Takashi

I see that Takashi - the new French/Asian place that has taken over the former Scylla space in Bucktown is now open. Has anyone been?

Takashi
1952 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
773-772-6170

We're going tonight, will report back.

At 8 pm the place was packed! Walking in we were greeted, our coats were taken, but they had to wait a few minutes to seat us. So we stood, kind of in the way, near the entrance. A 4-top came 1/2 an hour early, and they sent them over to Le Bouchon to have a drink at their bar. They have a bar, but it was full. I'm not sure how long we waited, maybe 10 minutes, not too long. The downstairs was a bit quieter than upstairs, I think just due to the layout of the space. Upstairs wasn't terrible, we could talk to each other - and they had acoustical panels on the ceiling, cleverly decorated so it looked good. They also put most of the 2-tops upstairs, I guess since larger groups tend to be noisier.

There was a 4-top seated near the door, and every time the door opened there was a draft. They asked to be moved, but there was no way - the host said maybe it might be over an hour, maybe 1 1/2. I can sympathize, I hate drafts! But there really were NO other open 4-tops in the place. I hope it ended up OK for them, because the place was nice and warm in general. In fact, I suspect that for most of the rest of the world it would have been too warm. I thought it was great

It's definitely got a lighter/brighter feel than it did before as Scylla. The bar is on the North side instead, and the walls are painted a light celadon green, with brown accents (painted with leaves). It looks very nice. The bench seats along the wall are comfortable, with perfectly-sized pillows to lean against if you need them.

All the staff were pleasant, if a bit flustered. It seemed like a lot of people need help with the menu - we don't know what ohba is, or are trying to figure out how big the appetizer courses are, etc. So we didn't have our food order taken until around 9 pm (which is around when I saw the folks from the 8:30 4-top get seated, so either they came back late or tables weren't turning as fast as anticipated).

The wine list seems interesting, it's not all the same old thing you see on everyone else's wine list. Wines that really will go well with the food, and it's not overpriced.

Everything looked very interesting, and you could easily get a few different small plates to share and taste. It was funny, I asked about two of the small plates, and the server described them (about the Cabbage Soup he said "well, there's a lot of cabbage...") and when I said how about the Pork Belly he practically burst saying "It's GREAT" - I believed him, and could tell the two I asked about didn't thrill him nearly as much.

We had the Trio of Tofu appetizer - DH liked one of the trio a LOT and thought the other two were very good. I had the Pork Belly and it was quite good, but of course, very rich. That alone with a salad would have been enough.

We both got fish main courses. I took about 1/2 of mine home, but I'm sure if I had had a lighter appetizer I could have almost finished it. It was a bit too salty. DH really enjoyed his. He felt that the portion sizes were just right, I thought they were a bit big, but I probably had the most rich appetizer, and it may be that they cut my fish a bit bigger too. Not complaining at all.

Desserts to me looked good, not so much to DH, but we passed since we were really full. Next time we might try 2 appetizers each and dessert. In any case, we didn't get out of there until 11. At that point there were a few empty tables, but a lot of them were still full. I think they are going to need to work on getting tables turned faster. And by the end of the evening, our waiter seemed quite unsettled. I don't think with us, particularly, and he was perfectly pleasant, but it seemed like he had to visibly kind of settle down before his interactions with each table. I guess they were pretty slammed.

I'm not sure yet if it's a "go to just because on a weeknight" place for us, but it has potential. We'll be back for sure, probably during the week.

leek wrote:We both got fish main courses.

Perhaps you can describe what they consisted of?

I also went there last night, but missed the "full experience" of dinner, since I joined my GF and 2 friends 1/2 way through dinner at about 11pm (I had just finished waiting tables myself). They were sat just after 10, but this is due to making last-minute reservations.

They started with some cold small plates: winter roll of proscuitto, mizuna and shrimp, thin-sliced yellowtail kampachi with monkfish foie gras (awesome she tells me), house-smoked salmon (she says it's like a deconstructed bage & lox), and seared big-eye tuna with avocado & hearts of palm (we ordered another of these when I arrived and it's outstanding).

