Restaurants in Delaware

As San Su BBQ's showy chefs fricassee vegetables, seafood, and meat on inlaid tabletop grills, awed diners fleck each newly barbecued morsel with a mélange of distinctly Korean condiments plucked from small constellations of finger bowls. Sesame and mustard sauces join tart kimchi as they flavor sizzling stone bowls of bibim bap, several styles of noodles, and traditional breaded katsu dishes. Smooth black marble encircles each grill, bolstering dishes served amid wood-paneled screens and lush potted plants whose leaves change color according to the nearest Scoville rating.

Fingers scroll across tabletop iPads, zooming in on photos of rolls, noodles, and the rest of Aoi Blue Bar's menu. Rolls brimming with scallops, tuna, and cucumbers slip past in the images, and udon noodles swirl around vegetables, tofu, and beef. Behind a nearby stone-topped sushi bar, decorative wooden fans sprawl over a parsley-hedged display case full of fillets, shrimp tails, and avocado halves awaiting sushi knives on a bed of ice. International influences infiltrate the primarily Japanese menu in the form of kimchi and handmade lamb meatballs. Aoi periodically invites DJs to fill the dining room with thrumming beats and lively lights, which turn diners to dancing after their meals and let visiting disco balls fit in.

Aromas of searing meats and vegetables waft from fiery hibachi grills inside Tanuki Japanese Steakhouse Sushi & Bar. Chefs dexterously slice pieces of calamari, chicken, and new york strip steak atop the grills' scorching surfaces, creating bite-sized servings for diners. Behind the sushi bar, other chefs devote themselves to rapidly assembling layered nigiri and carefully rolled maki. Besides traditional rolls, they also experiment by incorporating such flavorful ingredients as chicken tempura, sweet chili sauce, and jalapeños into their special rolls.