Japanese Steakhouse Rec's

[mascarpone]

Please rec. Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens for excellent Wagu/Kobe beef.

[stealw]

Megu is very good. Service, food, and decor all superb.

www.megurestaurants.com

Morimoto's is very good as well.

Try some saga beef if it is available.

Jim

[LPShanet]

Please rec. Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens for excellent Wagu/Kobe beef.

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While it's not a steakhouse, the best properly prepared Kobe beef I've had in NY was at Sugiyama. He offers it as part of his kaiseki style meal.

[raji]

Please rec. Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens for excellent Wagu/Kobe beef.

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American or Japanese? (Two digits or three...?)

[Eatmywords]

Please rec. Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens for excellent Wagu/Kobe beef.

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While it's not a steakhouse, the best properly prepared Kobe beef I've had in NY was at Sugiyama. He offers it as part of his kaiseki style meal.

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I second that although the only other place I've had it was in Kobe.

[Sneakeater]

I thought the kobe beef at Matsugen was pretty fantastic (if extremely expensive).

Edited July 22, 2009 by Sneakeater (log)

[dagordon]

Unless something has changed very recently, there’s actually no Kobe beef (legally) available in the US right now. There are only four slaughter plants in all of Japan licensed to process the wagyu beef that is imported here: one in Miyazaki, one in Gunma, and two in Kagoshima. None in Kobe. On the other hand, Kobe is not the most respected designation for Japanese beef anyway, it's just a name that's easy for Americans to remember.

If a place is advertising "kobe beef" it's a pretty good indication that they have no idea what they're talking about.

[Sneakeater]

I'm sure Matsugen didn't call it Kobe.

[raji]

Argggghh - Not this old red herring again.....

Wagyu is translated as Japanese Cow

Kobe is a region in Japan where the more coveted black cows originated. But it's really stuck in American culture because a few decades ago some smart cowboy cross-bred them with angus cattle and started raising them in American, creating "American Kobe" beef or "Kobe beef" as it's seen on the menu here.

Real Wagyu has enjoyed some mad cow disease-related blackouts and bannings but now it's back. dagordon, where did you read about the 4 plants? I didn't know there was such a restriction.

Which is why I asked you if you were looking for American or Japanese beef.

Anyways, in Japan, the really good marbled speciality beef such as that from Matsuzaka (the best) Tottori or yes, Kobe, can get really expensive. Even more expensive when it gets here.

So, it's pretty rare for the Japanese to serve wagyu as an actual steak - they don't have the appetites for beef the way we do, but for them it would be the same as serving a toro steak. It's a luxury and a pricey thing. There used to be an actual Japanese steakhouse in midtown, Seryna, but I don't know if they were serving American or Japanese beef. I think a 12oz there was $110. Maybe someone can remember and report back.

The most common and honorific of such an ingredient is ishiyaki - literally stone grill/bake - so LPS and Sneak got it right - Sugiyama does a kaiseki + wagyu served ishiyaki-style - you get a plate of the beef, usually cubed, and some damn hot stones. sear, chomp... mmmmmm

The other place that I was going to recommend was LAN in the east village - who has US Kobe steaks and then Wagyu Shabu-shabu- BUT they very much special in serving Japanese steaks.

Shabu-Shabu and Yakiniku are the other places I traditionally get Wagyu, but, you get the point - it's best to enjoy this kind of beef not as a steak but as serving-size mini-steaks micro-cooked one at a time tableside to an unctuous rare/medium-rare

You know what you might want to do, call these guys http://www.thewagyu.com and ask them what restaurants serve theirs in NY. They market to Japanese restaurateurs in the US. Let us know if they give you an answer...

[raji]

<---- BTW click on my name here to see some serious wagyu action, primed for yakiniku/ishiyaki

[dagordon]

Got my info about the plants licensed to export beef to the U.S. (and so the nonavailability of true "kobe beef") from Rosengarten's wagyu article in the 9/07 Rosengarten Report, and it was confirmed by an industry specialist on a trip to Japan last May. Like I said, perhaps things have changed, but that places are advertising "kobe beef" is no reason to think that they have, as places have been advertising this for years (even before any Japanese wagyu was available in the U.S.).

