"Just 15 to 20 seconds per side," said our server as she delivered a plate of toro beef tare to the table. One of the several meat selections that came with our course menu for two, this looked different from the rest. Heavily striated with fat, the thin strips looked a lot like bacon. When placed on the grill, they behaved a lot like bacon, too.
The instant the meat touched the latticed metal surface of the hot grill, it contracted, its edges curling and eventually attaining a crisp black char. Seconds later I dipped the still piping-hot piece in the house sauce and plopped it into my mouth, savoring the almost-instant gratification with pleasure. Its texture reminded me of just-crisped guanciale, light yet juicily unctuous; I definitely wanted more of it.
It was Saturday evening at Gyu-Kaku, the hip new Japanese barbecue place in Midtown. The popular chain, with more than 30 locations in the United States and Asia, opened its first outlet in Texas in late April to instant popularity and weekend waits of more than an hour. I'd specifically chosen an earlier seating, making reservations for 6:30 p.m. in anticipation, and it's a good thing I did. Midway through our meal, around the 7:30 mark, the entire landing space and bar area had filled with diners patiently awaiting their turn.
Japanese barbecue, or yakiniku for those unfamiliar with it, is a lot like Korean barbecue in that uncooked meats are delivered to your table for you to cook over a grill yourself. The difference is in the presentation of the meats and the side dishes. Yakiniku meats tend to be cut more precisely -- what sashimi would look like if meat were used instead of fish. There is more focus on the quality of the marbling and the particular cut of meat -- skirt steak, short rib, prime short rib, for example -- and unlike at Korean restaurants, which serve a slew of small side dishes automatically, side dishes are not included as part of the meal and must be ordered separately.
That night, instead of ordering à la carte, we had opted for Gyu-Kaku's set course "Meat Lovers" menu, which included miso soup, a delicious salad dressed in miso mustard dressing, a couple of forgettable fried appetizers, six different selections of meat, and s'mores for dessert. The first of the few meats -- filet mignon and New York steak -- had been cut into cubes and were much leaner in consistency, the result a bit too dry for my taste. The toro beef turned out to be one of our favorites for its tender fattiness, while the bistro hanger steak was the most flavorful.
It was a good starting point if you have no idea what to order, and there's a cost savings of about $10 over ordering à la carte, but to really enjoy Gyu-Kaku, the key is to order the good stuff. It just takes a bit of work to find out exactly what the good stuff is.