Benihana's New York debut (1964)
Rocky Aoki opened the first Benihana on West 56th Street in Manhattan, where chefs cooked steaks and shrimp on hibachi grills at the table. The theatrical format turned dinner into a show and drew celebrity regulars.
The restaurant became a hit and spawned a national chain built on teppanyaki theater.
By the 2020s the chain had roughly 80 units, and the brand became a template for American hibachi dining.
Benihana Express deliberately strips out the tableside theater that made the brand famous, replacing it with counter service for fast-casual locations. The Denver permit shows the brand betting on a format Aoki never built.
