Hatsumi

Hatsumi Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: This yakitori spot from Dan Krohmer is modeled after a 1980s bar in Tokyo. The small space with only about 24 seats features an open kitchen and light wood tables, and the work of local artist Ryan Brunty on two walls depicting the character Yerman, a sad, pink, yeti-like creature.

Likes: Nothing on the menu exceeds $15, and even deeper discounts are offered during the daily happy hour from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
Dislikes: The dessert menu is quite limited, with black tea mochi the only sweet offering.

Food & Drinks: On the menu are twenty-plus varieties of skewers, with the likes of pork belly, miso chicken breast, beef filet and shrimp; and some out-of-the-box choices such as beef tongue, chicken skin and veal sweetbreads. Plate options include beef tatake --– seared tenderloin with onion, radish sprouts, ponzu sauce and chili oil; lomi lomi –-- fish of the day, which during our visit was ocean trout with cherry tomato ponzu; and pig ear with cabbage and kimchi vinaigrette. A standout is the shrimp and bacon okonomiyaki comprising a dense cake with bonito flakes, local honey and pickled ginger; it also serves as a dinner show, as the flakes are so light they dance and sway from the heat of the dish, and the honey and pickled ginger add enough sweetness to consider it your dessert. Black tea mochi is available to end the meal, too. Complementing the Asian fare is the largest sake list downtown, with Kanbara “Bride of the Fox,” a Junmai Ginjo made by Kaetsu Shuzo; and a better than average beer roster that has Japanese craft beers, among them Echigo Koshihikari Lager and the American-made Stillwater Sake Style Saison.