Yakitori Taisho

Today, we yap about yakitori.  What is yakitori, you ask?  Well, to my knowledge (and I’m sure someone with better Japanese than I will correct me) it means grilled/fried skewers.  Which means it can be interpreted very widely, no? 

In any case, Yakitori Taisho is a Japanese skewer place.  I’d never had Japanese skewers before, and I was keen on trying them (you know how I adore skewered and grilled meat!), so when HB called me up asking if I wanted to grab a late dinner with SW last Thursday, I was game. 

With its prime location on St. Mark’s Place directly across from Kim’s Video (closer to the 3rd Avenue side), Yakitori Taisho was busy close to 9 pm on a Thursday.  Good sign.  (They also apparently have another, slightly larger location a few stores down on the same block, but we didn’t try to go to that one, for some reason unknown to me.)  We had to wait for 20-30 minutes for a table though, and when we were seated, it was in the far back, behind the kitchen, in this tiny room that was unbearably hot.  Luckily, we were right under the air conditioning unit, so one of us reached up, popped it on, and in a few minutes the room was bearable. 

HB and SW both opted for the taisho-don, which was three skewers over kimchi spiked rice.  HB said she got a beef, chicken and a chicken-ball (like a chicken meatball) skewer each, and enjoyed them alright but wasn’t too impressed; I said my beef was tender and she said hers was alright.  The rice was alright; she pushed all the kimchi to the side since she doesn’t like kimchi.  SW, however, really liked the spicy tang of the kimchi and said as much, mixing the kimchi through the rest of the rice.  $7?

Since I’d never been before, and I wanted to try a nice variety, I opted for a dinner set (plus I LOVE Asian potato salad! it’s like mashed potatoes but better!), the yakitori-tei, which included 5 skewers of my choosing, a salad, spaghetti, and of course, [Asian-style] potato salad.  When I began choosing the skewers, of course, it seemed every choice I made, the waitress said “Oh, $1.00 more.  75c more.  50c more” but finally I’d made my choices: beef, pork, chicken (the standards without any extra charges), beef tongue (extra 75c), and chicken skin.  (I changed my mind a few times and wound up with only one with an extra charge.)  My beef skewer was tender, though not as wonderful as it could be, I felt; the chicken was only so-so, and the beef tongue, sadly, was a bit chewy and tough.  But the pork, surprisingly (I have avoided pork for years), was very tender, soft, juicy and flavorful.  I was happy with that, but by far the best skewer (and probably the one that is grossing everyone out read this!) was the chicken skin.  True, it was just skin threaded onto a wooden skewer and grilled up, but the high fat content of the skin along with the high heat crisped up these tender morsels just right, making them crispy and delicious (and terrible for you).  I was in heaven.  The potato salad was good and creamy without excess mayo, the spaghetti was as expected.  This entire set only cost $7.50.

SW also opted for an appetizer that for some reason came out last- the spicy cod roe french fries.  If you’ve been reading my site lately, you already know that I’m apparently on a big fish egg kick (and another review coming mentions it again, actually)- the red caviar spread from Turkish Kitchen, the uni ikura soba from Soba koh… In any case, I was keen on trying these.  The fries were good if you like steak fries; I’m more a middle person myself but they were the right thickness for the sauce, since you want to be able to scoop a decent amount with each fry!  The spicy cod roe mayo was only gently spicy, not enough to make me break a sweat (and remember, I’m fairly sensitive to spicy things), but deliciously and generously spiked throughout with the roe.  At only $4.50 an order, I thought this was a pretty good deal. 

Overall, I was pleased with my first experience with Japanese skewers and liked the place in all its super casual glory.  Do note, however, that when we walked in, the place overwhelmed me with the scent of skewers and meat grilling; I think if we had sat in the front, where nearly everyone else was seated, we would have left smelling of the same, but since we sat in the very back room, we didn’t.  So don’t go here wearing anything you don’t want stinking of meat and wood fire… and definitely if you do go here, don’t then go to the pound to pick out a new puppy or something.

Yvo says: Extremely inexpensive and quite delicious, I’d recommend this place.  If you choose to order the skewers a la carte, I think they range from $1.25 to 2.50 (for the more exotic items).  They also have other cooked items and appetizers to choose from, but as we were at a yakitori place, I chose only to sample what I did. 
recommended