Teisui (CLOSED)

Nearly 6,500 miles from its home in the mountains of Japan’s Akita province, the Teisui Hotel gets a tasting-menu restaurant sibling in the Flatiron District, from entrepreneur Takuro Hirabayashi. Inspired by traditional ryokan (Japanese inns), the 44-seat space is decorated with graphite tabletops, sculpted maple walls and Namahage masks, and is centered on a 17-seat dark-stone counter overlooking an open kitchen. From there, a roster of Japanese chefs—including Nobutaka Watanabe of Vancouver’s Hapa Izakaya and Yuichiro Yoshimura of the original Teisui—collaborate on a 10-course yakitori kaiseki menu. Composed dishes include egg custard folded with foie gras and sea urchin; miso-marinated rabbit with miso “cappuccino”; and yakitori chicken breast with root sauce. A house miso soup, made with king crab and Tokyo scallion, is served tableside and heated using rocks from Mount Fuji.