Description
Izayoi’s mastermind is chef Junichi Shiode, the whiz who used to run Sushi Ryo, one of those rare secret addresses beloved by chefs seeking a cuisine that many customers didn’t even know it served: classic Japanese izakaya dishes. Izakaya menus are typically long and hard to follow, with a host of different sections unfamiliar to anyone not versed in the style, and a list of daily specials often as long as the menu proper. Here is the secret: Order lots of stuff: gooey octopus sashimi, ramekins of roughly chopped Spanish mackerel, bowls of room-temperature egg custard topped with sea-urchin gonads, house-made tofu slicked with sweet miso paste, yakiniku skewers of grilled tongue, dried and grilled skate fins cut into little salty curls — and a bowl of ochazuke, brothy rice, at the end. Parking in Office Depot lot on Second St. at Central Ave.
