Takashi Restaurant

Takashi, located in West Village, is a restaurant that serves a Japanese version of Korean barbecue known as yakiniku. If you are really fond of beef, you are going to love their menu. Most of the items on it feature beef, in one form or the other. However, you are going to be pleasantly surprised by their light and balanced meals, modest portions and impeccably sourced, sustainable beef.

The Chef-owner of Takashi is… Takashi Yagihashi. That wasn’t so hard to figure out was it? This restaurant was opened in April and it is a small, intimate affair with just enough room for 34 seats. Takashi Yagihashi has a flair for turning the simplest ingredients into a culinary statement that speaks of French, Japanese, and American flavors. He worked at Ambria in Chicago and eventually left it to open Tribute in Farmington Hills, Mich. In 2003, he was named James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Midwest. Since then, he has moved to a couple of places and dabbled in variety of endeavors, including a stint at Okada in the Wynn Las Vegas, and Noodles by Takashi Yagihashi in the Macy’s food court in late 2006.

When you are here, begin with the section of the menu dedicated to raw preparations…if you fancy that kind of thing. Choose from a mound of pristine steak tartare, or sushi topped with a layer of ground raw chuck flap, or fine slivers of hand-cut beef dressed with sesame oil and a quail egg, or a lobe of sea urchin sits on a small tile of raw, red, marbled steak placed on top of a single shiso leaf, or chopped  chuck meat placed in a delicate pillow over warm rice just scented with sweetened vinegar…they are divine, positively divine, if you have the stomach for these things.

When you decide to move on to the main course, you have to make your own meal! That’s the USP of Takashi.  Embedded in the restaurant’s tables are electric grills, which are turned on when you are done with your appetizers. There are cartoon sketches on the wall telling you how to grill your food and you can experiment with small dishes of uncooked cuts, such as fingers of meat taken from between the cow’s ribs, skirt steak, and well-marbled tongue. These meats come to you for grilling in one of two styles: simply dressed with garlic, salt and sesame oil or marinated in Mr. Inoue’s pepper paste.

On the side, various soy-based dipping sauces are served and you can also order a side plate of vegetables like sesame leaves, raw baby carrot, lettuces, scallion flowers, and miniature radishes. And as an accompaniment, you can also choose from among the hotels collection of excellent sake or  adequate wines…complementing the meal in a great way.

Takashi may not be for everyone, given its eccentric menu and the do-it-yourself angle. However, people who fancy such an experience will be back for more and more and more…

Address: 456 Hudson St between Barrow and Morton Sts

Phone: 212-414-2929

Timings: Tue to Fri 6–10:30pm; Sat, Sun 5:30–10:30pm

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