The widow of Benihana founder Rocky Aoki is serving up another course in her long-running legal battle with her stepkids for control of the Japanese steakhouse empire.
Keiko Aoki, who controls the international franchise rights, is set to hire high-powered lawyer Seth Waxman, a former US Solicitor General and Supreme Court advocate, to press the next phase of her case, Keiko told The Post in an exclusive interview.
The stakes are high. Whoever wins the next round will control the assets Rocky left behind, including nearly two dozen franchise restaurants in Asia, Canada and Europe.
In May, Keiko was dealt a major blow when the state Surrogate Court of Appeals ruled that she would lose control of the family's Benihana assets once the restaurateur's model daughter Devon; Aoki, 32; and DJ son Steve, 36, hit 45.
Keiko, who sat down for an interview at her new restaurant, Koa, in Manhattan's Flatiron District, said she's seeking to reverse the decision because that's what her late husband would have wanted.
"Rocky was a great guy. He believed that a company should have one voice," said Keiko, a former Miss Tokyo who wore a Chanel jacket to dinner. "I have a responsibility to keep the company together."
Rocky "loved his kids," but he wanted her to run the business, she said.
"They have different opinions," she said referring to his six children. "They are going to fight."
Rocky's children — from two different marriages — have long disputed Keiko's version of events. They depict her in court documents as a gold-digger who poisoned their father against them and brainwashed him into changing his estate plan to give her control.
Keiko has portrayed them as spoiled brats who messed up the company when given a chance, and were more concerned about cash than preserving their father's legacy.
Ken Podziba, a representative for the kids and Rocky's former best friend, declined to comment.
The family has been on the rocks for so long that New York magazine wrote a story in 2006, titled "Rocky's Family Horror Show." That year Rocky tried to boot four of his six kids from having any part in the company.
His death in 2008 started the latest legal battle.
In 2010, Keiko won partial control of the assets, which included a large stake in Benihana Inc., which runs the US franchise and has since been sold. Two years later, she was granted complete control of the assets until her death. Then came the May decision, which said the assets would revert back to two of Rocky's kids.
Keiko said she will be fine financially and otherwise if that decisions stands.
"If I get 25 [percent] or zero, my life is still the same," she said.
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