Inakaya, the Japanese robatayaka we’ve been looking forward to since November, opens in the Times building tomorrow, meaning Benihana regular Tracy Morgan finally has a new hangspot. Wear ear plugs if you go — the selling point here (besides the fact that it was opened by a Michelin-starred chef in Tokyo’s “gaijin ghetto,” Roppongi) is that staffers scream out your order to yakikata (“grill persons”) who prepare your food while kneeling and dole it out using large paddles.
Nineteen-foot ceilings mean the 3,000-square-foot space (divided into a food-festooned robata counter, a communal dining area, and a lounge) is going to be L-O-U-D. To top it all off, there’s a nightly mochi-pounding ceremony where random diners are selected to pound sticky rice into a ball. Needless to say, eGulleters are a bit dubious, but the Feedbag, coming off of a press preview last night, declares the food “superb but very expensive.” Prime example: the $65 Kinki fish, flown in from Tokyo daily. The rest of the menu follows.
Photo: Courtesy of Inakaya
231 W. 40 St.; nr. Eighth Ave.; 212-354-2195
