A discreet wooden door on Elizabeth Street gives way to a dark hallway, an illuminated Japanese sign, and then the pale wood counter at Torien in New York City’s NoHo neighborhood. Stainless-steel hoods rise over the kitchen, where chefs work skewer by skewer. Our October 12, 2026 dinner moved through thigh, tail, oyster, heart, knee and wing, with a sweet potato break and ramen before dessert.
That range is the reason to make an evening of yakitori here. Chicken becomes a sequence of distinct cuts, shapes and preparations. A wasabi-topped oyster and a wing stretched across two skewers belong to the same bird, yet make very different arrivals at the counter. Alongside the food, our evening included Cristal and a trio of grand cru Burgundies, making this a particularly wine-focused visit.
From Tokyo’s Torishiki to a NoHo counter
Torien is the New York sister of Torishiki in Tokyo. Its roots lie with Yoshiteru Ikegawa, who opened Torishiki in 2007 and built it into one of Tokyo’s most celebrated yakitori counters, with a Michelin star.
The New York restaurant carries that lineage into a different city. In New York, the executive chef is Hideo An. The dining format remains tightly focused on the grill and on the differences between individual cuts.
The cooking explores the whole chicken, including organs, with selected vegetables. It uses binchotan from Kishu, Japan, giving the charcoal itself an important place in the restaurant’s identity. That approach explains why the menu moves beyond the familiar thigh or wing. Heart and knee are part of the main progression, with the vegetables receiving their own turn over the fire.
Our October menu
The printed menu makes the evening easy to follow. There is an appetizer, an opening run of chicken, a clearly marked “Skewer Break,” then another set of cuts and vegetables before ramen and dessert.
A chicken spring roll, then thigh and tail
Our first plate was a chicken spring roll, crisp and hot, a rich opener before the grill started. Each course came on its own carefully chosen piece of tableware.
Thigh came next and was one of the best bites of the night, smoky from the charcoal and juicy under a light char. Tail followed, very crisp outside with more meat on it than we expected.
Chicken oyster with Shizuoka wasabi, then heart
The chicken oyster arrived with three green dollops of fresh wasabi from Shizuoka. It was our favorite skewer: crisp skin, tender meat and the clean heat of fresh wasabi.
Heart followed, plump and juicy and cooked just right. This is a menu to book if you are interested in different cuts, including organs.
The sweet potato break
The pause between the two skewer sequences was an aged sweet potato from Miyazaki, Japan, served with Échiré butter, a complete change of pace from the skewers. It was soft and sweet from the charcoal, and the butter made it rich.
Knee, meatball, broccoli and wing
The next section began with knee, a cut you rarely see outside a yakitori counter. It was properly crunchy, a good contrast to the softer skewers.
Meatball followed, with an egg yolk in its own small bowl for dipping. Dipped in the yolk, it was juicy, glazed and very rich, one of the high points of dinner.
Then came broccoli, charred on the grill, the second vegetable course after the sweet potato. It was simply seasoned and smoky, a plain break between the meat courses.
The wing closed this section, opened across two skewers with a wedge of lemon. The skin crackled and the meat was full of flavor.
Ramen, dessert and tea
Ramen brought the savory sequence to a close. It came with chicken, half an egg and a clear amber broth that was clean and rustic, with good chicken flavor.
Dessert was a small frozen scoop with tea alongside.
The Champagne and Burgundy at our counter
Our bottles included Louis Roederer Cristal and three red Burgundies: Domaine Georges Mugneret-Gibourg Clos Vougeot Grand Cru 2012, Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru 2018, and Domaine Denis Bachelet Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru Vieilles Vignes 2014. The lineup brought different vineyards and vintages to the same counter. The Cristal was tense and chalky, with lemon, pear and a salty edge over a trace of almond brioche. The Clos Vougeot 2012 was ripe and balanced, with black cherry, violets, spice and a little earth starting to show its age. The Griotte-Chambertin 2018 was silky and perfumed, with sour cherry and rose petal over a mineral core, and the Bachelet 2014 started out brooding and reserved before its depth came through in the glass.
For a wine-focused dinner, the succession of small plates creates room to return to a glass across several courses. The food keeps changing while the wine stays in the glass.
Planning dinner at Torien
Torien is at 292 Elizabeth Street in NoHo, New York City. Reserve through Resy.
The most useful decision before booking is whether everyone in the party wants the whole-bird format. Organs and lesser-known cuts are integral to the experience. Give at least 48 hours’ notice of food allergies; soy and sesame allergies cannot be accommodated. Parties of five or more should contact the restaurant directly.
For Pearl members exploring our New York City restaurants guide and planning an evening around food and wine, Torien offers a focused subject for the night: yakitori, served at a counter where each cut gets its own moment. We left impressed by how carefully every piece was grilled and salted. The chicken oyster, thigh, heart and meatball were the high points, with Burgundy alongside.
