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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/41359
TRENDS Nombe in SF serves dishes such as Halibut with Bacon-Wrapped Peach and Pea Shoots. Other leading brands of drinks often served at Izakayas include Tengumai Jikomi Yamahai Junmai (one of the favorites at Nombe), sparkling sakes, Hatchiro beer and Ty Ku's spirits and sakes. Ashwin Balani, the manager of Izakaya Ten, which has led the movement in New York City, says it's counter to the nature of Izakaya dining to be served by a big restaurant, so most Izakayas are small and intimate. "Izakaya started out in Japan as a place where people would meet after work to throw back some shochu and dine on small- to medium-sized plates," consisting, he says, of unusual tapas-like items. He agrees with Takahashi that drinking "is almost an incentive here, which is one of the reasons it appeals to our young clientele. Izakaya is the kind of experience where you drink slowly and order more as you go." Th e trend is also thriving in Seattle, where Claire Lee, the dinner manager at one-location Wann Japanese Izakaya in Seattle, says her place has been open close to fi ve successful years. Although many Izakaya establishments do not traditionally serve sushi, the sushi explosion has helped ignite the Izakaya phenomenon. "People simply know more about Japanese food than they once did," Lee says. "Especially as people are willing to try Japanese food other than sushi." At Wann, Japanese Fried Chicken is a popular food, for $6, as is Chamame, for $3.50 (sweet boiled soy beans with sea salt); and a crunchy garlic rock shrimp for $6. Unlike some Izakaya destinations, Wann serves a hearty lineup of sushi and sashimi. Wann's shochu parade off ers a telling glimpse of why izakaya is popular: For $7 each, you can get shochu made from rice, buckwheat, sweet potato (the most popular at Wann), brown sugar and barley. Kyle Hale, a server at the Seattle Izakaya, says most traditional Izakaya restaurants do not serve sushi. Th ey do at Wann, because it acts as an inducement, in his words, for wooing Seattle diners inside. "Izakaya is traditionally a closed kitchen, so it's diff erent in that sense from a sushi bar," Hale says. "It's where you have food and tapas after work, in a group, whereas sushi is hard to order in a group. Izakaya is better known for bar 22 | SEPTEMBER 2011 food. For instance, you go to a hamburger place for hamburgers, a fi sh place for fi sh. It's the same way with Izakaya, which is why it diff ers from traditional Japanese restaurants or sushi bars." Although Wann serves beer and wine, shochu is easily the most popular beverage paired with izakaya, Hale says. SMALL AND INTIMATE Part of this dining style's appeal comes from the cozy vibe of these small Japanese takes on pubs. Th e format resonates in New York, Balani says, because, "Th ese days, people feel comfortable with smaller portions. It's a lot more fun to try more things, so why not sample from three small plates as opposed to one large entrée? Th at way, you get to try three things instead of one. At our place, for $50, you can try eight diff erent things." At Nombe, Takahashi carries 90 types of sake, ranging from $12 for 300-ml to $465 for 720-ml., and 30 diff erent wines (priced from $25 to $125 per bottle), most coming from California, and 15 kinds of shochu ($15 to $85 per bottle). Th e Nombe clientele, she says, ranges mostly between 30 and 40 years old. She calls them "highly educated, with a lot of our customers coming from the high-tech industry." Sake by the glass at Nombe ranges from $13 on the high end to $9 on the low end. As for food, it ranges from Edamame Hummus with Taro Chips for $6 to Tsukune (chicken meat balls) for $6 to beef tongue with Karashi mustard for $10 to mixed tempura for $12. At Izakaya Ten in New York, drinks range from sake to shochu to cocktails, beer and wine. Izakaya Ten is also big on specials, with, for instance, $20 off all shochu bottles on Tuesday. In the category of "tidbits for shochu and sake," Izakaya Ten off ers Edamame for $3.50, Spicy Pickled Cucumber for $5.50 and Takowasa, Raw Octopus Marinated with Wasabi for $5.50. Ume Suisho is shark cartilage marinated with plum sauce for $6 and Tako Karaage is deep fried octopus with green tea salt for $8. Th ose, however, are only a warmup, with Izakaya Ten off ering, among its 10 most popular dishes, garlic spinach for $8, Stir-Fried Pork Belly and Kimchee for $9, Saikoro Beef Steak for $12 and Spicy Cod Shrimp for $12. Th ere are, in addition to all of those, meat, vegetable, rice and noodle dishes, as well as sushi and sashimi (which they don't off er at Nombe or at many other Izakaya outposts). But in keeping with the Izakaya tradition, they like to drink, she says, and at Nombe, as at Izakaya Ten in New York, drinking a lot is not only not frowned upon, it's encouraged. "It's the same as in Japan," Takahashi says. Michael Granberry is a Dallas-based reporter. www.cheersonline.com