Taka

Taka kicks ass on his sushi menu and now, he has created an izakaya menu, too... And near me. But it's tough to have a great sushi resto and do great izakaya at the same time. There isn't enough skillz to pay da bills on both front with a skeleton crew. Shoya is the only joint barely ITP that excels in both... Well, compared to other comps in this city, there is no competition because they have a more diverse staff. Time to check out what Taka is slinging on that izakaya menu. If it is as good as his sushi menu, we're in for a treat.

Ankimo. If I see this on the menu, it's on like donkey balls... In this case, I quiver for monkfish liver. This was silky and velvety which makes it going down much easier because no one wants to gag in public. The flavor, texture and consistency was spot on. The ponzu sauce, not so much... It tasted like diluted rusty pipe water, why Taka, why so chintzy for a squirt of full power ponzu? You can make that shit in yo sleeps.

Oxtail Tofu Broth. Oh yeah, this was good. That is some comfy grub. Makes me wanna snuggle after pouring a gallon of this heavenly golden shower down my throat. This is the kinda of water sport I can get used to on a regular basis.

Tonkatsu.Why didn't anyone pound this pork? First off, who doesn't like to pound pork? This was just a thick piece of boneless pork chop coated with panko and deep fried... WTF? How lazy can you be? If you don't pound that hog, it gets too chewy after frying it for too long just trying to cook it through. And this sure was chewy. If I wanted to chew for 5 minzies on a single piece, I woulda gotten a pouch of Big League Chew from the gas station next door. C'mon, bro, don't die on me. The Japanese mustard was nice but a bit grainy, though.

Tonkotsu Ramen. The holiest of holies. The test of a true massa. I was giddy as a titillated school girl. But why are there so many oil globulars floating around? Took a spoonful of the tonko broth... Damn, WTF is this? It had zero jizzlobbing stickiness to it = no collagen. None. I'm disappointed already. The 2 small pieces of pork were boring, the egg was standard issue, but the ramen noodles were nicely cooked and toothy (yes, I get to use toothy again!). This bowl of tonkotsu ramen was a grade D, it would have failed if it wasn't for the noodles. Ugh, I hate that this place is pushing this out just because it thinks it has to because of the competition. If they put out a ramen burger, I'm gonna go Newtown. Serio, bro, you need to amp up this broth if you wanna call it a tonkotsu. 

Yakisoba. Where is the sizzler hot plate? You can't have yakisoba on a regular old dusty plate. It needs to be sizzling and caramelizing all the tidbits. It was so greasy and barely edible. I could not believe this even left the kitchen. What's with the noodle dishes here?

Spider Roll. I'm a sucker for this every time. A SUCKA, I say. It was a tasty version but somehow it really didn't wow me like some other places do. I usually can still taste it a couple days later from memory if it was a craveworthy one but I was shooting blanks on this callinectes-centipede. It was far from garbage but y'all know what I'm saying. He needs to tweak this a bit, it was just too plain Jane. Could be my fault for ordering a roll... Cuz I'm a sucka.

I don't know if a good sushi chef is out of his realm on cooked dishes but the izakaya dishes I tried were mostly lacking and forgettable. Don't write this place off because I still love the sushi here, he does a great job on the raw stuff... It's just this silly izakaya stunt he's pulling that's making me worry. I guess it's kinda like Miso Izakaya, no one goes for the sooshee there, but the izakaya/cooked dishes are what you crave and go there for... Now, with molecules! 

 Bottomline: Go to Taka for the sushi, skip the rest... For now.

75 Pharr Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-869-2802
http://www.takasushiatlanta.com/