Swish hitting is back in Denver: Kobe An Shabu Shabu gets it right

Metro Denver still has so many mysteries. Kobe An Shabu Shabu is one of them. What took so long?

The Mile High restaurant scene has not only caught up with the expertise and creativity in other American restaurant towns, but in so many ways, Colorado has ran past the pack.

Shabu shabu at Kobe An Shabu Shabu in Denver Highlands, 3400 Osage St.

Shabu shabu at Kobe An Shabu Shabu in Denver Highlands, 3400 Osage St.

Sukiyaki set up at Kobe An Shabu Shabu in Denver Highlands, 3400 Osage St.

John Broening, Matt Selby, Yasmin Lozada-Hissom, Patrick DuPays and an army of other talented food artists have made the Front Range a place to compare to other regions.

So how is it that a place that serves exquisite Mexico City fare and even odd Scandinavian goodies has been so long without a shabu-shabu house?

If you missed it, J-Shabu at Havana and Iliff in Aurora served this quintessentially Japanese hot-pot experience for about two years, closing the doors because of a lack of interest in 2010. It was a tragic loss to Denver’s food scene.

These sukiyaki and hot-pot houses have shone for decades in places like San Francisco, New York, Honolulu and Chicago. For Aurora-Denver, a place that for years has focused on fresh and local, this is an overdue natural.

Kobe An Shabu Shabu has opened in the Denver’s Highlands to fill the void.

If you haven’t swished, here’s what you’ve done without. Japanese hot pot dishes are historic. For eons, simple pots of hot broth at a table filled with what’s available have been a staple of Japanese food culture. In the 1950s, the famed Tokyo restaurant Suehiro created a system of table-top burners and a style of allowing diners to add vegetables and flavors to boiling water. Then moms, dads, dates or kids “swish swish” thinly sliced meat through the concoction to create a light and flavorful meal. The iconic restaurant reportedly trademarked the name, “shabu, shabu,” in 1955.

Since then, restaurants have traditionalized the experience, usually offering fancy table-top induction burners in a  minimalistic contemporary or clean Japanese country environment.

Kobe An owners, who’ve served classic Japanese dishes for years at their Green Mountain restaurant, have returned the tradition to Denver in the closed historic Little Pepina’s restaurant at 3400 Osage St.

So far, so good. On a soft-opening night, we shared an order of house-beef shabu shabu and sukiyaki. Both were extraordinary.

This is a place heavy on tradition and classic presentation. The shabu shabu water comes to the table in a large pot sporting only a small chunk of kelp, Kombu. Others can serve broth instead of water, but the result robs you of the chance to taste  the subtleties of quality, aged rib-eye steak sliced paper-thin and just a handful of extremely fresh vegetables. The water gets hot, you throw in some mushrooms, a few noodles, carrots and onion. In a just a few minutes, you’ve created an amazing broth that you swish the beef into for just a second or two, then dip in one of two sauces: a slightly sweet goma dare, made from a light soy sauce, or ponzu, a fragrant sesame based luxury. No oils or salt. No shortage of flavor, either. The cuts of beef, udon and tofu were flawless. The rice, either white or brown, were so good, it was hard to hold enough back to make the traditional porridge with the leftover broth.

While we had the 21-day aged house sirloin for $23, you can “upgrade” to an Angus beef for $31, or an American Kobe beef for $59. It’s hard to understand why anyone would. Our beef slices were spectacular.

Our only beef with the entire experience was the price. Even in Honolulu, respectable shabu-shabu houses offer quality bowls for well under $20 per person.

The beef at Kobe An was impressive, and you get small bowl of tangy miso soup, but even the quality and the novelty of the event makes you get squinty at $23 per person. You can split an order and pay $3 for an extra shabu-shabu set-up. A viable alternative. It’s enough to share.

I would never share the sukiyaki. It’s too good. An even more historic Japanese hot-pot icon, it’s served somewhat like shabu-shabu. But here, a brilliant, slightly sweet broth and fresh veggies comes to the table. Diners add thin beef as they like, dipping that, a few noodles and the mushrooms in a creamy raw egg, which is optional. It brings all the flavors of the Japanese countryside into one bowl. The dish is the same price as the shabu-shabu, and it also comes with brown or white rice and miso soup. The same beef choices are offered.

Both of the dishes lend themselves to whatever the season. Shabu-shabu is perfect at the end of a leisurely summer day, or essential eating on a dark wintry evening. It can break the monotony of loneliness by sitting by yourself at the bar, or offer a memorable evening of romance with a companion, or be the center of nearly frenzied fun with friends. There’s really nothing like it. It’s much more casual and healthful than fondue, and endlessly more satisfying than eating a cacophony of tapas.

We’ll be back to say more about an inviting outdoor country Japanese patio, the promise of flavored ices and an interesting mix of sakes, but there’s no need for you to wait. Go now before the lines get long and Denver waits for another shabu-shabu haunt to open.

Kobe An Shabu Shabu

3400 Osage St.

303-284-6342

Reservations via Yelp’s seat me system

Tuesday-Thursday 5pm-10pm

Friday & Saturday 5pm-11pm

Sunday 5pm-10pm

Closed Monday

Prices:

Apps for about $4

Dinner for $23-$59, prix fix, vegetarian shabu shabu option of $17

Desserts for $6

Full bar, including local craft beers, domestic and imported wines, hot or cold sakes and Japanese whiskeys

All credit cards accepted