Rudy Sipahutar has a pretty neat job. On a nightly basis, he performs magic tricks, juggles knives and other cooking utensils, and makes hungry people really happy – all the while wearing a really cool hat. Even though Sipahutar has been a hibachi chef for more than 10 years, he rolls his food-laden cart out to every new table of customers with a smile and enthusiasm that makes him one of the most popular fixtures at Fuji Japanese Sushi & Steak House in Ashland.
    “I make fun with the fire and I like singing and doing magic tricks,” Sipahutar says. “I really like making the children laugh.”
Children laughing, adults smiling, and everyone’s mouth watering at the enormous portions of tasty food Sipahutar is cooking on the 180-degree grill right in front of them. Dinner and a show.
    “I love hibachi – it’s a fun show and you get to eat. Win win,” said Susan Poon, who enjoyed Sipahutar's technique and talent during a recent trip to her hometown. Poon, who now lives in China, said the food at Fuji satisfied her craving for “Americanized Asian food.”
    “In the westernized area of China, they have Japanese restaurants, but they don’t engage you like this. And they don’t use butter,” Poon said.
    Say what???
    A generous amount of butter goes into pretty much everything Sipahutar cooks on the grill. Most customers get to see his famous “butter fly” as he adds the creamy yellow deliciousness to each dish. Garlic abounds, too – as long as the customer is okay with that. And then there are the sauces – ginger, Yum Yum, soy and the house secret teriyaki.
    “Hibachi is fresh cooking on the grill – lots of vegetables, steak, chicken and seafood,” Sipahutar explained. “And here, we give you much good food.”
    Sipahutar learned his craft in North Carolina and joined Tara Lin at her Ashland restaurant soon after it opened in April 2016. Lin and her family have owned and operated eight other Japanese restaurants in the U.S., including ones in Florida, Seattle and West Virginia. In the Mountain State, they have businesses in Morgantown, Fairmont, Beckley and Charleston.
Lin’s husband, Weng Zheng, searched on the internet for their first Kentucky location and then designed and remodeled the 108-seat 13th Street restaurant, which had been home to various other dining establishments in the past. “The city and our landlords (Jim and Shana Gibb) helped us out a lot. Business has been good. In a small town, it can be slow but we stay pretty busy,” Lin said.
    Besides delicious food in large portions, Lin said it’s important to have a friendly staff and to treat them like family. And together, they make sure the customers are always happy and the restaurant is always clean. “Clean is very important. We make sure everything is very clean,” she said. “If you take care of customers, they will always come back.”
    Lin is at the restaurant every day, from open to close, working right alongside her employees. “We prepare everything fresh, every day. That is why it is so good.” From the avocado in the sushi, to the vegetables for the grill, to the meat and seafood (the scallops are huge!) in many of the dishes – all is either brought in fresh daily or chopped and prepped each day, sometimes several times.
    Fuji’s menu is extensive, even a bit daunting, and is divided into sections for sushi, tempura, and hibachi, as well as a full selection of side dishes and appetizers. There are a variety of entrees made with Fuji’s special teriyaki sauce and an entire page of “Special Rolls,” which are cooked and uncooked sushi rolls, some fried, some spicy, and all delicious. The most popular are Fuji Roll (tempura shrimp, spicy tuna, cream cheese and fried avocado topped with eel sauce and spicy mayo) and Kentucky Roll, which has the same ingredients as the Fuji, except for tempura crab in lieu of spicy tuna.
    Susan Poon and her dining companions had already finished their meal when they heard people talk about the Kentucky Roll. So, they ordered one and stayed a while longer. They weren’t disappointed.
    “It was so good," said Amy Thomas of Worthington. “It all was.” Thomas, who was celebrating her birthday that evening, had actually enjoyed a slice of fried cheesecake accompanied by a birthday serenade right before the sushi order. “They made a face in the cheesecake; it was really cute. I loved the presentation, and everything was delicious.”
    Poon, Howard and the others who were with them all left with a box of leftovers, a common occurrence at Fuji. “It’s very rare that someone can eat all the food we give them,” said Josh Riedel of Ironton, a server at Fuji since October.
    The prices at Fuji are a bit higher than other hibachi restaurants in the area – between $21 and $23 for a full hibachi dinner of meat, vegetables, noodles or rice, soup and salad – but when the leftovers stretch into another meal (or two) the next day, then the price seems like a bargain. Riedel said the quality food and great service are why customers tell him they keep coming back. “It’s great entertainment. The interaction of the chefs with the customers is great to watch,” he said.