At Benihana, our Hibachi Chicken Rice continues to be one of the most craved items on the menu. This original fried rice classic combines chicken, rice, egg and chopped vegetables with garlic flavored butter, but most importantly, it shows plenty of heart.

When it comes to Japanese-inspired cuisine, high-quality rice isn’t just another side dish at Benihana; it’s a foundational element of every meal we serve. Rice plays a key role in helping to develop texture and flavor in many of our craveable dishes, from sushi rolls to our hibachi-grilled entrées—and of course, our signature fried rice.

There are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice, grown in 100 different countries on every continent except for Antarctica. Benihana’s rice is grown in California, where each spring, biplanes carefully seed thousands of acres of the Sacramento Valley.

From there, melting snow from the Sierra Nevada Mountains irrigates the seeds. Once the rice is mature, each grain is harvested and carefully dried to maintain an ideal moisture level. This ensures perfect, tender and fluffy Benihana rice once it’s cooked by our master teppanyaki chefs.

At Benihana, creating classic flavors that guests crave means using quality ingredients for each recipe. You could say without our special California-grown rice, our menu wouldn’t have the same heart.