Afterward, four hot small plates: crispy veal sweetbreads (yum), soy-ginger caramel pork belly with pickled daikon and steamed bun (also got another on my arrival and ooooohhh my!), the "bad hair day" shrimp (shrimp in crispy-fried bird's nest noodles) with ohba leaf and sauce chinois, and sauteed maine scallops and soba gnocchi, with trumpet royal mushroom, celery root-parmesan foam (yes, we ordered another and I believe this was the favorite of the table).

In addition to those re-orders when I sat, we ordered braised beef short rib with roquefort cheese spaetzle (rich, but extremely delicious) - another hot small plate. Takashi sent out the roasted Indiana duck breast & confit of leg (large plate) as well, which was just as good as it sounds.

We had a nice Vouvray (gone by my arrival time ) and a Cotes du Rhone, both reasonably priced.

Dessert options were a choice of four. We chose the milk chocolate rice crunch with pistachio ice cream, and sheep yogurt panna cotta with a delcious little macaroon. Both were quite tasty, but the waiter told us that too many people order the rice crunch so they don't push it - GET IT!

My GF said that she saw Tony Mantuano dining downstairs (we were upstairs) and they chatted a bit. And in full disclosure, she is friends with Takashi from his days at Ambria (the best chef ever for that fine restaurant, in her humble opinion). He chatted with us after dinner and he's extremely nice, humble, and very funny (he does a great impersonation of Gabino).

We were the last table to leave, at about 12:30. Our waiter, Jason, was excellent - personable and professional, and knew the menu well for having only been open under 2 weeks.

www.takashichicago.com
(website says "coming soon" and has no info yet)

p.s. sorry no pics, but didn't bring my camera straight from work. There were 2 Japanese gentlemen taking fabulous pictures at a nearby tables with some high-tech camera...

Hi all,
I've been reading this site for three years and finally have decided to de-lurk and post. Gulp.

I ate at Takashi last night too and enjoyed it. We came in around 7 without reservations and sat at 2 of the four stools at the bar. The bartender, with his tatooed knuckles and unusual facial hair, was wonderful. His enthusiasm and honesty while describing the menu items and also the sakes added to the experience.

The first cold small plate we had was the tuna tartare with crispy rice scoops. No surprise, it was good but not fabulous. Next, we had the pork belly small plate. Like others said, it was delicious. The pork belly was melt in your mouth pork goodness, with a nice sauce (the menu said soy ginger caramel) and a steamed sweet bun (like in dim sum) on the side. We also had the braised shortrib small plate. The shortrib was good, but when combined with the cheesey spaetzle it was excellent. For our large plate we had the salmon wrapped in potato and prosciutto. When it came out, my dining companion said, "didn't they do something like this on Top Chef?" The first bite I thought, this is decent. But the next thing I knew I was scraping the plate clean with my fork - it gained momentum with each bite. For dessert we had the crisped rice, chocolate mousse, caramel sauce and ice cream. Sort of an upscale 100 grand candy bar - I really liked it.

I'd go back - especially for the pork belly.

nsxtasy wrote:

leek wrote:We both got fish main courses.

Perhaps you can describe what they consisted of?

Can't remember his, though it was (I think) braised sea bass. Mine was roasted (I think) hamachi (yellow tail) with spinach root and something

We went to Takashi last night and it was really a mixed bag. I think that this will be a very good restaurant, it just isn't there yet. Short summary, food was good to very good, service was strange and somewhat unfriendly. To the details...

The menu is divided into small cold plates, small hot plates, and large plates. I asked our waiter to recommend how much food we should order and he suggested one of each category for each person at the table. I'm glad we took his suggestion because all of the portions sizes were definitely on the small side.

I started with thinly sliced kampachi. 4 thin slices of kampachi served on top of shredded Napa cabbage. Each slice of fish was topped with a small piece of monkfish liver. I really liked this dish because it was full of contrasting flavors that all seemed to go well with each other. The cabbage was dressed with a nice vinaigrette, so the acidity played nicely off of the sweetness of the fish which also played nicely off of the richness of the liver. Again, a really nice dish. I also had a bite of the Wife's tuna tartare which was also very good.

