Best Restaurants: Kemuri Tatsu-ya Brings Two Worlds Together
Words by Jessi Devenyns Photos by Baptiste Despois
The decor, the drinks, and the food all work hard to defy classification at Kemuri Tatsu-ya. A bricolage of horns and license plates collide with Japanese bar signs, alluding to a concept described by Director of Culinary Development, Clinton Kendall, as the “Texas roadhouse dive bar slash Japanese samurai movie.” Contrast this visual tidal wave with a thumping background of beats and a crescendo of chatter, and it’s apparent that this izakaya is fueled equally by food, drinks, and fun.
An izakaya, Clinton explains, is “the Japanese version of what you would call a gastropub: a place where you get great food and great drinks.” And both the food and drink menus here are uniquely loud in their flavor profiles.
Although the pairing of succulent meat with tangy vegetables and sauces is a familiar scene for anyone who has eaten Texas barbecue, what is served here is neither Texas barbecue nor purist Japanese cuisine. Cornbread morphs into taiyaki-shaped delights with sesame butter, and the smoker sends out traditional options like beef, pork, and chicken seasoned with miso, yuzu, and sesame.
“It’s the adaptation of what people grew up with [in Texas] and what Japanese culture can bring to the table,” Chef de Cuisine James Limón explains. To connect these two cuisines, James requires an essential ingredient: smoke.
Whether it’s cooking low and slow on the smoker out front or it’s infusing a cocktail using a bellows, the taste of smoke seeps into brisket bentos, decadent ankimo monkfish liver starters, and trout roe appetizers. Even humble dishes, like Kemuri’s take on gourmet Hot Pockets, have the volume turned up a notch, becoming smoky brisket and gouda-stuffed inari pockets.
The unimaginably rich flavors of these dishes are only amplified by the flashy atmosphere and echos of “Irasshaimase” – a Japanese greeting – resonating at regular intervals in the dining space. The reverberations blend easily into the space and are just one more layer folded into this new definition of Texas barbecue that seems perfectly at ease in Austin’s expanding culinary scene.
Contact:
2713 E 2nd St.
kemuri-tatsuya.com
