Kono
The chochin is Atsushi Kono's own favorite skewer.3 It is a length of oviduct with a lobe of liver, and an unlaid egg hangs off the tip, warm and liquid.1 Pete Wells gave this counter three stars for the Times in 2022. It is an add-on, so ask.1
Why go
Kono grilled at Torishin for more than a decade before he opened this.1 He runs roughly sixteen courses for fourteen seats. The chicken goes crown to tail.5 The chicken is organic and Amish.4 The fire is binchotan, burning between two metal bars that hold the skewers up. He banks the coals, slides the sticks to hotter and cooler spots, and fans the fire when he wants more heat. Inner thigh goes over the hard end, because the dark meat has fat enough to take it. The breast is kept back from the flame and wrapped in a shiso leaf smeared with salted plum paste and honey.1
Order this / avoid
- Wait for: the tsukune, near the end of the skewers. Chicken and duck minced with scallions, charred outside and running when you open it, with a raw yolk beside it.1 Carina Finn, who rated the room 8.0 for The Infatuation, wrote
This is probably the best tsukune in New York.
3 - Order: the kidney out of the jewel box of extras. Finn had it medium-rare under a smoky-sweet glaze.3
- Wait for: the monaka, which comes early. Two mochi wafers toasted over the coals, filled with chicken liver pate under shaved truffle. Wells called it
the most ethereal chopped liver sandwich in the city.
1 - Avoid: the $50 wagyu cube in that same box. Finn says outright not to order it.3
What locals & experts say
- Pete Wells, then the New York Times restaurant critic, July 2022, at three stars and a Critic's Pick: he called Kono the city's
most accomplished yakitori chef and, by extension, one of its greatest chicken cooks.
1 - Ligaya Mishan, The New York Times, putting the room on her 2026 hundred best:
Fire in darkness. This is one of the most seductive dining rooms in town.
2 - The James Beard Foundation: it nominated Atsushi Kono for Best Chef: New York State in 20246 and again in 2025.7
- The Infatuation's yakitori guide, 2023: it lists six counters in the city. The two you weigh against this one are Torien in Noho and Torishin, where Kono used to grill.8
Good to know
- Price: the omakase is $185 a head.4 Wells paid $165 in 2022.1
- Booking: dinner runs Monday to Saturday and there are fourteen seats, so book.5
- After dinner: a four-seat Japanese whisky listening bar is hidden in the back wall.5
- Finding it: the counter is inside the Canal Arcade, the passage that runs from the Bowery through to Elizabeth Street.51
- Groups: the restaurant says it can seat four to six in a semi-private area.4
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Jbf nominee 2024"
Verdict
must-visit — This costs less than the omakase sushi counters it competes with, and it is the better show.