Claudio (clearly not himself)

True fact: in the original Age of Empires, our artists used a nearby Benihana's as their model for the Asian buildings. That's why the Asian structures all have blue roofs, for example. This particular Benihana's was the worst I've ever eaten at. It literally had graffiti INDOORS on some wall panels. The depressed, beaten-down Hispanic chefs didn't do a show. They just slumped over the cooking surface and fried up our orders. We didn't really care, because we were there to eat and talk to each other. Though frankly, there are plenty cheaper places to get stir fried vegetables and rice. It did have a couple cool things, like the big sasumata mounted over the cash register. This was all about 20 years ago so I hope it's improved. For Age of Empires 2 and 3, I took the artists to a bookstore and bought them big reference books of historical architecture. But yeah anyway. If you're playing Shang or Yamato or Choson in Age of Empires 1, your nation is based out of a Benihana's.