Inakaya

Having not read much about Inakaya other than that it was a Japanese grill, I was utterly unprepared for the synchronized shouting and dancing of its cooks and servers. "Did we just walk into Cold Stone Creamery?" I asked my companion. Uniformed men cried out as they pounded mochi into submission, waiters loudly chanted orders, and there was an eruption of "Irrashaimase!" whenever a customer entered the restaurant.

The experience was rather jarring, which was a shame, because many of the grilled items were quite good. We sat at the counter, where baskets of fresh vegetables, meats and fish were laid out in a row. The cooks would pluck out our choice, cook it and deliver it on a long wooden plank. When the gummy taro potatoes ran out, they were replaced by golden-fleshed Japanese sweet potatoes served with a smear of sweet butter. We also enjoyed meaty grilled yellowtail filets in both teriyaki and sea salt preparations, and tsukune (chicken meatball skewers) in tare sauce. The grilled scallop was disappointingly bland, although attractively presented in a shell. (Our budgets did not allow for the $67 deep sea snapper.)

The cold dish menu included maguro natto (one of my favorite dishes); the raw tuna was sliced instead of cubed. (There was no maguro yamakake on the menu, although plain grated yam cake could be ordered.) There was also a sizeable sushi menu, which we didn't take advantage of.

It is this humble blogger's opinion that Inakaya might benefit from a menu apart from the a la carte, especially in this economic climate. Soup, rice, or salad could be included with a main course- it gets expensive when you are ordering four chunks of potato for $7, or a $9 skewer of mushrooms. And perhaps the theatrics could be toned down a bit.

Inakaya: 231 West 40th St., (212) 354-2195.