Next I moved on to the soy-ginger-caramel pork belly served with steamed buns and a daikon salad. I had really high hopes for this dish but it fell just a little bit short. The pork belly itself was a bit too skewed towards "meaty" in the meaty to fatty ratio that you deal with when eating pork belly. As a result it was a bit chewy. Also, if there was caramel involved in cooking this dish, I couldn't taste it. On the other hand, serving steamed buns with the belly was a neat idea. The dish also came with a bit of Japanese mustard, which added a really nice kick when spread on a bite of bun with some belly on top.

For my large plate I went with the duck. Sliced breast with confit leg all served with kumquat and something else I can't remember. The breast was underseasoned but the confit was really good. The confit was served under a nicely crisp piece of skin with a thin and tasty layer of fat underneath. On the other hand, my wife's salmon was probably the best salmon dish I've ever had in a restaurant. It was nice sized chunks of salmon wrapped in spinach, potato, and prosciutto. The salmon was a nice medium rare and the prosciutto crust was almost crispy, so the combination of flavors and textures was just really outstanding. I think it was the smokiness of the cooked prosciutto that really made this dish work.

Dessert was chocolate mousse served on top of crispy rice with a scoop of caramel ice cream. This was a fantastic dessert.

Final bill for 4 small cold plates, 4 small hot plates, 4 large plates, 4 desserts and 2 bottles of wine was $330 after tax but before tip. A little overpriced, especially considering some service issues.

Now, the service...

So, last night was a bit snowy. We had an 8:30 reservation. At 8:30 we were still in the car, maybe 5-10 minutes away so I decided to call the restaurant to let them know we'd be a little late. Here's how that conversation went:

Me: Hi, we have a reservation at 8:30 under [name], and I just wanted to let you know we're on the way but running a little late
Hostess: Well, how late is a little late?
Me: About 10 minutes
Hostess: We'll try to work you in

Quite the first impression. Probably every other time I've called a restaurant to let them know we were going to be a bit late, they were actually grateful for the heads up. Apparently at Takashi this transgression goes on your permanent record.

We arrived about 10 minutes later. My friend who drove us went to park the car but dropped 3 of us off to go inside. I checked in with who I think was the same woman I spoke to on the phone, and the conversation went like this:

Me: Hi, well we made it. I just called under the name [name]. We have an 8:30 reservation
Hostess: Are you still going to be 4 people
Me: Yes, he's just parking the car
Hostess: When will he be here?
Me: I don't know, maybe 5 minutes
Hostess: So he'll be here soon?
Me: Yes, he's parking the car. He'll be here in 5 minutes

After consulting with someone else working the door, we were approved to be seated. Our 4th would be shown to the table when he arrived.

After being seated, our quietly creepy waiter asked if we were going to be 4 people ("YES, HE'S PARKING THE !@#$ING CAR!"). We politely said yes, and then he asked if we were ready to order. Wow, are they really going to try to turn our 8:30 table?

Bread service is fairly aggressive. The bread guy came around about every 5 minutes asking if we wanted bread. When the table eventually came back with 4 "no's" (after finishing our first course), our bread plates were removed. That would be all from bread guy.

At the very end of the meal, though, we hit on one of my pet peaves. In the middle of dessert, our waiter just dropped off the check. And I mean, right in the middle of dessert. I can't stand that. I'm definitely not in the "don't bring me the check until I ask for it" school of restaurant-going (especially below the 4-star level), but at least wait until dessert plates are cleared.

I'd like to back, but I think there are definitely things that need to be ironed out. I'll be curious to hear how things evolve. I would give it another few months.

I dined at Takashi on Thursday night and enjoyed my meal. There were four of us and we sampled a good portion of the menu. I called in advance and asked about their corkage policy. I was told that they had a $25 per bottle corkage fee. I brought two bottles of wine with me, and when I arrived I was informed that there was a one bottle per table limit regarding bringing one's own wines. It wasn't a big deal, but they should have told me over the phone.

The waitress suggested that we order two small plates and one large plate per person. Between us, we had two pork bellys, a short rib, a tuna tartare, two winter rolls, bad hair day shrimp, kampachi, seared tuna, sweetbreads and tofu three ways from the small plate list. I didn't write down our choices, but it seems like I'm missing a few appetizers.

For large plates we had two duck breast and confit, one grilled hamachi and another short rib small plate.

For dessert we had some sort of a chocolate and rice kripspie with ice cream and a pear financier. The chocolate dessert was very good and the pear just so so.

