Izakayas are trendy as fuck right now in this one horse town... Shit,
anything hip and Asian is trending right now (I'm looking at you, ramen and perhaps Todd Mussman in Chinaman costume). But the whole izakaya concept has been gaining traction for some time now since Miso Izakaya started the trend like 6+ years ago when Edgewood was just a shitty ass little hood. Shoya has been around just as long and caters toward the ex-pats more with an amazing gigantic menu, they have been kicking so much ass that they opened a sister resto, Ginya, in the old Cardamom Hill space, it's also kicking ass (don't worry, they won't close because they got so much business). There's also Craft Izakaya and Wagaya, both intown joints are respectable and worthy in their own right. But what about OTP? Way the fuck upstate OTP? Have no fear, the Iron Age peeps have opened such a place next door with a very well designed interior and menu that rivals those intown... Except the part where they use the word "Tapas". C'mon, dude, don't muddle up Spanish cuisine with Japanese cuisine prepared by Koreans... If you ain't got Iberico ham and churros, take that fucking word off the menu, brochujang.
You know what, I don't give a shit if Obama's half bro from Kenya is the chef here... I drove all the way fuck up here for some grub and I'm gonna get some... Izakaya vittles.
"Tapas" is really bothering the fuck outta me.. Turn the page, pouch, turn the page. They got a hefty selection of grubbery on their menu... Let's sample a dish or three...
Koebi Karaage. I love fried baby shrimp, the heads have the most flavor and are the best part. This version has a bit thicker batter but I still liked them. Just don't eat them head first or else you'll get pricked by their little peckers.
Ika Teriyaki. I always love seeing a whole grilled squid, it's such a gorgeous site to be eating tip to testicle or is that tentacle... It was soft and tender, not rubbery or chewy at all and the little char on the tips of the tentacles were spot on for that texture contrast. Jesus, it sounds like I just gave head or something...
Chicken Wing Karaage. They sounded good on the menu but I shoulda just stuck with the regular tried and true chicken thigh karaage. Not that these drumettes were bad, they just didn't give me the tingly feeling in my underpants like the regular karaage do.
Kushiyaki. $10 for 5 sticks of meat and veggies, I don't know if it was worth it but I had to try it and now I will divert that $10 to something else on the menu next time. I was curious in the kushiyaki because there was a plump girl working the grill but I couldn't see if it was infrared/heat element or real binchotan coals... Come to think of it, it was a heat element because the lack of char on the meats and sticks were a tell-tale sign it wasn't binchotan. Been there, ate that... Next.
Yakisoba Ma. They have like three different yakisobas... I had to stick with the classic one but the fried egg sold me on it. I fucking love eggs, all types of eggs, especially a balut... Wouldn't that be radical if this yakisoba had a cute half aborted baby chicken on there? It's ok, liberals approve... I can hear the crackers regurgitating like they were feeding baby birds in the background from that visual. It was a hefty portion of yakisoba and I don't usually complain about excessive portions of meat but this yakisoba really needed more noodles than sliced pork. It was very tasty but it was just too meaty for a yakisoba, the egg I loved.
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen. Oh, snap, you done gone did it, again, pouch! Jesus, I have been eating ramen noodles non stop for the last week. No wonder I'm so bloated and plump, I need to go to a juicing room. I'm like on tonkotsu time this week... This version was not bad, the broth was pretty rich but they added a decent amount of sesame oil in there which amped up the flavor bomb on this broth. While it wasn't as sticky and rich as it could be, the flavor of the broth more than made up for it. The noodles were pretty good, tight with a springy bite, but they were not Sun Noodles. It still worked in this bowl. The char shu were nice sized pieces with the proper thickness and the thin charred crust on the edge showed me that they didn't boil it like a place I know. The runny egg was spot on. It's an acceptable bowl of tonkotsu but definitely not competition level. I would try a different bowl next time, I'm tonkotsu out... Ok, until next week.
Sashimi. Gotta try the sashimi quality and cut here to see their skills behind the sooshee bar... It was very nicely plated, looked very balanced and clean. Until... I tasted the maguro, the color looked a bit off to me already but sometimes the flesh is still firm and have a nice tooth to it... Well, it didn't, it was fucking mushy as all fuck. This was old tuna, no one likes old tuna in their mouth, especially, when it queefs dust and hairballs. This tuna was the end product of being frozen, defrosted, frozen, defrosted for who knows the fuck long. I had pencil erasers that tasted better than this block of tuna. I thought this would be all down hill from here but surprisingly the salmon, hamachi, clam, sweet shrimp and even the damn escolar were all of better quality and bite than the tuna. I should bitch about the sweet shrimp after watching them take out a big box of frozen shrimp in plain sight of custies and prying them out one by one... But shit, it tasted fine and my favorite part is frying the heads and tails...
Fried Shrimp Head and Tail. That's what I'ma talking about... Crunch. But Brush still has the best fried shrimp skeleton in all the lands.
Hamachi Belly. The chef dude, gave this freebie to sample... I hope this wasn't the piece he picked up off the floor... 5 second rule applies to raw fish, right? Just run it under some hot water and it's all good. I'm just fucking with y'all... This was a nice gesture to make up for the shitty tuna (which they were still serving to other suckaz) and it was quite nice. Wrap the belly in the nori, dip and stick it inside your facehole. Dunzo. Tis was a good nibble.
It's not a traditional izakaya, even though it looks and reads like one... But I still like the place even with the hits and misses sampled on this visit. I think they will improve over time.. Well, the cooks at least. The servers are young, dumb and full of cream of sum yung gai... I told the little fobby girl server that the tuna was crap and she's like oh ok... She was kinda expecting the standard response, oh, everything was great, so she doesn't have to answer questions that she has no clue about... She's just trying to get through her senior year in high school and getting laid with the cutest white boy in the school but her parents wants her to learn what hard work is... So, it's prolly not a good idea to ask the pouch how everything was, you will get an answer in long form... While she walks away before I even finish. Bless her heart. The drive to upstate GA is quite the trek but if you're in the area shopping at the Asian markets for deer antlers and hog pizzle then it warrants a visit... But not after a visit to Iron Age next door. You will simply explode from the gluttony that can be had here.
2131 Pleasant Hill Road B4
Duluth, GA 30096
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