A group of Greenville restaurateurs already known for providing fast, fresh casual food opened a new Japanese hibachi restaurant, Tokyo to Go, at 310-F E. Arlington Blvd. It's in the Big Lots shopping center in the former location of Chop-Chop Chinese restaurant, beside Jersey Mike's.

Tokyo to Go's ownership group includes Greenville's Jersey Mike's franchisees Jay Yates, Wes Shepherd, Brian Stockwell, Ryan Belman and George Swarts. Yates, Shepherd and Stockwell also are owners of Greenville's Moe's Southwest Grill.

Swarts is Tokyo to Go's manager.

Yates said he and his partners wanted to enter the Japanese hibachi market "to serve a top-quality product at the best value."

Swarts said Tokyo to Go features fresh food made fast, in five minutes or less. "All the steak is top-quality filet," he said. "All the meats and the produce are cut fresh every day. We've learned that through Jersey Mike's." Tokyo to Go also serves all-white-meat chicken and scallops, which aren't available at many other fast-casual Japanese restaurants.

The menu includes traditional Japanese hibachi entrees featuring chicken, shrimp, steak and scallops. The entrees are served with fried or steamed rice, onions and zucchini and either mushrooms or broccoli; soba noodles may be substituted for an additional charge. The hibachi vegetable entree features broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini and onions. Entrees range in price from $4.79-$9.89.

Kabuki bowls — a smaller portion of chicken, shrimp, steak or scallops — are served over fried or steamed rice with onions and zucchini. Cost ranges from $4.89-$7.09.

"One thing we offer that no one else does is Samurai Wraps," Swarts said. Hibachi vegetables, steak, shrimp or chicken is rolled in a steamed tortilla with a choice of fried or steamed rice, zucchini and onions, and a choice of white sauce, ginger sauce or mustard sauce. Samurai wraps range in price from $4.49-$5.89.

Tokyo to Go also offers Japanese mushroom soup, house salad with ginger or ranch dressing, hibachi chicken or steak salads, and spring rolls.

Tea and soft drinks are sold.

Patrons order at the counter and may dine in or carry out. The dining room features two televisions and seating for 42 at tables or booths.

Yates said he hopes Tokyo to Go will be the prototype for a chain of franchised restaurants.

Hours are from 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays. To place a take-out order, call 321-8300.

Tokyo to Go's Web site, which features the menu, is at www.tokyo2go.com.

Baby Back Joe's

Baby Back Joe's Smokehouse and Sports Bar, 2713 E. 10th St., closed last week.

Cindy Shriver Campbell and her husband Michael opened the restaurant that specialized in slow-smoked baby back ribs, chicken, beef brisket and port, in March 2003, in the former location of Villa Roma Italian restaurant. They modeled the restaurant after Cindy's parent's restaurant, Shiver's Bar-B-Que in Homestead, Fla., which has been around 50 years.

The Campbells, Cindy's brother Brent Shriver and another partner in Hendersonville opened a second Baby Back Joe's location in Hendersonville last year. The Campbells moved from Greenville to western North Carolina to operate that restaurant.

The distance between the two restaurants proved to be a problem, Cindy Campbell said by telephone from the Hendersonville Baby Back Joe's.

"It was too far away," she said. "We have been here (in Hendersonville) a year in August. We had left managers to run (the Greenville restaurant), and things weren't going well. We couldn't get back there too often, because it's a six-hour drive. I have a 15-month-old baby and I'm five months pregnant.

"It was a logistical thing," she added.

Mother's Day buffets

Treat mom to Mother's Day dinner at a local restaurant Sunday. Here are some of the restaurants offering buffets in honor of mom. Call for reservations.

n The Beef Barn — 400 St. Andrews Drive, 756-1161, www.beefbarn.net. Buffet from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., featuring carved roast beef au jus, carved roasted turkey breast, smoked salmon with capers and cream cheese, shrimp cocktail, baked herb-garlic chicken, orange-glazed pork loin, poached salmon with fresh dill sauce, fresh fruit, assorted desserts, breads and croissants, salad bar, omelettes, eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage and biscuits. Beverage is included. Cost is $14.95 for adults, $7.50 for children under age 12.

n Café Caribe — 113 E. Fifth St., 758-4200, www.cafecaribeinc.com. Mother's Day prime rib buffet from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Cost is $11.95.

n Farmville Golf and Country Club — 308 Bynum Drive, 753-5929. A buffet will be served from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., including spicy shrimp and grits served in martini glasses, herb-encrusted roast beef with fresh horseradish and horseradish cream sauce, bourbon-glazed salmon with mango salsa, roasted asparagus, garlic red-skin mashed potatoes, corn pudding, shrimp salad, chicken salad, mandarin orange and green salsa with homemade balsamic vinaigrette, banana bread pudding with rum sauce, bourbon pecan pie with French vanilla ice cream, chocolate amaretto cake with chocolate buttercream icing and raspberry sauce, Belgian cream puffs with powdered sugar, tea and Costa Rican tarrazu coffee. Cost is $13.50 including tax; gratuity is not included.

n Hilton Greenville — 207 S.W. Greenville Blvd., 355-9500. Grand buffet in the ballroom from 11 a.m.- 2:30 p.m., with seatings every 30 minutes. Items will include prime rib carving station, ginger honey-baked ham carving station, chicken marsala, Caribbean salmon with mango glaze, baked Italian omelette, tortellini with fennel and leeks, oysters on the half shell, peel-and-eat shrimp, green beans, cheddar and chive mashed potatoes, herbed wild rice, spinach salad, chophouse salad, Caesar salad, macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers, assorted cakes, pies, fruit cobblers and cookies. Cost is $31.50 for adults, $28.97 for seniors, $18.87 for children ages 6-12; free for children younger than age 6. Tax and gratuity is included.

n Riverside Steak Bar — 2301 Stantonsburg Road, 752-5001. Buffet from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., featuring ham, turkey and dressing, fried chicken, chicken and pastry, fried shrimp, roast beef, fish, grilled pork chops, pork steaks, mashed potatoes, collards, yams, green beans, corn on the cob, other home-style vegetables, assorted salads and relishes, deviled eggs, key lime pie, cheesecake, banana pudding, assorted cakes, strawberry shortcake and chocolate pudding. Beverage is included. Cost is $9.95 for adults, $5 for children age 12 and under.

Chick-fil-A

The Chick-fil-A in the food court at Colonial Mall has a new look.

"We've given ourselves a face-lift," said owner/operator Abbott Dees. "There's a new color scheme ... . We still have some red tile, but the walls are now brown tile, more earth-tone colors. We also have new counters. It's a whole new look."

As part of the grand re-opening week, the Colonial Mall Chick-fil-A will hold Customer Appreciation Day today. Food will be given away, along with T-shirts and cups. Have your picture taken with the Chick-fil-A cow and register to win a mountain bike.

Call 355-4529.

Nibbles

n Greenville's second Zaxby's location, at 2035 E. Fire Tower Road in the Bells Fork area, is scheduled to open Monday. Zaxby's, a locally owned franchise of the Athens, Ga.-chain, specializes in chicken fingers and Buffalo wings. "Hot Dish" will have more information next week.

n There may be some new restaurants coming to the Lynncroft Shopping Center at the intersection of Greenville Boulevard and Evans Street.

"We're building some additional shop space," said developer Tom Cluderay of Argus Properties in Charlotte. "We're adding 7,000 square feet that should include at least a couple of restaurant-type users.

"We've got a lot of interest ... . We're sorting through those (inquiries) and trying to come up with the right mix to go along with the other tenants. There's nothing to announce now."

In addition to Lowes Foods, restaurants located in Lynncroft include DragonFly Chinese Restaurant, Ledo Pizza and Pasta, and Tropical Smoothie Café.

n The third-annual BBQ and Blues Festival, sponsored by WNCT-FM (Oldies 107.9), will begin at noon Saturday at the Pitt County fairgrounds. Twenty-five barbecue chefs from throughout eastern North Carolina will compete in the North Carolina Pork Council-sanctioned competition. Plates will be sold for $5; proceeds will go to the Pitt County American Legion. Five beach-music bands will perform: The Embers, the Attractions, Big John Thompson and the Rhythm Brothers, The Carolina Beach Club and Carolina Still. Tickets are $15, with an additional $2 charge for parking. Call 757-0011 or visit www.1079wnct.com.

n The Met will hold its monthly wine-tasting at 7 p.m. May 19. The seated, semi-blind tasting will feature nine wines. To ensure a seat, make reservations early by calling 493-0001. The Met is at 115 E. Red Banks Road.

We want your cookbooks

Has your local civic group, church group or nonprofit organization published a cookbook with submitted recipes?

Share your community cookbook with us for a new column we hope to begin that features the local recipes found there.

We'll credit the person who submitted the recipe, and we'll tell people how they can get a copy of the cookbook and what the proceeds support.

Cookbooks will not be returned.

Drop a copy by The Daily Reflector's office at 1150 Sugg Parkway, or mail it to P.O. Box 1967, Greenville, NC 27835. Include a contact name and telephone number and details about the cookbook, including price. Mark it in care of Jane Hudson.

Correction

In last week's "Hot Dish," a digit was left out of the telephone number for the Farmville Country Club, which is now featuring food by Scarborough Fare Catering. The telephone number for the club's grill is 753-5929.

Hot Dish is a weekly column of restaurant and food news. To submit items for consideration, call Jane Hudson at 329-9577, fax 754-8140 or e-mail jhudson@coxnc.com.