Best Bites: Koto Restaurant

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792 Shelburne Road, South Burlington 660-8976

Look, I know this is going to ruin my Japanese culinary cred, but I can't help it. Just as even the most hardened, braised sea-cucumber-and-Phoenix-talon-muncher sometimes craves some General Tso, there are days that I crave a little Koto. Just because it's Americanized Japanese food doesn't mean it's not well prepared.

And when I need my fix, I always hit the Shelburne Road kimono-and-koi-crusted fortress for lunch. It's not just because I'm cheap — it's the only time you can get bento boxes.

Lunch boxes include soup, salad, California roll, gyoza and melon along with choice of entrée. Last week, I ordered the Beef Teriyaki. To my surprise, my waiter asked how I would like the meat to be cooked. Even more impressive, the tender steak actually arrived medium-rare and in a gingery, not-too-saccharine sauce. This well-prepared, gut-busting meal came in at only $11. And that's the most expensive lunch boxes get. The crisp, satisfying tonkatsu (pictured) is $9.

For a comparative splurge, I occasionally require the comfort of the $12.45 hibachi chicken. Eaten at the regular table, of course. I have no patience for sitting through "The Volcano" and the chef's attempts to make me catch a piece of chicken with my mouth. Someone in my hometown died attempting the feat a few years ago. That would be me.

Somehow, though, the sesame-flecked, soy sauce-drenched noodles with zucchini, onions, mushrooms and mustard and ginger dipping sauces really hits the spot. Want to go really go Euro? End the meal with a decadent slab of Klinger's chocolate mousse cake, buried in a mountain of whipped cream. Just keep in mind, it's the Alps not Hokkaido.

Comments

[Lisa Crean]

Does Asian Bistro do lunch boxes? (I don't know, because it's all sushi, all the time for me.) Because their sushi is WAY better. Not judging you at all for your bento fandom, believe me, because I grew up on bento boxes (aka "plate lunch") in Honolulu. Found a great plate lunch place near where I was staying last time I visited, in '06. They did a real double-take when this pale mainland haole-looking woman driving a rental car ordered her plate lunch with a big slab of fried saba (mackerel). Not to mention the pound of aku poke (raw fish & seaweed salad) to go!