It was still technically winter last month when we visited Heat Shabu Baru off Broadway. Apropos for eating a shabu-shabu dinner, apparently, as it is considered a winter dish in Japan.

Shabu-shabu is not a traditional Japanese dish as it was only introduced to Japan in the last century. Yes, the Japanese had a similar hot pot dish known as sukiyaki. Both sukiyaki and shabu-shabu have hot broths in pots where you cook thin slices of meats and vegetables. The difference is in the broths and in that with sukiyaki you take the cooked meat and then dip it into raw egg, which instantly cooks a thin coating on the meat. 

Heat Shabu Baru is the second shabu-shabu restaurant in Sacramento. It took over an easily missed spot vacated by a Burmese restaurant. The layout of the space is basically the same, although the furnishing are more contemporary and less Asian. Tables have electric burners in the center to heat the required hot pots.

I was here with a group of people as we gave Grubwithus.com another try. Grubwithus arranges family style meals with the restaurants and so we already knew what was in store for us. Almost all of my companions were new to shabu-shabu and looking forward to a new experience.

sitting at the Chef's table

I have a new site I just have to recommend to people who love to go out to eat. Grubwithus.com's slogan is "Never eat alone." The idea being, set up a family style dinner with multiple dishes at a restaurant and anyone who is interested can sign up to go.

My friend, Rodney, was the first to find the site and ask if I had seen it. I looked it up and was immediately intrigued because it reminded me of two things married together - Meetup and Epicureans. I started emailing the company to ask questions because they hadn't yet started in Sacramento, only in some other cities nationwide.

Epicureans is a group where mult-course, family style dinners are organized with a restaurant and people pay a set fee. Often it would be 10 or so dishes for about $25.

Meetup.com is a site where you can find groups that are tailored to your interests - from soccer to vegetarians, chihuahua lovers to wiccan. It's a great way to meet new people who share your interest. I've made many new friends through Meetup and many people use it to make new friends when they move to a new city.

I used to be an Organizer of a dining Meetup group for three years and it caused a lot of frustrations. People would flake on reservations and I got stuck with the bill on a couple of occassions because people didn't pay their fair share or they just didn't show up. When we State workers got furloughed, I stopped doing the group. I just didn't have the extra play money as well as the Organizer frustrations.

Along comes Grubwithus and it takes the beauty of both Meetup and Epicureans and blends them together. That's why it caught my interest. With Grubwithus you can organize a dinner event and let them take all the headache away.