Chef Nestor Morales has just constructed a flaming onion volcano and juggled a bowl of shrimp tails with gravity-defying prowess, all while cooking the appetizer shrimp portion of his customers' meals.
The routine is seamless, and though Morales has done it a thousand times before, he makes it seem as though it's a fresh part of his act as the head hibachi chef at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse.
He clearly loves his job, as it allows him to flex both his culinary and comedic muscles.
In a city filled with hibachi restaurants, where the food is prepared in front of a hungry audience, every meal is a performance.
There is a stable of tricks and jokes that most chefs master as part of their routines. Building a volcano out of an onion is one. Catching the removed tails of appetizer shrimp in a bowl is another.
"This is the best job in the world because I get to entertain customers and make them a memorable meal," said Morales. "But it's also very challenging, because you only get one chance to get it right."
Such is the life of a hibachi chef. Once you've left the kitchen with your food-laden cart, there's no turning back, Morales said.
But before an aspiring hibachi chef can become a master showman and cook, he must undergo months of training. Morales knows that better than most, having started off as a dishwasher in 2001 at the former Tai Sho Japanese Steakhouse, where Kobe is currently located.
"I just wanted an after-school job," said Morales, a Fayetteville native. "But then I saw how much fun the hibachi chefs were having - and how much more money they were making - and I knew that's what I wanted to do."
Morales trained under the tutelage of former Tai Sho head chef Hatsuji "Stash" Gondro, who kept Morales in the kitchen for six months just learning portion control - how much food to give to each customer at a table.
"It's a careful balance," said Morales. "You want to divide it up evenly between everyone, or you might upset a customer."
After portion control, prospective hibachi chefs are taught how to season by eye, which can be a tremendous challenge, said Mike Goose, a 10-year hibachi chef veteran who also works at Kobe.
"Since every order is different, you can't just cook all the food with the same amount of seasoning," said Gooser. "You wouldn't use the same amount or type of seasoning for seafood that you would for steak - and even then, you've got different cuts and rarities of steak."
Further training includes learning the order of operations (which food is cooked first) and the different zones of a hibachi grill, so chefs know when to cook what and where to cook it, so they don't get overwhelmed. This also helps to avoid drying out food or cross-contaminating raw foods.
It's a lot to learn, but it's necessary, said chef Eddie Alfons, who has been a hibachi chef for nine years and who currently is head chef at Miyabi Jr. Express.
"Things move fast, so you need a system that makes it easy for you," said Alfons. "There can be a lot of pressure, so it's important to learn all these little things first."
The most integral part of a hibachi chef's training is heat control, Morales said. This entails keeping track of the grill's heat level, which is, on average, 450 degrees. That temperature will, however, fluctuate throughout the cooking process as foods of different temperatures are added to the grill's surface. Vegetables and rice, for instance, are stored at a different temperature than seafood or steak.
"If you're not careful, your grill can get too cold, and you run the risk of undercooking something," said Morales. "And that's a nightmare. Just as bad is if you try to overcompensate for a cooling grill by cranking the heat up too high, too fast, and burning food."
All three chefs agreed that 90 percent of their job takes place in the kitchen with their prep work, and that 10 percent of it is out on the grill. Either way, repetition is key, which also applies to the training involved with developing a show to go along with dinner.
"You don't want to just sit there and cook food," said Gooser. "That's boring, but it does take time to develop a routine with all the tricks. You've got to practice, practice, practice."
Chefs learn how to catch a lemon with a meat fork and juggle large salt and pepper shakers. The fake bottle of soy sauce is yet another trick, and often a great icebreaker, Morales said.
"All eyes are on you, and most hibachi chefs are shy to begin with," said Morales. "So, for us, it's a lot about just getting the food cooked right when we're starting out. But then you get comfortable, and you're able to laugh and joke and really become an entertainer, as well as a great chef."
Gooser said an imbalance in the acts can make a chef look bad.
"You don't want your customers wishing they had another chef," said Gooser. "We try to help each other, and we definitely joke around with each other. Chefs are all comedians."
It's not uncommon for chefs to incorporate each other into their routines, if they are cooking at adjacent tables, Gooser said.
Morales likes to perform juggling tricks with his meat fork and knife, while Gooser said he enjoys juggling eggs with his spatula - which took two months and lots of eggs to perfect, he said.
What Gooser likes more than anything is making people happy - what he considers the true mark of a great chef, hibachi or otherwise.
"When I see a family having a good time and they're smiling and happy, that's the best thing about this job for me," said Gooser.