Italian food prepared with a Japanese pantry — or vice versa — is not new. Kimika in NoLIta opened last summer and fit the mold. Now, there’s a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, from the group that includes Tomoe Food Services, a meat distributor specializing in Wagyu, where the emphasis is on Italian fare with Wagyu beef as an essential component in a few dishes.
The same owners have the more Wagyu-centric restaurant J-Spec in the East Village. Wagyu, both imported and domestic, is having its moment of late, showing up more than ever on New York menus. But at this new place, there are choices like eggplant dengaku fritters, spaghetti giapponese with soy-butter sauce, and fried calamari with shiso chimichurri sauce, that fuse Japanese and Italian without the Wagyu.