All of the food, save for the trio of tofus (which was dull and bland) was well prepared and well seasoned. Service was professional, although the waitress was not very familiar with the wine list. We had a decent 2006 Licia Albarino for $30 and a 2005 Jacques Girardin Premier Cru Santenay for $60 off of their wine list. The list was fairly interesting with many affordable choices.

Our total bill was about $435 including tax and tip. Takashi was kind enough to comp our dessert. I really liked this place and want to go back, but can't help feeling that prices are a bit high. Our pork belly order consisted of three small thin slices of pork belly, served with two buns for $12. Momofuku in NYC offers a much better value for pork belly. The kampachi serving was very small. I would suggest that one order three small plates, an entree and dessert. That being said, the short rib and the sweetbread portions were reasonably large.

Regarding bread service, it was a bit aggressive until you said you didn't want any more. Maybe they need the Churrascaria red and green card to indicate one's desire for more bread. Still, I had about six pieces of delicious multigrain bread before I quit.

All in all it was a very pleasant evening, but a bit too expensive.

I enjoyed a pleasant evening there last pm with the unusual suspects. Small plates, big tastes. Reminded me of Avecanese. The tofu trio was anything but dull. 3 nice different presentations by a deft hand flavor wise. The pork belly, mustard and bun were also excellent but the fried chicken in duck fat and the sweetbreads were a highlight for me.

On the large plate side, 1, the sea bass with shimeji mushrooms was also excellent , but a bit on the small side. 2 others, one unordered but dropped @ our table and kept, a salmon wrapped in prosciutto and potato and a duck breast/confit were the weak point of the meal. The duck breast was a bit overcooked for my taste and the confit was nowhere near crisp, which in my world is the entire point.

All in all, I enjoyed the small plates most and most likely would go back for those again.

coldfusion wrote:I've been reading this site for three years and finally have decided to de-lurk and post. Gulp.

Welcome, coldfusion! Great first post...I look forward to reading more in the future.

Cheers,

Aaron

thanks for all the insightful reviews! We are heading there tonight for dinner.

My wife and I last weekend tried Takashi Noodles at Macy's and last night we ate a lovely dinner at Takashi. Mr. Yagihashi was in the restaurant the entire time, hovering over the kitchen staff, always a good sign.

The two of us shared a total of 5 dishes.

1) Tartare of tuna - simple preparation, not earth shattering, but simple and refreshing - was surprised to see it paired with mountain yam. I applaud Takashi for including a strange crunchy viscous slimy vegetable for the American palate

2) Pork belly - The belly was fatty and delicious. I did point out to the waiter that the serving included three pieces of pork belly but only two pieces of bun. He came back with two more pieces of bun - pretty funny, but we had been chatting with the people next to us so they lucked out with the second bun and part of the third piece of pork belly.

3) Bad hair day shrimp - I had been looking forward to this dish based on the reviews here and elsewhere. This was the most disappointing dish - the shrimp truly had a bad greasy hair day. The shrimp wrapped in ohba leaf was completely lost in a tangle of fried stuff.

4) Scallops with gnocchi - This was my favorite dish. I even liked the silly celeriac foam. The scallops were perfect, though at this price range one expects a perfect scallop. The mushrooms were especially meaty and delicious. The sauce was exceptional - I used some baguette to sop up the sauce.

5) Sea bass (entree) - Simple preparation of sea bass with some mini turnips and green beans in what I believe was a very very green shiso leaf based sauce. Perfectly fine dish.

6) Dessert - panna cotta with yuzu and berries + a green tea macaroon. My wife commented the macaroon was decent but not as good as the ones she ate from Laurderee. I pointed out that outside of France, it was a bit much to ask for Laurderee quality macaroons. The panna cotta was good - I liked the tartness of the yuzu against he sweetness of the raspberries and gooseberries (I think).

7) The bread - great. Butter could have been colder/harder.

The room was very nice - the two of us sat on the first floor and by 7pm, the place was packed. We had a first seating 5:30 opentable reservation. We were greeted warmly upon entering the place and promptly seated. We never felt rushed and our waiter Jason was professional and delightful.

