From The New Orleans Menu Daily By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published October 30, 2007 Shogun 3$ Metairie: 2325 Veterans Blvd. 833-7477. Lunch and Dinner seven days. Open all afternoon Sat and Sun. AE, DC, DS, MC, V. Japanese.     Shogun introduced the sushi bar to New Orleans in 1983, creating a sensation and beginning a trend in which Japanese restaurants--once among the least popular restaurants in town--came to outnumber any category of Asian eatery. It's a big restaurant, in a building that had previously contained a cavernous Shakey's Pizza parlor. The size of the restaurant allows Shogun to be three restaurants in one. First, there's the sushi bar, the longest in the area. Just in front of that is a large section of conventional tables, at which a traditional but wide-ranging menu of Japanese dishes are served. Off to the left are the hardest tables to get: the teppan-yaki "hibachi" setups, purchased from Benihana when it left town. There, chefs clown around while cooking the most ordinary grilled foods. The sushi is the thing. Despite its size and tremendous volume, I've never had less than first-class sushi at Shogun. The careful selection of raw materials and meticulous slicing and arrangement are models of this unique culinary art form. The variety is wider than in most places (especially for regular customers), and the temperature of everything is ideal. Those who say that the only way to have sushi is at the bar, according to the recommendations of the sushi chef, are probably right. But they do a fine job at the tables. The chirashi sushi (it's like sashimi, but served on a bed of rice pressed into a box) lends itself to table service, and is better there than anywhere else. And there's that big menu of cooked dishes. For example, the entire range of boiled dishes is here. Sukiyaki is the most famous of those, but a better one is shabu-shabu, thin beef slices are cooked in a pan of simmering broth with raw vegetables and a number of dipping sauces. The seafood version of this is also good. A good sampling of the cookery comes in the many teishoku lunches and dinners Shogun assembles. These include something grilled, something fried, a couple of salad-like items, and other garnishes. These are classic Japanese businessmen's lunches, and they're great bargains. Those whose palates are on the timid side can always fall back on  teriyaki and tempura. Teriyaki is marinated and grilled beef, chicken, or seafood on skewers. Tempura is fried food, with the only departure from a standard fried seafood platter being the thickness of the batter (it tends to the very thick side). As for the hibachi side, I recommend leaving it to the crowds waiting to get a spot at one of those community tables. While the show is fin the first few times you see it, there's a sameness to it that even bores kids after that. And the food is really not much more than grilled steak, chicken, and shrimp with fried rice. Service is efficient and free of frills all over the restaurant. Most of the atmosphere is provided by the regulars, who are ecstatic about being here. Know this if you're running late for lunch: Shogun closes at two, on the dot. Expect no flexibility. They are, however, open straight from lunch through dinner on Saturdays and Sundays. This was a restaurant in the 2007 Top Sixty Ethnic Restaurant Countdown. To view the entire list, click here. Click here for an index of all restaurant reviews. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com.