Yakitori Taisho: St Marks Place, New York, NY
The last time I came to NYC, I went to Oh! Taisho for yakitori even though I was on the search for Yakitori Taisho. Nominated to have the best yakitori in Manhattan, I really wanted to find this place and see if it is any better or worse than what the press says. When I came here with both my mom and then later my co-fellow, we did order almost the same thing, and it was delicious and also ridiculously cheap!
Set C: two skewers each of shitake mushrooms, shrimp, squid legs, green scallions and shishito peppers. (We added chicken livers, chicken skin and when my mom came, we added bacon wrapped scallops)
PROS
- great quantity: definitely too much for one person
- healthy: this is the one set that has vegetable skewers
- filling: believe it or not, the seafood and the shitake mushrooms can really fill you up
- great because it allows you to try more of the other items on the menu like the rice balls (onigiri) and meat skewers without filling you up
CONS
- none unless you wanted a meat AND vegetable assortment set
Fried Baby Octopus: this is one of my favorite delicacies to get each time I get yakitori. These are literally bite sized and deep fried. I don’t believe they are served with a dipping sauce, but you can ask for some if simple lemon juice doesn’t do it for you.
PROS
- shareable: multiple pieces come with this order so it’s a really good appetizer to start
- very good flavors: not overly breaded and not over salted
- not burnt, perfectly fried
CONS
- I would like a dipping sauce with these, maybe a spicy mayo or an aoli of some kind. However, that would detract from typical Japanese fare. This is after all, street food or Izakaya food.
Sake Yaki Onigiri: grilled Japanese rice ball with salmon. There are many flavors of onigiri, but my favorite is salmon. This is simply the grilled version of it.
PROS
- very filling. It’s similar to half a bowl of rice
- good flavors, especially the grilled version: it gives off that nice burnt rice flavor
CONS
- very simple, would go great with oshinki (Japanese pickles)
In summary, I would still give this place a very good rating. So far I haven’t had to wait for a long time. This isn’t the type of place to sit and chit-chat. People come, sometime wait (for a long time), order, eat, and leave. It’s almost customary because this place is so popular and gives eating respect to other patrons who want to enjoy the food here. My individual ratings for the things we ate today would be:
- Grilled Yakitori Set C: ***.95 (3.95 stars)
- Fried Baby Octopus: ***.85 (3.85 stars)
- Yaki Onigiri: ***.75 (3.75 stars)
You can find them just off St. Marks Place at the Astor Place stop on the #6 Green line:
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