review
A grill cook at Ashim’s Hibachi Grill adds oil to the flame as he cooks an onion at this nontraditional hibachi.
Ashim’s Dreams The new hibachi restaurant brings welcome variety to downtown. BY ANDREW MARTON PHOTOS BY CRYSTAL WISE
OK, let’s get one aspect of Ashim’s Hibachi Grill cleared up pronto: Yeah, it may say “Hibachi”
in its name, but the newish downtown eatery bears exactly zero resemblance to the spatula-clanging, shrimp-flipping, veggie-marauding that goes on at that world-famous hibachi chain.
In fact, it is the myriad ways that Ashim’s differs from Benihana that make it such a compelling place to frequent. Its history alone should convince most who frolic among the nearby fountains of Sundance Square to check it out. In a bow to Fort Worth’s growing diversity, Ashim’s, which opened last
8 ZEST EIGHT ONE SEVEN zest817.com
November in a long-vacant space catty-corner to The Tower, is the American dream come true for a family from Kazakhstan. Brothers and cofounders Medet and Assamad Ashim have brought their often-tasty, hibachi-fired Japanese-esque dishes to Fort Worth after leaving the land of Borat.
Enter Ashim’s, and there isn’t a scintilla of homogenous, corporatized design to the interior. That’s no coincidence as the Ashims took nine months to install and hand-build everything from a grease trap to every stick of furniture. The brothers carved and laminated old castoff wood into Caribbean-in-
March 2019