"The Wagyu" is a fantastic product (our July 4th BBQ involved an 8lb zabuton, cooked sous-vide and then seared over binchotan charcoal), and raji's suggestion is promising, though it might be even better to contact New York Mutual Trading Company, as they'd be the distributor around here.

Edited July 23, 2009 by dagordon (log)

[raji]

Got my info about the plants licensed to export beef to the U.S. (and so the nonavailability of true "kobe beef") from Rosengarten's wagyu article in the 9/07 Rosengarten Report, and it was confirmed by an industry specialist on a trip to Japan last May. Like I said, perhaps things have changed, but that places are advertising "kobe beef" is no reason to think that they have, as places have been advertising this for years (even before any Japanese wagyu was available in the U.S.).

I'd love to read that report, sounds fascinating. My info has been affected over the years by anecdotes of various Japanese chefs in NY, but my most important source of information owns 40 or so high-end yakiniku restaurants in Japan including a couple stateside, wagyu is a fixture on his menu so...the man goes through a lot of beef

Re: Kobe Beef - As I wrote, it always was and continues to be American Kobe beef, which has cheapened enough that places make hot dogs and hamburgers out of them. In fact if there as any TRUE Kobe Beef in America, it would most likely be labeled "Wagyu" at this point.

[weinoo]

The most common and honorific of such an ingredient is ishiyaki - literally stone grill/bake - so LPS and Sneak got it right - Sugiyama does a kaiseki + wagyu served ishiyaki-style - you get a plate of the beef, usually cubed, and some damn hot stones. sear, chomp... mmmmmm

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Waldy was (and might still be) doing this at Beacon as part of the chef's tasting menu.

[nyrestaurantfoodie]

Maybe the best way to enjoy wagyu, true Japanese, but also American and Austrailian, is to cook it at home. I can heartily recommend DeBragga.com, the web site owned by the guys with the dry-aging rooms at DeBragga and Spitler in NY's meat market. They carry each type of wagyu, and if you buy from the site, you save a ton of money that you could spend on a great wine to go with it! Check it out: http://www.debragga.com/.

[raji]

The most common and honorific of such an ingredient is ishiyaki - literally stone grill/bake - so LPS and Sneak got it right - Sugiyama does a kaiseki + wagyu served ishiyaki-style - you get a plate of the beef, usually cubed, and some damn hot stones. sear, chomp... mmmmmm

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Waldy was (and might still be) doing this at Beacon as part of the chef's tasting menu.

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Yes I've had his too - and it was very good and served on a big block of salt if I recall.

But Nao-san deals with enough volume and is in the know enough that he tends to have the highest quality product and gives you a very good amount of it - kitchen counter's is more of a taste. He's also from Osaka if I recall... right down the road from Kobe...

[mascarpone]

Thank you for the very informative posts. I am interested in American, two digits (is this practical)?

[raji]

Kobe Club? oh....

Well, you asked for a Japanese steakhouse, so I'd say the best you can do is LAN 56 3rd Avenue, which lists an American Wagyu steak -

アメリカン神戸牛リブロースステーキ

特製ソース添え

American Kobe Beef Rib Eye 55

Because you will have a hard time finding other Japanese restaurants who even have american wagyu serving it as a steak vs. ishiyaki, yakiniku, shabushabu, etc. But it should be very good and a Ribeye is a cut very conducive to the Japanese style preparation. For instance, Kamui Den has a normal (I think it's prime) Ribeye that's pretty fantastic.

Or an American steakhouse serving faux-Japanese beef, Craftsteak

Wagyu Beef

New York Strip (Gold) 12 oz, strube ranch, tx 102.00

Skirt Steak (Gold) 10 oz, snake river farm, ia 75.00

Plz report back!

Edited July 29, 2009 by raji (log)