As a note, the place has valet parking and coat check upon entry. Even though we ended up chatting with our neighbors on both sides, the tables were spaced decently apart. However, this may have been because there was a table of six (three tables of two?) so that might have given a bit more breathing room for the rest of the tables.

The couples on both sides were also eating there for the first time and every person was a serious foodie. I actually traded a bit of tuna tartare and scallop for a taste of the sweetbreads (great!). We also even chatted about LTHF!

Now if Takashi could only improve what he calls ramen at the Macys food court.

Brady wrote:The panna cotta was good - I liked the tartness of the yuzu against he sweetness of the raspberries and gooseberries (I think).

I enjoyed the sheep yogurt panna cotta too. Those little orange hemispheres provoked some discussion at our table. I think you're right they're a type of gooseberry.

Just wondering if anyone else noticed that Takashi had enough buzz nationally to almost make the cut of 10 most interesting new restaurants outside of New York in last week's Times. (It was in the final 15.) My sister asked me about it after reading the article. It was nice to get the skinny on how lther's felt about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/dining/27count.html

our waiter just dropped off the check. And I mean, right in the middle of dessert

I hate the taste of paper and leatherette in my panna cotta.

My family and I had a truly excellent meal at Takashi last night. I think it's now one of my new favorite restaurants in Chicago. We originally had a reservation at Graham Elliot's, but I was experiencing some food fatigue, having read numerous accounts of first meals there, and decided to change our plans at the last minute.

I didn't take notes, and it looks like Takashi's web site still has the winter menu, but we started with a carrot-ginger soup, an asparagus salad, a chicken spring roll and the scallops with gnocchi. All of these dishes were superb in the freshness of ingredients and combination of flavors. I've never experienced the flavors of carrot and ginger as perfectly balanced as they were in the soup last night, and the scallop dish was otherworldly in the delicacy of its composition. We paired these dishes with glasses of Cava Rose, Vouvray and Gewürztraminer. The food and drink put us all in a jolly mood, and while I think the decor of Takashi (conservative modern) suggests a special occasion restaurant, the coziness of the house space and the friendliness of the staff made it a fine place for jolliness.

For entrees, we had the wasabi-crusted strip steak, the salmon & eggplant, an Alaskan halibut dish and the chicken in the clay pot. All of these dishes were outstanding. The steak was cooked to the truest "medium" that I've seen in a long time at any restaurant. The serving of salmon was very generous in size and, I think, cleverly complimented in flavor by a side of pickled vegetables. The chicken in the clay pot was very simple but absolutely lovely.

We ended our meal with three desserts: a chocolate-ginger cake, a strawberry consommé and a milk chocolate Kit Kat-like concoction. The cake was better after sitting awhile and softening, but all three desserts elicited wows from my family. The cake was dense, with neither chocolate nor ginger overpowering. The strawberry consommé was beautiful and refreshing with the most delicate wafer cookies. The milk chocolate dessert was candy bar heaven with ice cream.

I know that Frank Bruni gave Takashi a nod, but this place deserves a lot more love. I think it accomplishes precisely what it sets out to be and do, which, I'm finding with restaurants of late, to be a pretty extraordinary feat. I look forward to another chance to dine at Takashi. It was my cure for food fatigue.

We are headed to Takashi tonight (finally!) and I was curious about the atmosphere/dress code--there is no formal dress code listed for the restaurant, and my husband and I are meeting up with folks later for a more casual party so we were hoping to "split the difference" with what we wore to dinner. Would nice jeans, a cute top and heels (for me) and a nice button down and nice jeans with nice lace up shoes for my hubby be ok? If this would be too casual we can always stop back home and change before heading out again but, well, we're lazy

bananasandwiches wrote:We are headed to Takashi tonight (finally!) and I was curious about the atmosphere/dress code--there is no formal dress code listed for the restaurant, and my husband and I are meeting up with folks later for a more casual party so we were hoping to "split the difference" with what we wore to dinner. Would nice jeans, a cute top and heels (for me) and a nice button down and nice jeans with nice lace up shoes for my hubby be ok? If this would be too casual we can always stop back home and change before heading out again but, well, we're lazy

jeans are completely fine. They dont even have to be that nice.

