takashi inoue & jake dickson    photos by george billard

The very day the Times gave Takashi a rave review, Dickson’s announced it would be co-hosting a special dinner there, featuring an all-beef menu from a single steer it would supply. As a big fan of Dickson’s, conscientiously-raised beef, Korean barbecue and adventurous eating, I couldn’t really pass up the opportunity. Takashi—the name of the chef and his restaurant—opened in April in Manhattan’s West Village, and seems to be occupying a new space in the city’s dining landscape. The food is in the style of yakiniku, a Japanese version of Korean barbecue that originated in Japan during the Second World War, when many thousands of Koreans were conscripted into the Japanese army and brought to the island to work. Chef Takashi Inoue’s grandmother is Korean and runs a small yakiniku restaurant in Osaka. Takashi came to the United States three years ago to study English, met Saheem Ali—then a theater director, now the restaurant’s general manager—and together they opened this small restaurant. The quality of the meat on offer is fantastic. At the dinner we attended, it all came from one steer that had been provided by Dickson’s. It was a real adventure in nose-to-tail eating, and one that honored Dickson’s fine beef, Takashi’s original cooking, and the magnificent animal that made it all possible. Read the rest of this entry »