The popular Japanese steakhouse Ikinari steak, known for it’s unusual ordering style and standing-room-only dining room, will soon come to the East Village. Ikinari currently has more than 50 locations in Japan, and in areas with a large office population some Ikinari outposts feed as many as 500 office workers a day.
The fast-casual concept allows guests to order the exact number of grams of steak they’d like, which are then eaten at standing tables with a precisely calibrated height. Chef and Restaurateur Kunio Ichinose explains that such tables discourage diners from putting their forks and knives down between bites, allowing the restaurant to move guests through as quickly as possible. That throughput allows Ikinari to target workers with lower incomes than many steakhouses; a 7-ounce steak comes to about $16, a particularly good deal in Japan.
If such a fast paced setting doesn’t seem like your ideal way to eat steak, there may be some hope. Ikinari’s LES application for a liquor license indicates they may tweak the concept slightly for the New York market, encouraging guests to stay a moment longer and possibly even giving them a place to sit. After all, it’s hard to hold a fork, knife, and a beer through a full 7 ounces.
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