Restaurant Review: Domo

From what I can tell, if you want to eat Japanese in the Denver area, you must go to Domo. That’s certainly what all the awards and accolades they’ve received over the years seems to indicate.

And I believe it. We swapped sitting duties with Jackie, and headed up toward downtown to meet Stan at the restaurant.

Okay, first off, it’s not just a restaurant. It’s a cultural center. It’s a garden. It’s a museum. And it’s the largest Aikido dojo in the Rocky Mountain region (or so they say). All of which gives you plenty to see between placing your order and your food coming out.

The service was excellent — subtle, explanitory, helpful, omni-present yet never in the way. The only critique I ever had on that order was that nobody ever refilled our water.

As far as the food — Domo specializes in northern Japanese/rural style food. They eschew the soy sauce and wassabi goop in favor of other flavors. The sushi menu is limited in variety, but served in a more rustic fashion, and Margie and Stan seemed to enjoy it a great deal. All the little family style sides were interesting (at least the ones I chose to partake from).

I chose an intersting yellowtail steak, served with rice and green, red, and jalepeno peppers, served with some yummy teriyaki steak sauce. Throw in 22-oz. Sapporo, and I was set.

Not cheap (though not as expensive as some places), but good food, marvelous surroundings, great service, and enjoyable company. Hard to improve on that. Definitely marking that down for another visit some time.

And here’s your Japanese dining trivia for today:

Q. Am I supposed to rub my chopsticks together before my meal?

A. Some think that rubbing your chopsticks together before a meal is a Japanese custom meant to remove splinters. In fact, rubbing chopsticks together can encourage more splinters than it actually takes off! This ritual originates from an early Charlie Chaplin movie that was popular in Japan before WWII. In this movie, Charlie Chaplin rubs his knife and fork together as a gesture of culinary anticipation. The Japanese people who were fans of the movie at the time, mimicked this action with their
chopsticks. After WWII, American GIs returning from Japan brought this American born custom home again! In Japan today it is not a commonly practiced custom.