Meet the year\u2019s best new seafood dish \u2014 a Japanese thriller called nabemono.<\/p>\n
The hot-pot stew, sometimes called \u201cJapan\u2019s bouillabaisse,\u201d is the star of the show at Double Knot, a sceney, jumbo, Japanese restaurant that just opened at 1251 Sixth Avenue (entrance on West 49th Street) on Midtown\u2019s corporate row.<\/p>\n
As Avra does for Greek and Cuerno\u00a0for Mexican, Double Knot elevates a greatest-hits of lineup of\u00a0familiar dishes to unfamiliar star status with loving\u00a0execution in a cheerful, buzzing setting.<\/p>\n
The nabemono stew at Double Knot is this year\u2019s most thrilling seafood dish. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
The $41 nabemono is\u00a0an eye-popping, palate-pleasing combo of mussels, clams, head-on prawns and scallops, all steamed in aromatic sake dashi and the savory Chinese bean paste known as tobanjan.\u00a0 House-made ramen noodles lend a\u00a0softening carb note. It\u2019s plenty large enough to share \u2014 I couldn\u2019t finish it either time I ordered it.<\/p>\n
Double Knot is part of a 15-restaurant empire from New York-born, Philadelphia-based chef-owner Michael Schulson. The first Double Knot opened in Philly in 2016 and a Miami location debuted last year.<\/p>\n
Since many transplants dumb down the spirit of their originals, I was skeptical when I tried the one in Miami\u2019s trend-obsessed Wynwood district \u2014 only to find it was just as great as the many Japanese-inflected restaurants in the Magic City.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing like Manhattan\u2019s Double Knot anywhere north of 34th Street, notwithstanding some overlap with Nobu 57. Its nearly 300 seats on two levels flow through a comfy main-floor dining room, and there are separate counters for robatayaki and sushi, plus a cocktail bar, and a brighter-lit downstairs dining area with its own counters and nooks.\u00a0 The main, upstairs palette is brown-on-brown with \u00a0 handcrafted woodwork, bare\u00a0concrete and patinated metal that supposedly \u201cevoke the city\u2019s grit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Business types,\u00a0party people and Rock Center\u00a0tourists share both floors without crowding. Tables are wide enough to hold\u00a0lots of dishes at once but spaced enough to mute the din.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing else like Double Knot north of 34th Street. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
Schulson was the original chef at Buddakan downtown and his way with Asian flavors informs most every Double Knot dish. The menu projects\u00a0the casual, small-plates\u00a0izakaya spirit onto a bigger canvas that allows for larger cooked dishes \u2014 priced up to $63 for mineral-rich, grilled Japanese \u00a0wagyu. The scores of options \u2014 cold and hot, tiny and large, sushi and sashimi,\u00a0robata-grilled items, skewered, wraps, and more \u2014 are too many to count. Everything I tried in most categories, especially larger cooked dishes, hit the spot.<\/p>\n
Pillowy\u00a0pork bao ($12) are a good place to start. The cured Berkshire belly is braised in sake, soy and spices and finished and brightened with tangy chili sauce.<\/p>\n
The pork bao are a great place to start exploring the huge menu. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
But the duck scrapple bao are even better. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
Even better was the duck scrapple bao ($16), which feature duck confit glazed in maple yakitori sauce ($16). It\u2019s a wonderfully rich, filling starter that skillfully balances salty and sweet. Another strong starter, spicy baked crab and scallop ($21), crackled with rice pearls on a giant seashell.<\/p>\n
From the robata charcoal grill, skewered scallops ($14) emerged full of the bivalve\u2019s often elusive mineral essence. The chicken thigh ($8) was juicy and rich.<\/p>\n
The kitchen shows a sure hand with meat and seafood equally. The buttery quality of Ora King salmon ($31) played perfectly with a soy marinade and tart-and-sweet horseradish made with golden beets and Granny Smith apples.<\/p>\n
A baked scallop and crab starter is topped with crispy pearls of rice. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
The grilled wagyu bavette is a powerhouse of fatty pleasure with a side of whipped sweet potatoes. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
Grilled wagyu bavette ($36) was a powerhouse of fatty pleasure, attended by Japanese sweet potatoes whipped with miso butter and tiny threads of umami-rich Itogaki\u00a0tuna and a sweetening dose of house-made ponzu.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Only one dish, pork tonkatsu ($33),\u00a0 was drained of moisture and \u00a0without character\u00a0\u2014 the rare flop in \u00a0my three visits.<\/p>\n
Many dishes are surprisingly reasonably priced (I suspect they\u2019ll soon go up) and large enough to share.<\/p>\n
The stylish space seats nearly 300. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
Seating is spread across two floors and various cozy nooks. stefano Giovannini for NY Post<\/p>\n
Crowd-pleasing desserts sent everyone home happy. They change nightly but soft-serve ice cream in flavors such as miso caramel and burnt marshmallow banana took the cake.<\/p>\n
Double Knot won\u2019t open for lunch until March 30. Go for dinner now, before reservations are a challenge night or day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet the year\u2019s best new seafood dish \u2014 a Japanese thriller called nabemono. The hot-pot stew, sometimes called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,289,26135,232,75,360,9,24,63,4403,821,26106],"class_list":["post-172926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-food-drink","tag-japanese-food","tag-lifestyle","tag-manhattan","tag-midtown","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-restaurant-review","tag-restaurants","tag-sushi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}