"Chicken is often just a fallback order when you’re not in the mood for red meat or a $29 vegetable dish topped with edible flowers. But at Toriko, it’s the main attraction. Sit at the 20-seat chef’s counter at this West Village yakitori spot, and watch as a chef prepares an omakase menu starring various grilled chicken skewers. As he puts each one on your plate and announces the cut - like chicken oysters, thigh, or neck - he’ll point to the corresponding part of the bird on a diagram you’re given at the start of your meal. While all of that makes for entertaining dinner theater, all you’ll really be thinking about is how chicken can possibly taste this good." - hannah albertine, bryan kim, katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg, matt tervooren
