At Shabu Restaurant, diners take dinner preparation into their own hands, creating edible masterpieces of Japanese cuisine with little more than a bubbling soup pot and platters of shiitake mushrooms, vermicelli noodles, morsels of tender steak, fish cakes, and squid. Within the cozy 50-seat dining room, glowing cylindrical chandeliers cast light on sleek ecru furniture and lavender-tinged orchids, while simmering vessels offer up the savory scents of MSG-free broth. In the outdoor Japanese garden, guests sip wine and sake amid the sounds of rustling bamboo leaves, burbling water, and a Japanese deer scare chasing away skittish dumpling thieves.