The Howard Beach area boasts its share of over-the-top hibachi joints, starting with the original, Danny’s Szechuan Garden, a three-decades-old bi-level Chinese-Japanese palace where you can get a Benihana-style show at your table and (should you order frozen drinks) souvenir tiki mugs. Across from Danny’s, there’s glowing waterfront spot Frenasia. And now, a bit farther south in sleepy Broad Channel, there’s Aqua House, a sprawling newcomer from a former chef at a Long Island Benihana.
Aqua House just opened in the old Shogun 1 space, a secluded hut perched right over Jamaica Bay, with the requisite outdoor deck and a view spanning the water from JFK to the Cross Bay Bridge. Up front, there is a sushi bar and a small cocktail lounge. The back room consists of communal tables with built-in grills where chefs in paper hats offer performances almost identical to the ones at Danny’s — complete with flying utensils, eyebrow-singeing eruptions of fire, flaming onion volcanoes, and squirt bottles of what your chef might jokingly tell you is Johnson & Johnson’s baby oil.
The Japanese fusion dishes are theatrical in their own right: Check out the lunch menu below for an idea of the offerings (with the addition of $30-and-under hibachi combos such as lobster and steak or scallop and shrimp, the dinner menu is similar). Just note that tiki drinks are not served — aside from the figurine of the chubby kid who puts out fires with its pee, this is a classy establishment, so opt for sake.
Lunch Menu
Aqua House Salad - 5
Lettuce, Fried tofu, turnips in house dressing
Rock Shrimp Salad - 9
Rock shrimp tempura and mixed green with chef’s special dressing
Asparagus Salad - 6
Asparagus, red bell pepper, spinach, turnips and ginger dressing
Sashimi & Avocado - 9
Tuna, white fish, and avocado
Rainbow Seaweed Salad - 7
Cucumber, red pepper and four kinds of seaweed
Seared Tuna Salad - 10
6 pieces of seared tuna
Crab Salad - 7
Crabmeat, masago and tempura flakes mixed with mayonnaise
Sahsimi & Vegetable - 12
Tuna, white tuna, salmon, white fish and garden
Soup
Tofu Miso Soup 2.5
Tofu, wakame seaweed and scallion
Tokyo Noodle Soup - 5
Chicken, celery, carrot cellophane noodle
Beef Onion Soup - 6
Mushroom and onion in beef broth
Seafood Kim Chee Soup - 6
Lobster, scallop, calm and kim chee
Lemongrass Hot & Sour Soup - 6
Shrimp scalloip ccellophane noodle in tom yum broth
Clam Soup - 8
Clam soup in soy bean milk base
Hot Appetizer
Edamame - 4
Gyoza - 5
Pan fried dumplings (choiuce of vegetable, wasabi chicken, or shrimp)
Shrimp Shumai -5
Steamed shrimp dumplings
Yakitori - 6
Chicken on skewer, served with teriyaki sauce
Harumaki - 6
Crispy Japanese vegetable spring roll
Beef negimaki - 7
Thin slice of beef rolled with scallion and served with teriyaki sauce
Chicken Negimaki - 7
Thin slice of chicken rolled with scallion and served with teriyaki sauce
Calmari Tempura - 7
Japanese style fried calamari
Tempura Appetizer - 8
2 pcs of shrimp, broccoli, zucchini, sweet potato and pumpkin tempura
Soft Shell Crab - 8
Deep fried soft shell crab served with tempura sauce
Daisy Shrimp - 10
5 pcs of shrimp served with wasabi mayo and chili sauce, garnished with lemon
Fried Snow Ball - 10
Crabmeat, mayonnaise
Geisha Tofu - 11
Fried tofu with rock shrimp, mushroom and scallion, served with sweet & sour miso sauce
Fried Oyster - 13
Deep fried fresh oyster served with tonkatsu sauce
Aqua House Lamb Chop - 13
Premium New Zealand lamb chop served with red wine sauce
Lunch Special
(Served with miso soup and salad, and white or brown rice, Mon-Fri, 11:30 a.m. till 3 p.m.)
Sushi Lunch - 9
4 pcs of sushi and 1 California roll
Sashimi & Maki - 10
5 pcs of sashimi and 1 tuna roll
Tekka Don - 9
Pan seared tuna on a bed of rice
Hibachi Chicken - 9
Sauteed chicken, hibachi style with fried shumai and vegetable
Steak Teriyaki - 11
Grilled steak, served with wasabi chicken, gyoza and mixed vegetable
Unagi Don - 10
Broiled eel on rice
Japanese Shrimp Hamburger - 9
Served with zucchini, scallion and bbq sauce
Vegetable Sushi Lunch
2 pcs of vegetable sushi & 2 vegetable rolls
Sushi & Tempura
4 pcs of sushi & 2 pieces of shrimp tempura
Salmon Teriyaki - 10
Grilled salmon, serv3ed with 2 pcs vegetable gyoza and mixed vegetable
Chili Chicken - 10
Sauteed chicken with chili sauce, served with fried shumai and vegetable
Hibachi Shrimp & Scallop - 12
Sauteed shrimp and scallop, hibachi style, served with shrimp gyoza and mixed vegetable
Japanese Chicken Hamburger - 9
Served with spinach, pickle and lemon sauce
Japanese Steak Hamburger - 11
Served with tomato, onion, teriyaki sauce
Cold Appetizer
Tuna Tartar - 11
Freshly chopped blue fin tuna, mixed garlic, onion, and a wasabi sauce
Tuna Tataki - 11
Pan seared tuna dipped with yuzu sauce, garnished with lettuce, cucumber, and daikon
Spicy Tuna Pasta - 14
Italian pasta stuffed with spicy tuna, served with chili tomato paste
Live Oyster - 15
6 pcs of live oyster served in half shell with house special dipping sauce
Yellowtail Japalapeno - 15
6 pcs of yellowtail ashimi on a bed of jalapeno dressing, garnished with slice jalapeno
Coconut Tree - 19
Smoked salmon and spicy scallop stuffed in coconut shell, served with jalapeno sauce
Wasabi Peppered Tuna - 12
6 pcs of peppered tuna sashimi drizzled with wasabi mayo
Mango Tuna - 13
Blue fin tuna ashimi rolled up with sweet ripe Asian mango, tossed mango sals
Seafood Ceviche - 12
Mixed raw fish with spicy yuzu sauce
Usuzkuri - 12
Thinkly spiced fluke served with traditional ponzu sauce
Spring Tuna - 13
Tuna avocado cucumber asparagus
Seared Scallop - 10
Seared live scallop with mango salad
Sushi Bar Appetizer
Hamachi Kama - 15
Grilled yellowtail neck, lightly salted
Sushi Pizza - 16
Soft rice crust with spicy tuna and seared salmon as toppings
Sashimi Infinity - 19
Four kinds of sashimi (2 pc of each)
Toro Tartar - 29
Chopped fatty tuna with garlic onion and wasabi sauce
Lunch Sushi Rolls
Choice of any two rolls for $8.95 or three rolls for $11.95 served with miso soup and salad
California
Spicy California
Golden California
Shrimp
Tuna
Spicy Tuna
Salmon
Spicy Salmon
Scallop
Aqua House, 2227 Van Brunt Rd., Broad Channel; 718-318-2888
