TORY'S

And now for the review you've all been waiting for, Tory's. I will spare you the suspense and let you know that I prefer Yakitoriya to Tory's. Tory's has good yakitori and a much larger selection of dishes than Yakitoriya (especially some unique ones), but Yakitoriya is still my all time favorite yakitori place. I guess I've been spoiled by Yakitoriya because it's the first yakitori restaurant I've ever been to, and it tuns out, it's also been the best. (well, for now. I still haven't had yakitori in Japan).

As I mentioned in a previous post, Tory's is the sister restaurant of Yakitori Totto. It's newer and a much larger space, so they were able to accomadate our party of 8 without a problem. When we arrived at the second floor space, we found a sleek, chic space, that was already packed with Japanese diners enjoying their yakitori. (I'm serious, everyone in there was Japanese). Here's their logo, which is stamped everywhere. (plates, menus, tshirts on waiters, etc.)
We got seated at a section of seats at the very front of the restaurant, and got to enjoy this lovely view of the drunkards celebrating St. Patty's Day below. I'm not joking, no one was walking straight. It was fairly entertaining.And then we were given a load of menus. Like 4 different menus. I liked this one the most, cause it had the pictures. I always find it humorous when given menus with pictures of the food (the point and order method). We were also given a menu with chef's specialties, a menu with the regular menu and a fairly extensive sake menu. And we began the ordering process, which ended up being one of the most frustrating parts of the dinner. So here's tip number one. If you go to Tory's go by yourself. Maybe with one companion. Sit at the bar or a small table. DO NOT go with a large group. This isn't the place to do it. At Yaktioriya you're allowed to order a set of yakitori sticks and then switch out whatever you don't want. At Tory's, you just order by the stick. We all wanted to order our own stuff, but the waitress forced as to order as a group. Who wants chicken breast? Raise your hand. Who wants chicken thigh? Raise your hand. This was super confusing and frustrating for both the diner and server. When the food finally arrives, you're wondering who ordered this? Did I get this? How many did I order? (and it'll get worse later, when you wonder who's paying for what. Another reason to only go with one other person). They'd be much better off giving you a list and allowing you to check off what you wanted. (like at many sushi restaurants).

We were a bit disappointed because I was excited to try things like the soft knee bones and more unique yakitori. But these items were limited and they were already sold out by the time we arrived. (at 7pm!).

After the ordeal of ordering, we settled in. Tom and Jeany ordered some interesting dishes that took a little while to cook on the table, so those arrived first in these clay pots sitting atop burners. Tom ordered a chicken rice (called gohan) while Jeany's ordered a tofu. I was able to see the tofu before it started cooking and it was literally a liquid form. We were given strict instructs not to open the pots (the rice would take 3o minutes to cook, the tofu 25 minutes). Our waitress repeatedly told us not to touch the pots, to the point where I began to wonder, if they wanted to be so strict about it, why put it on the table in front of us? Why not cook it in the kitchen and then give it to us. Obviously there's a lot to be said for presentation, but being didactic about it isn't much fun.

And fairly soon after that, food began arriving. The first thing I got was my chicken liver. It was infused with a lovely smoke flavor, but a little dried than I expected. It was still tasty, though. And that would be the theme for the night. The chicken was well seasoned and had an incredible flavor from the charcoal used, but it wasn't as juicy as I was accustomed to.A listing of my other dishes include chicken gizzard:chicken heartsshisito peppers (which were really hot, but enjoyable)and chicken meatball (incredibly juicy and delicious.)I also ordered a nice grilled riceball with miso. I loved the crunch that the grilling gave to the rice, along with the ume flavored pickles on the side.Since we had so many people at dinner, we got a huge variety of dishes, but I really only photographed the things I ate. Back to those clay pots, which were certainly winners for the night, here's the cooked tofu. It was silky and smooth with an intense soybean flavor that you don't get from normal supermarket tofu. And it was infused with that same charcoal flavor.

And I really enjoyed the chicken rice, which had cooked up perfectly and again, had that same flavor of charcoal.However, confusion reigned during dinner. At one point, we were given a whole plate of chicken breast that was destined for our neighboring table. But not remembering what we'd ordered, we ended up eating it. Until our own orders showed up. Does that mean we paid for it? Who knows. It was also confusing because half our party showed up over a half hour late. Yet we finished at the same time. Even though we had ordered a half hour earlier, a few of our dishes arrived at the end of the nearly 2.5 hour meal. By this time, I was tired, hot and ready to go home.

In conclusion, would I go back to Tory's? Maybe, if I lived in NY. It was a good dinner, but it was expensive(for yakitori, not for a dinner in NY) and it took a long time. I'd prefer waiting for my trips home to get Yakitori that I know I'll love. Also, service could be very slow and not very accomadating. Still, if you do live in NY, I would drop by, have a seat at the bar and certainly order the tofu, gohan and chicken hearts.