Longtime Japanese Grill Returns to Midtown Tonight With Way More Wagyu

A meaty Japanese grill opens today in Midtown East from two chefs with extensive experience cooking the cuisine here in New York City. Aburiya Kinnosuke, located at 213 East 45th St., between Second and Third avenues, makes grilled wagyu and other meats its primary focus.

Chefs Kazuki Uchida (Soba Totto) and Kazuya Saito (15 East) have created an extensive menu that includes grilled meats, sashimi, rice, and other small plates. But the main priority is on A5 wagyu beef — the highest rating, akin to “prime” in the United States — sourced from the Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures and prepared eight different ways. There’s wagyu carpaccio, a wagyu beef hamburger with teriyaki sauce, and agedashi tofu topped with ground wagyu beef. Other dishes include roasted duck with ponzu sauce, chicken tsukune skewers, deep-fried octopus, and eel rice. The full menu is below.

Aburiya Kinnosuke originally opened in 2005 from Ryuichi “Bobby” Munekata, the same owner as Soba Totto. Munekata wanted to retire, so he sold both places to Create Restaurants, a major hospitality group in Japan with over 800 restaurants around Asia. Here in NYC, the group owns SushiNao in Chelsea, which it opened as kaiseki restaurant Naoki before flipping concepts in May. After Create took over Aburiya Kinnosuke this year, it briefly closed for a kitchen renovation in the 67-seat space.

Aburiya Kinnosuke is now open weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Aburiya Kinnosuke [Official Photo]