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Shabu-shabu, the art of cooking raw meat, vegetables and tofu in tabletop pots of boiling broth, is usually a casual affair. Shaburi is attempting to go upscale with the concept. In a series of elegant dining rooms, you"ll find mahogany tables with built-in ranges; on the menu, you"ll find beef a cut above kobe (yes, such a thing exists). But the concept doesn"t always work. The extra-wide tables make for an uncomfortable dining distance between you and your date, plus a cloud of steam hovers over the broth, making eye-gazing unthinkable (if you"re wearing glasses, you"ve got even bigger problems). The restaurant takes pride in its top-quality raw materials--as in the tomato and tofu salad --but we were left brokenhearted when we kept our $65 matsuzaka beef in the broth a second too long and ruined it. At that price, we think a professional should do the cooking.

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