Okonomiyaki!

The word means something like "as you like it." I think that applies to both customer and cook as no two places do it quite the same. Lopez, in Hiroshima, is a family run affair with the Guatemalan patriarch transplant and his wife running the teppan and the kids serving drinks and doing dishes. At heart, it's a Japanese omelette, but you can get it in a crêpe, or with udon, or green onions, or veg, or bacon, with additional toppings like squid or more udon or--here's the Guatemalan influence--jalapeños. Like I said, as you like it.

It's good. It's pretty much what you want to eat in college at two in the morning when you're blazed and watching The Empire Strikes Back. Salty, sweet, eggy, and noodly if you want. I'd go back.

Karen had another trick up her sleeve after dinner: Koba, the 80s metal bar catering to expats. Sat next to an engineer as his girlfriend from Boise and listened to Whitesnake and RATT. More expats flowed in. We flowed out. But there's a global sentiment that lingers.