Next an “psychological roller coaster” of a calendar year that noticed both equally of his dining places near, Seattle chef and present “Best Chef: Portland” contender Shota Nakajima is officially bringing back his beloved Capitol Hill restaurant Taku.
The Osaka street food restaurant closed in March 2020 at the starting of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened briefly with a takeout design ahead of closing again indefinitely. Now, the wooden shutters are eventually coming off as the cafe prepares for its reopening on May well 5.
The recently reopened house ideal in the coronary heart of Capitol Hill will have a menu concentrated on Japanese 2 times-fried chicken acknowledged as karaage. For Nakajima, the menu is a return to the comfort foods of his youth used in Japan.
“My favorite lunch growing up was my mom’s hen karaage and rice,” Nakajima stated in a information launch. “The nostalgia and convenience I experience for this homemade dish influenced me to make it the emphasis of Taku’s new menu. I are not able to wait to convey the simplicity of Japanese fried chicken to Seattleites.”
Together with buckets of marinated, battered and two times fried chicken nuggets and wings, the cafe will serve karaage rice bowls and burgers together with Japanese-motivated sides like furikake fries, cabbage salad, edamame, miso soup and macaroni salad.
“I kept the menu simple with two rooster choices and a variety of damp or dry seasonings, teriyaki being my most loved,” Nakajima reported. “The side dishes are what you will discover all above izakayas in Japan, and cabbage salad is highly suggested with karaage as it allows crack down the fat.”
To-go cocktails and rotating flavors of Jell-O photographs are also on the menu as the Washington legislature recently up to date the state’s liquor legislation to let takeout booze to continue on.
The room by itself emanates the avenue vibes of Osaka with vivid neon avenue symptoms and a great deal of eclectic decorations like Japanese lanterns, manhole handles, anime posters, Japanese pop tradition stickers and even a giant Godzilla head.
The space will initially open up as a takeout window, but Nakajima says he strategies to reopen for dine-in the moment his group is thoroughly vaccinated and snug serving indoors once more.
But Seattleites would not have to wait around right until May perhaps to get their Taku fix: Nakajima and fellow “Best Chef” contestant Chef Byron Gomez are keeping a distinctive pop-up takeout window on April 23 to give enthusiasts a style of the display. Right until then, foodies can nevertheless catch Nakajima competing on “Top Chef: Portland” Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo.