Tanaka of Tokyo excited about new digs, cooktops

Tanaka of Tokyo will be breaking ground with new technology when it moves from its King’s Village home of 25 years into the Ohana Waikiki East Hotel.

The restaurant will be using new Evo EVent cooktop tables from Oregon-based Evo Inc. that do not require overhead exhaust hoods or fire suppression systems, completely changing the look of the teppanyaki-style dinner-and-a-show experience.

"We’re the first restaurant in Hawaii that’s going to have these tables," said Chester Kaneshiro, president of Hawaii-based Tanaka of Tokyo Restaurants Ltd., a fact affirmed by Evo Inc. Director of Marketing LeAnne Williams.

The new high-tech cooktops use downdraft ventilation that sweeps air down and through four filters before "it comes back out 99.9 percent smoke-free and grease-free," Kaneshiro said.

Teppan-style restaurants always have needed high ceilings to accommodate the exhaust hoods and additional ductwork for ventilating smoke and cooking fumes, so finding a new space for such a restaurant is a challenging proposition.

"It was a big factor in finding a location," and the ceiling in the Ohana East space was too low for their traditional design, so an email Kaneshiro got from Evo out of the blue "was a godsend," he said.

"I guess they were looking for customers," so the company paid a visit to Evo in Beaverton.

"We took a look at it, thought it was great and tested it," Kaneshiro said. "These are electric. The heating and performance are up to our standards, and the quality of the food is great. It’s a wonderful piece of cooking technology, just a game-changer for the industry," he said.

"It worked great and we ordered 18 of them, and that’s why we’re able to open in the Ohana," Kaneshiro said. One of the new tables has been in use for crew training at the King’s Village location.

Another upside for the guests is that they "won’t come out smelling like teppanyaki," he chuckled.

The new cooktops cost $45,000, which is more than the traditional cooktops, "but when you factor in not having to install exhaust hoods and fire suppression systems, in the long run we come out ahead," Kaneshiro said.

The electric-powered tables also are "more energy-efficient because once our chef is pau with cooking, he can turn it off, so we’re not sucking out air conditioning," as happens with the overhead exhaust hoods at traditional teppan-style restaurants.

"We have to pump in more AC" to compensate for the loss of cooling, he said.

"This is going to be very energy-efficient. Wow, that’s really going to have a big impact" on costs, he said.

Because the move from King’s Village to Ohana East involves new equipment, versus relocating old, the transition will be seamless. The restaurant will close Sept. 30 at King’s Village, but Tanaka of Tokyo will reopen for nightly business at Ohana East at 5 p.m. Oct. 1, with all 60 employees from the former spot, kitty-corner from the new.

Its new space in the former Round Table Pizza spot is on the ground floor, versus its third-floor location in King’s Village, "so the visibility will be much better," Kaneshiro said.

"I can’t wait to open in two months," he said.

Tanaka of Tokyo first opened in Hawaii in the Waikiki Shopping Plaza 38 years ago; it moved to the third floor of the plaza, from the fourth floor, two years ago.

Its Ilikai location operated for some 18 years before moving to Ala Moana Center six years ago.

ON THE NET:

» tanakaoftokyo.com
» evoamerica.com

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.

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CORRECTION: Tanaka’s of Tokyo will be opening Oct. 1 in the Ohana Waikiki East location. A previous version of this story reported a different opening date.