Masa’s Long-Delayed Tetsu Now Serving Dishes at Bar Masa

Followers of chef Masa Takayama now have a chance to sample new dishes from his long-delayed Tribeca restaurant Tetsu — but not at the restaurant itself. Takayama first started working on the 78 Leonard Street project back in 2012 and has since faced delay after delay. Now, as the non-sushi Japanese restaurant looks closer to finally debuting, the chef has debuted some of the dishes at Bar Masa in Columbus Circle.

The Time Warner Center restaurant has a Go-Go Happy Hour menu every day offering cocktails and dishes at a lower cost. Besides options from Bar Masa, the happy hour menu currently features some dishes from Tetsu, including banana bone marrow, a rice bowl with pork, a duck foie gras slider, and a lamb slider. In total, the Bar Masa menu will feature eight dishes that will also be served at the upcoming Tribeca restaurant. Each one costs between $6 and $18.

Bar Masa Go-Go Happy Hour is available from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Non-Tetsu items on the menu include yellowtail with wasabi, black bean fried chicken, and three $14 seasonal cocktails, such as a rye bourbon with clementine marmalade, yuzu, and mint.

Meanwhile, the latest expected opening date for Tetsu is June. It seems unbelievable considering how long it’s been, but with actual dishes now being cooked, the newest assurance sounds promising.