovey play-acting as both the waitress and me), while Arlene seemed determined to get her name and number for me!

So when the waitress brought back the “Dream Bomba” dessert (I returned from the bathroom AFTER she took the order), Arlene started! She thanked her for her service and proceeded to ask her name! The waitress pointed to the tiny letters on her apron and said “Yuki”. A-ha, Yuki! Instinctively, I smiled “That means snow, right?” She smiled back, “That’s right. Impressive!” But all too soon (Arlene was giving me this funny look), we stood up from our table with our “Thank you”s and departed into the hallway.

But it gets funnier! While we were in the hallway, the three of us stopped to figure out what to do next! Like a group of teenagers, lol! Then suddenly, Vanessa opened the door and went back inside! Meanwhile, in the hallway, I finally figured out Arlene’s funny look. By asking Yuki’s name, she was handing the situation to me. In fact, according to Arlene, Yuki’s face lit up when I knew her name meant “snow”. But Arlene also expected me to ask for her number at that moment. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the hint in time. Gahhh, lol. Arlene also understood the first-time hesitation, especially if we could come back to the restaurant next time for a more-comfortable scenario. Then again, she noted “That’s how the younger generation does it!”

Suddenly, my cellphone rang! Hahaha, it was Vanessa from the bathroom! She actually needed to use it, but hadn’t seen Yuki yet to ask her number. Then afterwards, coming back from the bathroom, she once again didn’t see her, lol. At this point, we decided to exit the dark hallway and enter the bright hot Vegas sunlight. Vanessa also decided not to ask Yuki if I still felt uncomfortable. It was definitely awkward, lol, but I wouldn’t have minded, would I? Then again, maybe Vanessa was right, lol. Like I told Arlene earlier, maybe I’m still looking for excuses. But why? In any case, Osaka with V and A was great, fun and memorable to say the least! We can try again next time, but don’t forget those tatami rooms! LOL!

Bonus Video > Waiting for Osaka. So here’s a little 10-minute bonus video I did while waiting outside the restaurant for Vanessa and Arlene to arrive for lunch. Not the best video, but not the worst either, lol.