oh! taisho

new york, ny

website

while vacationing in japan, derek and i generally avoided the yakitori spots - they were always small, cramped, and filled with cigarette smoke. but in new york city, yakitori places are just small and cramped. oh! taisho is one of jinny and kurt's favorite restaurants, so derek and i joined them there a few nights ago. in an effort to make it out of the office in time for our 8:30 pm dinner, i decided to work through lunch. so i was very hungry and tempted to order everything off the huge menu at oh! taisho - there are all different kinds of meat on skewers, bowls of ramen, tempura, other deep-fried items, and various other japanese pub specialities - like okonomiyaki.

thankfully, jinny and kurt took charge and ordered their favorites. two platters of a variety of grilled skewers (including chicken, meatballs, scallions, chicken skin, pork, and chicken gizzards), chicken teriyaki, french fries with spicy cod roe mayonnaise, noodles topped with the same spicy cod roe and sliced nori, and a pitcher of kirin. i loved the spicy cod roe mayo, both with the french fries and the noodles. the chicken teriyaki was surprisingly good - almost as good as seattle's teriyaki - but it was missing the essential thick sweet sauce that seattle teriyaki has. the dining room is small, but it makes for a lively atmosphere - if you can manage to squeeze yourself into the restaurant, oh! taisho is a good spot for food and fun.