One of the foods I miss most from my time in Tokyo is yakitori. The Japanese word, "yaki" means grilled, and there are thousands of these tiny smoke-filled huts grilling just about everything you would want to eat across the country. But where should a New Yorker turn to when they crave yakitori? Perhaps the Japan-centric East Village or Lower East Side? Nope, contrary to what one might believe, I think that a small restaurant in Midtown West serves some of the best yakitori in all of New York. I'm talking about Yakitori Totto, a restaurant visited by the likes of Thomas Keller and Anthony Bourdain. But Yakitori Totto has been on my radar long before these ringing endorsements.
Wanting to go early before they ran out of popular items, I finally found the perfect opportunity after returning from a Braves/Mets game at Citi Field. The restaurant opens its door for dinner at 5:30 p.m. and I would suggest you get there quickly to put your name down. In our case, MW and I arrived a mere 15 minutes after opening only to discover an hour wait. We decided to put our names down and give the hostess our phone number while we grabbed a drink or two from a nearby bar.
Our patience was rewarded with delicious food.
