Why: Owners Jeff and Kim Howard opened Over the Top Teriyaki Grill on June 7.
The restaurant is fast-food style, but some of the food preparation isn’t done in advance of the order.
What sets Over The Top Teriyaki Grill apart from other teriyaki restaurants is the cooking method that the Howards decided to use. Instead of a traditional grill, they use the Rational SelfCooking Center — a computer-run oven that uses steam and high convection to cook food.
Howard says this produces meat that is moist and tender every time.
Diners can then add sauces for flavor. The Sauce Bar has eight different sauces to choose from — four are by Danielle’s Sauces in Lake Oswego, Ore.
The menu offers a combination that includes a choice of meat, starch, and vegetable — or diners may forgo the starch and double up on the vegetable. A rice bowl is also available, which allows two choices — a meat and a starch or vegetable.
Atmosphere: The walls are painted cobalt blue and decorated with mounted prints that depict landscapes and water sports enjoyed in the Pacific Northwest. Chairs are upholstered with glitter vinyl and the rest of the elements are basic.
What I Tried: I decided on a combination of brown rice, Asian slaw, and shrimp. My dining companions had combinations that included salad, noodles, white rice, and chicken. We also sampled the egg rolls.
I was intrigued by the cooking method and interested to learn for myself if the result would be desirable. The chicken was moist and tender, and the shrimp wasn’t chewy or tough. I thought the only drawback was that the meat lacked the flavor it typically takes on when it’s cooked on a grill and basted. (The Rational oven has a special grid that can produce grill marks on the meat.)
The chicken can be ordered as “chicken (dark)” or “chicken (white).” We tried both, and although the appearance was similar, there were pieces in the dark chicken that looked like rib meat. Both orders of chicken were cut into bite-size pieces before they were added to the plates. Unlike the shrimp, which tasted only of shrimp, the chicken had a little more flavor from being lightly marinated before it was cooked.
Of the sauces I tried on the shrimp, I preferred the “chiliyaki” for its sweet-spicy take on the classic teriyaki flavor, and the peanut sauce, for its true peanut essence, absent the sweetness of Thai peanut sauce.
If you like wasabi, then you will likely enjoy the Asian slaw. The sauce that combines the slaw contains enough wasabi to give it that very distinctive kick.
The noodles, salad, and rice were standard.
The egg rolls were more soft than crispy and the ratio of wrap to filling was a bit higher than I usually expect in egg rolls.
Menu Highlights Beyond What I Tried: Beef is another meat choice. Other side dishes are potstickers, barbecue pork, and edamame. Sauce choices are teriyaki, sweet & sour, Mandarin, “chiliyaki,” Jamaican, barbecue, curry, and peanut. Beverages include fountain drinks, bottled drinks and bottled water.
Other Observations: Many of the food items are local and supplied through the food service provider Sysco. The employees were friendly and very knowledgeable about food preparation. Over the Top is also very clean and tidy.
Cost: Combinations are $6.49. Bowls are $4.99. You may add beef for an additional 50 cents or shrimp for $1. Sides are $1.49. Beverages are $1.25 to $1.75.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Telephone: 360-210-5950.
Where: 3307 Evergreen Way, Suite 304, Washougal.
Health Score: Over the Top Teriyaki received a score of 0 on June 28. Zero is a perfect score, and Clark County Public Health closes restaurants that score 100 or higher. For information, call 360-397-8428.
