Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are known for spending a great deal of quality time with their six children. Whenever they are in town for awards season, the famous couple likes to sneak their kids away from the prying eyes of the paparazzi so they can enjoy a little American comfort food at local restaurants back home. But guess what? When they head out to dinner, their food choice is actually Asian. Like most Americans, the celebrity couple think of Chinese (or Japanese) style dinners at a place like Benihana (a restaurant chain that specializes in Hibachi style cooking) as comfort food to be shared with family on special occasions.
So cute these two are, celebrity parents Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie! The award-winning celebrity couple love being back in LA for awards season because they get to sneak away with their kids and hit the local Benihaha Hibachi restaurant for a treat.
Imagine having all the money in the world and looking forward the most to visiting a restaurant chain that serves the easiest food in the world to prepare but delivers the meal with a cooking show of sorts.
How funny that the Brangelina family is enchanted by something so fundamentally tradition in the American family lifestyle as heading out with the kiddies to grab a bite to eat! No need for taking a celebrity chef home to fix their meals when these happy parents and cute celebrity kids are hungry.
People Magazine reports the news that Pitt inadvertently gave a press plug to the restaurant chain, saying:
Hollywood’s awards season is a time of relative calm for the Jolie-Pitt family. Oscar-nominee Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can celebrate their films – and the reaction to them – and also kick back with the kids.
On the latter score, Pitt says, the children have certain favorite activities – both at home and on outings.
“A lot of it, for us, is family,” the actor, 48, told PEOPLE Sunday at the Producers Guild Awards in Beverly Hills. “Just breaking away and getting to take the kids to Benihana’s or something.”
Now granted, Brad Pitt might have been kidding about the quest to throw off the paparazzi photogs who will surely be camped out at every Benihana restaurant chain branch in California. However, that’s probably unlikely.
Why?
Because Brad Pitt is known for taking his son Maddox out to another famous restaurant chain that is a well-known destination for families. Whenever the pair travel through New York City on a little father and son bonding adventure, they try to schedule in at least a few recreational hours to grab a nice meal and play some video games at Dave and Busters.
Regarding the cooking style at Benihana, the chefs there cook Asian inspired food on what is known as a Hibachi grill. Essentially, you visit a place that has a huge flat cooking surface surrounded by chairs and a food bar. The unique tables provide restaurant guests the opportunity to socialize round table style (even though many Hibachi tables are typically square).
Favorite meal choices include Teriyaki Chicken, Grilled Shrimp, Hibachi Steak, or a Surf-N-Turf combination (which typically includes a small serving of Filet Mignon with a Lobster Tail). Adding a mushroom or shrimp appetizer to any plate, a pile of grilled zucchini and onions, and a heap of quick fried rice that has been prepared with a little oil, butter, lemon, pepper, and fried egg makes the meal an oversized delight.
Having a Hibachi Chef do tricks with his knife work and while cooking on the grill — doing everything from juggling salt and pepper shakers to creating a volcano eruption that spews fire straight to the sky out of grilled onion rings and a mountain of fried rice makes the dinner preparation the most entertaining part of the night.
A little known fact is there are more Chinese and Asian influence restaurants in the United States than there are places that serve American food. Since Brangelina’s kids have traveled all over the world and have been raised to embrace cultural norms of cooking styles wherever they go, it’s pretty ironic that the family can’t wait to eat Asian food whenever they hit the states (as their comfort food when back in town and living at their Hollywood Hills home).
But the most comforting part of taking the kids to Benihana is the food chain has restaurants worldwide. When feeling homesick and needing a little down time while in London, they always try to hit up the iconic food palace for a bit of fun, relaxation, and overstuffed tummy fulfillment.