Takashi NYC

It seems that almost every kind of Japanese restaurant is represented in NYC (a restaurant which features the cuisine of Japanese Buddhist vegetarian monks recently opened, and of course there's the notorious pig-foot place Hakata Tonton), so it was only a matter of time until Osaka-style BBQ came to town. One-month-old Takashi is fast becoming the place to grill your own meat (and offal), I predict that in a couple weeks, it will be almost impossible to score a table there.

Yakiniku horomon lets no part of the cow go wasted - you can order first stomach, fourth stomach, tongue, liver, cheek and heart. (The chalkboard explains the health properties of everything!) There's also a raw meat menu which features chuck flap ground with fermented soybeans or sea urchin. I have to admit that our party left the more adventurous stones unturned here, sticking to grilled, lusciously marbled short ribs, liver and ribeye in two preparations: salt-garlic-sesame oil with lemon slices, and a soy marinade with scallions. Plates of rectangles of meat arrived at our table and we set to inexpertly grilling them - the server gave us detailed instructions for rare, medium-rare, etc., but they fell by the wayside. No matter - all was delicious anyway. Rice and veggies were extra - a bowl of lightly pickled vegetables, which included fennel and okra, was much more exciting than the plate of mostly cabbage presented for grilling. I suppose a vegetarian could make a meal of kimchi, peppery edamame and grilled vegetables, but he wouldn't be able to avoid seeing, ahem, red.

Housemade Madagascar vanilla ice cream comes with an assortment of toppings like roasted green tea syrup -I found the ground sesame and soybean to be a pleasantly nutty accompaniment.

Takashi NYC: 456 Hudson St., (212) 414-2929.