You can order the chicken in quarter or half sizes (to eat in or to go), with a side of french fries, onion rings, rice or corn. The other exciting thing on the menu is the Maui Wowie, a hot sandwich of shredded chicken ...

It also does several excellent varieties of poke, a salad of raw, marinated seafood and chopped vegetables. But the restaurant's strongest point is its lively selection of daily specials that keeps it steps ahead of Tokyo's one-trick-wonder Hawaiian joints.

Another Hawaiian-run restaurant that specializes in local island dishes.

The pancakes at the Tokyo outpost of Oahu's popular Cafe Kaila are indeed very good. They are light and fluffy but not at all vapid; they're incredibly filling and include a surprisingly generous amount of fruit.

Because it's prepared each day and takes so long to cook, the brisket is not offered at lunchtime. But with the chicken, the meaty back ribs or the chopped pork ("It's given a vinegar rinse, in the South Carolina style"), there's still enough choice.

Beacon styles itself as an "urban chop house." What that means is a self-confident, high-end grill in the best American tradition. Swanky and polished, it exudes the reassuring, understated elegance (and, it must be said, the equivalent sticker price) of a Lincoln Continental.

You come here for power eating. The menu offers eight different cuts of beef, ranging from a basic half-pound of New Zealand tenderloin or 10 ounces (283 grams) of U.S. Angus sirloin to 22-oz (625-gram) porterhouse steaks of prime Japanese wagyu (for two, they ...

There is fish (including Ahi tuna, swordfish and smoked salmon); seafood (jumbo shrimp); mixed organic vegetables; teriyaki chicken; duck; tea-flavored pork chops; barbecued lamb kebabs; and a choice of U.S. or Hida-Takayama beef steaks, for which you can select the size or price of ...

Scan the menu and it's hard to believe you're still in Japan. Meatloaf, burgers and quesadillas; steaks and eggs. This is the kind of down-home, stick-to-your-ribs diner fare that many a homesick ex-pat North American lies awake pining for, once the initial excitement of ...