Kimono Restaurant
1654 East 2nd Street
Benicia, CA 94510
707 750-5418
Listen to your tastebuds…are they calling for juicy filet, grilled shrimp, buttery lobster, sashimi or sushi?
This is the place for a table for two or a family gathering with tasty specialties by the talented teppanyaki chefs who chop, flip and entertain you with an array of tricks. Can you say onion volcano? So much fun.
Check out the extremely popular “lunch boat” with something for everyone—choose salmon, beef and/or chicken to go with the soup, salad, sashimi, sushi roll, shrimp tempura, rice and fresh fruit. Enough for the largest appetite! Wow. The “Mary Me Sushi” Bloody Mary is something to behold and could be a lunch in itself for Gracie Gourmet. Only Certified Angus Beef is offered and cooked to your choice of perfection. The hibachi preparations come with absolutely delicious Kimono sauces.
In the mood for noodles?
Yakisoba comes with your choice of chicken, shrimp or steak. My personal favorite is the spicy Fire Teppan Chicken for lunch. Locals love the Benicia Roll, deep fried with salmon, avocado, cream cheese, jalapeño and spicy sauce. Banana tempura for dessert is unlike any other.
Kimono offers a full bar, Sake, beer and wine. Valet or on-site parking available. And, there’s a beautiful atrium for outdoor dining. Open daily for inside/outside seating. Takeout available.
Traditional praise for Japanese food is “Hoppe ga ochiru,” which literally means the food is so good that your cheeks are falling off! Awesome.
“My Octopus Teacher”
This gorgeous film documents a year spent with filmmaker Craig Foster as he forges a heart wrenching relationship with a wild common octopus in a South African kelp forest on the Western Cape. For most of a year, he visits her daily in the depths of the Great African Seaforest as she fends off pyjama sharks, loses an arm and regenerates over a few months. This development of trust between Craig and the highly intelligent octopus is a lesson in the fragility of life, the drive to survive and humanity’s connection with nature. Craig talks about how it healed him, changing his thinking while sparking his creativity. The respect between human and animal is breathtaking. The scene where the octopus rests underwater on his bare chest, brings tears and opens the heart.
This documentary becomes a love letter to nature as a whole and shows the universal emotions of longing and the need for connection and wholeness.
While watching, I felt like I was a part of the aquarium-like photography, beautiful with vibrant colors, in balance, flowing with the tides, moving naturally and in the right time.
Craig Foster is the founder of the Sea Change Project, which continues to tell stories that connect people to the wild, encouraging the regeneration of the planet. His documentary is food for the soul.
Directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, produced by Craig Foster, this film won the Academy Award for best documentary of 2021. Netflix. One hour, 30 minutes.
Movie Magic gives this 5 out of 5 Moons.
