Skip to main content

New York’s Takashi and Eating Adventurous Meats

We know you’ve probably already made your New Year’s resolutions, but in case you are late in the game we’re here to provide you with a little guidance. Nothing says sophistication like a guy who is willing to try diverse foods and order even the most exotic dish on a menu. So this year, we at The Manual think it’s a good idea to (if you haven’t already) start eating some of the more adventurous cuts available on the market.

Chef Takashi Inoue of Takashi - New York, NY
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Using the menu at Takashi—a New York restaurant that specializes in offal-centric (internal organ) based dishes—as a guide, we want to walk you through just a few cuts of meat that can be categorized as “off the beaten path.” Takashi takes its name from its head chef, Takashi Inoue, who is a native of Osaka, Japan, but whose family is originally from Korea.

Recommended Videos

All of Chef Takashi’s food blends the bold flavors of Korean barbecue with the elegance and finesse of Japanese cuisine. Chef Takashi takes nothing but the utmost care with his restaurant (featuring tabletop grills imported from Japan and walls designed with kid-friendly drawings of all the different cuts of meat) and deeply considers the preparation and presentation of each of his dishes. He knows the full value and flavor of each of the “exotic” cuts of meat he features on his menu.

Takashi Wall
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you can’t make it to Takashi’s, see if your butcher or any of your local restaurants have any of the following pieces of meat available in shop or on menu. You may just end up becoming a favorite customer.

For an easy transition from traditional meats, you might want to start off by ordering or asking your butcher for beef belly. Now, pork belly has become superfluous on many menus, and for good reason; but beef belly is not as common. It is thin and flavorful and, once grilled, almost melts in your mouth.

CheekIf you want to keep things on the lighter and simpler side, then cheek could be in your future. That may sound odd, but trust us, well grilled pieces of cheek will remind you very much of bacon. And ordering them will make you seem bold.

Perhaps the most popular and widely used cut of offal is liver. You don’t need a tabletop barbecue to make liver delicious—though, it does add with flavor. All you need is a frying pan, garlic, and plenty of salt and pepper to cook yourself an excellent but “exotic” piece of meat. Liver tends to be a bit rich (see: any kind of liver paté) but, due to the variety of presentations it lends itself to, ordering it at Takashi or any other restaurant usually comes without regret.

For a thicker, more steak-like experience you might want to try tongue. Tongue is traditionally tougher and chewier to eat, but when thinly sliced, prepared properly, marinated, and grilled, it can provide you with a mini-steak that is absolutely delicious.

Finally, we have Chef Takshi’s favorite piece of offal: the large intestine. Ordering that off a menu might be harder for you to stomach (c’mon, that one was just sitting there!), but it is worth taking the risk. This is a fattier, richer cut of meat to try, but when you have the endorsement of a world-renown chef; it’s hard to argue with giving it at least one shot.

Those are only five of the adventurous cuts of meats offered at Takashi, but this should give you a good start on your way to ordering more exotically. Feel free to peruse the menu at Takashi to see the full extent of the dishes and cuts of meat they offer. Maybe one day you’ll be brave enough to order the testicargot (cow balls escargot style with garlic shiso butter). Take it from us, it’s delicious.

Takashi Inoue portrait courtesy Shannon Sturgis.

Topics
Matt Domino
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Matt Domino is a writer living in Brooklyn. His fiction has appeared in Slice and The Montreal Review, while his non-fiction…
North Spore launches its first-ever mushroom coffee — here’s why it matters
Should you switch to mushroom coffee?
Wine cap mushroom spore

Leading mushroom supplier North Spore has launched its first-ever mushroom coffee product. To create this delicious concoction, the team has paired antioxidant-rich coffee with 100% organic fruiting body extracts from five adaptogenic mushrooms: Lion’s Mane, Chaga, Reishi, Cordyceps, and Turkey Tail. For coffee drinkers, this new mushroom coffee pairing offers all the benefits of caffeine, plus stress reduction, immunity support, mood enhancement, and mental clarity.
To learn more about this exciting new medium roast mushroom coffee release, I interviewed Matt McInnis, co-founder of North Spore. McInnis is passionate about the new launch, sharing that the North Spore team believes in the power of mushroom fruiting body extracts and thinks what it has to offer is a great alternative to many mushroom coffee products on the market right now. With a mission to offer mushroom coffee that's good for you and tastes good, too, here's what sparked the launch of North Spore's new mushroom coffee.

The story behind North Spore mushroom coffee

Read more
Lime lagers are having a moment—here’s why they’re perfect for summer
Lime lagers are nothing new, but they're trending
Troegs

The lime lager is nothing new. This style has been around for a number of years. While there’s no official “first lime lager”, Bud Light Lime was launched less than two decades ago in 2006 (and drinkers have been adding lime to Mexican lagers for as long as they've been brewed). And, while the style has been available to drinkers in the US for around twenty years, it’s having a bit of a moment this spring.

While many brands have been around for years, like Stone Buenaveza, Half Acre Green Torch, Founders On Cloud Nine, and Great Lakes Mexican Lager w/ Lime, there are a few new offerings this spring. These include the zesty, fresh, and refreshing Brooklyn Playa de Brooklyn and Tröegs Let The Sunshine In.

Read more
From sangiovese to syrah: the ultimate guide to dry red wines
Some of the greatest wines ever made
Cut of grilled steak with glass of red wine

Chances are your favorite red wine is dry. I know that not because I have a crystal ball, but because pretty much every popular red wine is dry. (I urge you to discover the many delights of sweet red wine, but not right now.) Before we get into types, let’s address the big question: What makes a wine dry?

Wines are called dry when they have comparatively low amounts of residual sugars, meaning they taste less sweet (technically below 1%, or nine grams of sugar per liter). All wines would be dry if fermentation weren’t halted or they were back-sweetened. Yeast will “ferment until dry,” meaning it will gobble up all the sugar there is, no crumbs left. This dry descriptor applies to all types of wine – sparkling, white, red, and rosé. The first time dry appears in writing referring to wine was in Richard Ames’s 1691 poem “The Last Search After Claret, &C.” in which the narrator is looking for a red Bordeaux but is offered sweet port instead:

Read more