So I am thinking about making a reservation here for New Year's (this late I'm not sure if i even can...). Zagat has it rated as a 29 and tied with Alinea. From the other posts it did not seem that great.. any thoughts on this ranking? Has it improved much since last year?

Zagat ratings are worthless. Ignore them.

gleam wrote:Zagat ratings are worthless. Ignore them.

I'd disagree, but you can't take them at face value. They're generally in the right range, but I'd consider the difference between a 26 and a 29 generally to be meaningless, though the difference between a 12 and a 20 is significant and generally correct.

dippy-do-da-egg wrote:Zagat has it rated as a 29 and tied with Alinea. From the other posts it did not seem that great.. any thoughts on this ranking?

In addition to the remarks above, the other point about Zagat ratings is that they note when the number of responses for a restaurant is unusually low, meaning that they consider them less reliable, and the rating for Takashi carries that annotation.

dippy-do-da-egg wrote:Has it improved much since last year?

Well, since it wasn't open last year, I'm going to guess that the answer to that question is yes, by definition.

I ate there in May. I was really, really disappointed.

I'll describe my dinner by putting it into a context with other contemporary "casual fine dining" restaurants. When I go to dinner at a higher-end restaurant, I usually get to try 2-4 dishes for each of several (usually three) courses, those I ordered as well as those of my dining companions (if they're the "sharing type" - some are, some aren't, I'm sure we all have friends of both types). So I get to try 6-12 different dishes. At the very best such restaurants, more than half (and occasionally all) of the dishes I try are so good, they make me want to scream, "WOW! This is DELICIOUS!!!" Even a place that isn't stellar ought to have at least a few such delicious dishes. At my dinner at Takashi, with three sharing type friends, there wasn't a single dish that gave me that "wow" feeling (although the sheep's milk panna cotta dessert was pretty good and came close). Not that anything was bad, exactly, but everything was just sort of okay, not great. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks a bunch nsxtasy-- that makes perfect sense and is very helpful!

gleam wrote:Zagat ratings are worthless. Ignore them.

I have always thought this as well. & I was further convinced of it this past Saturday as I sipped some Three Floyds and tequila @ Charlies Ale House @ Navy Pier.. They had a Zagat Rated placard from 2007 displayed at the bar....

jimswside wrote:Charlies Ale House @ Navy Pier.. They had a Zagat Rated placard from 2007 displayed at the bar....

I wonder where they got it. That restaurant is not mentioned in either the 2006/07 Zagat Guide or the 2008/09 Zagat Guide.

I also wonder what "Zagat Rated" means. Does it show a number? Or does it simply mean that people voted on it and a rating was assigned? If the latter, it could mean that it has the worst food rating of any restaurant in the book...

We're intrigued and seriously thinking of going. But the website gives no prices whatsoever and, except for deesher's post above, I don't get much of a sense from other posts. Would some previous posters (or heretofore non-posting others) mind weighing in on the subject of cost? Thanks.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Would some previous posters (or heretofore non-posting others) mind weighing in on the subject of cost?

I didn't get around to posting this earlier but here are some photos from a meal in February. I don't know how many of these dishes will be currently available but it should give you an idea of the prices. Overall, I was pretty happy with Takashi but found the small plates to be stronger than the bigs. You could have a very nice meal with an assortment of those.

Trio of Tofu ($8)


Fluke ($14)


Fried Chicken ($12)


Sweetbreads ($14)


Pork Belly ($13)


Bass ($23)


Potato-Wrapped Salmon ($24)


Duck ($26)


Financier


Panna Cotta

nsxtasy wrote:
I also wonder what "Zagat Rated" means. Does it show a number? Or does it simply mean that people voted on it and a rating was assigned? If the latter, it could mean that it has the worst food rating of any restaurant in the book...

Precisely. There is no number on the "Zagat Rated" signs, even though Zagat does offer restaurants a sign that includes the actual rating. Whatever city you're in, a "Zagat Rated" sign in the window of a restaurant is a pretty sure sign that the place sucks.

Whatever city you're in, a "Zagat Rated" sign in the window of a restaurant is a pretty sure sign that the place sucks.

I think that's way too harsh, as certainly many fine restaurants do get Zagat ratings as well. I think the best way to put it is "This restaurant is apparently well thought of by people whose opinion I wouldn't trust."