Pacific Bistro

Dishes Up Three Distinct Dining

Adventures Under One Roof

By John Voket

Whether you enjoy the clank and sizzle of Japanese hibachi cooking, the cool freshness of sushi, or the culinary adventures of Pan Asian cuisine, Newtown’s newest eatery, Pacific Asian Bistro & Hibachi, provides a spacious option.

The 5,000-square-foot restaurant at 123 South Main Street, on the site of the former Fireside catering hall, is now welcoming diners with a robust staff, diverse refreshments, and a new kind of entertainment never before seen in Newtown.

While manager Danny Chen boasted numerous attributes of his facility and menu, he admitted that the specially trained hibachi chefs and carefully choreographed cooking demonstrations they present to parties of 2 to 18 at each of three seating stations are the restaurant’s main attraction.

Mr Chen said that in planning the new establishment, he was recruited into the position because investors appreciated his experience in both operating a high-volume Benihana hibachi franchise, and managing a busy Chinese restaurant in Manhattan.

“I’ve worked in food service all my life,” Mr Chen told The Newtown Bee during a recent visit. “So when I met the owners through a mutual friend, they asked for my help because of my expertise running large upscale restaurants.”

The sprawling Pacific bistro, Mr Chen said, was designed for a multifaceted dining experience under one roof. This concept combines the challenges of crafting a menu with favorites for various types of patrons, with distinct staffing requirements for each of the three types of cuisine offered.  

Most of the chefs at Pacific started as food prep associates and advanced up the ladder, developing specific skill sets.  

For instance, the sushi chefs require a good eye for freshness and presentation, while the hibachi chefs need to balance developing a quick rapport with patrons at the hibachi table, while perfectly timing the cooking of entrees. And they have to accomplish both of these while chopping, flipping and processing meat and veggies with razor-sharp utensils over a searing hot grill.

“These chefs need to know how to cook while interacting constantly with the customers at their table,” he said. “And they are always looking to learn a few tricks.  It’s very different from line cooking because there is a constant person-to-person experience and you have to keep smiling.”

Mr Chen said in the sushi department, it is all about freshness.

“It’s very important for quality control to use ingredients as fresh and natural as we can get,” he said.  As a result, the menu may vary slightly day-to-day or by the season, and to maintain peak freshness, Pacific may only include specialty fish items in their weekend sushi specials.

During the visit, a sample of sushi provided springy, chewy pieces of squid (ika) and melt-in-your-mouth octopus (tako). And while the recommended appetizer of Dragon Ball — spicy crunchy tuna fully encased in avocado ($8.95) — was more mushy than crunchy, a reorder with extra tempura was quickly delivered and yielded the tantalizing sensation of each of the three advertised ingredients.

Mr Chen also recommended the Sweetheart roll, which combines tuna, salmon, and avocado wrapped in pink seaweed and plated to look more like a flower arrangement than an edible roll of raw fish.

Pacific’s Pan Asian offerings combine Chinese, Japanese and Thai elements, and the manager said that while a common item on virtually every Asian restaurant’s menu, the General Tso’s chicken ($12.95) and shrimp ($15.95) are raved about by his customers.

A sample of the recommended Curried Seafood Hot Pot ($16.95), served over white or brown rice, was appropriately spicy but also sweetened by the creamy stock. Each type of seafood in the dish held its own proper consistency, and the medley of asparagus, red pepper, shitake mushrooms and zucchini tasted farm fresh.

An appetizer of soft shell crab ($8.95) was a bit skimpy, but perfectly batter-fried and crunchy. The house special udon noodle ($11.95) with veggies, chicken, roast pork, beef and shrimp was generously portioned and wonderfully gummy.

According to Mr Chen, the outdoor patio seats about 20, the hibachi suite hosts 18 to 75, and the rest of the large space remains available for walk-ins. Pacific’s full bar offers reasonably priced cocktails, Asian beers, wine, and cold sake.

“But everyone loves the Mai Tai,” the manager said of the $6.95 concoction of light and dark rum infused with triple-sec, pineapple and orange juice.

During the visit, the music playing was a loud and curious combination of Korean pop, Eminem, Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson — and the overhead lighting fixtures at the tables lack diffusers, so if you are seated in the restaurant area as opposed to the hibachi grill, be prepared for an extremely enlightening dining experience.

A visit to the hibachi room was heightened as one of the hibachi chefs lit up the table with a huge ball of fire, and proceeded to put on his best show, flipping pieces of food into his own hat and into the mouths of a few willing patrons.

Pacific is open Monday through Saturday from 11:30 am to 10 pm, and Sundays noon to 10 pm. For reservations or information, call 203-304-9688 or visit www.pacificnewtown.com.