One of Tokyo’s most popular restaurants is headed to San Antonio. Pepper Lunch, a global teppanyaki chain known for its beef rice, has signed a 20-unit deal with Texas franchisee Sizzling Hospitality to open locations in the Alamo City, as well as the Houston and Austin metros.

Pepper Lunch was founded in 1994 by inventor Kunio Ichinose, who wanted to serve quick, quality fare without relying on trained staff. The concept riffs on teppanyaki, the Japanese cooking style where chefs cook on a hot griddle, or teppan, in front of diners.

In contrast to theatrical teppanyaki chains like Benihana and Kobe Japanese Steakhouse, Ichinose’s method provides another kind of entertainment. The dishes are served on metal plates, heated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit by an electromagnetic cooker. The plates stay hot for more than 20 minutes, allowing diners to control the doneness. As with fajitas, the sizzle and pop of the presentation has its own appeal.

The experience has made Pepper Lunch a viral sensation in the U.S., where DIY chains serving hot pot, shabu shabu, Korean barbecue, and other tableside preparations are booming thanks to a public shifting towards experiential — and social media-friendly — dining.

The signature pepper rice comes with about a dozen options, including beef, chicken, shrimp, and tofu. Guests can also order the meat and veggies tossed in curry or teriyaki sauce or tossed with pasta. Besides the standard miso soup and rice, sides are more Americanized with choices such as sweet potato wedges and onion rings.

Prices are generally affordable, with most dishes ringing in under $20. That makes it slightly more expensive than Taco Bell, but there’s nothing fun about squeezing a sauce packet on a flat corn shell.

Pepper Lunch has not released a timeline or locations for the San Antonio expansion, but says it plans to aggressively pursue the new Texas markets over the next half-decade. The first restaurants to open as part of the expansion will be in Austin suburbs Leander, Kyle, and Hutto, and Missouri City in the greater Houston area.