FOOD & DRINK
MIFUNE NEW YORK A DOSE OF CULINARY DRAMA By Patricia Canole
t celebrity-named restaurants, fame is always cooking. Take Michael Jordan’s Steak House, Chicago; Pronto by Giada (chef Giada de Laurentiis), Las Vegas; and Restaurant Daniel (Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud), New York City. And the list goes on. Jimmy Buffett, Arnold Palmer, and Toby Keith triumph too. So why not a restaurant named to honor Japan’s action hero, Toshiro Mifune, star of such classic samurai movies as Seven Samurai and Rasho-Mon? You might expect a flamboyant décor in homage to the actor, but in fact, there’s just one photo of him. Otherwise, the restaurant, designed by Katsunori Takeuchi, opens to a large, high-ceilinged main room done in traditional natural wood, with three large shoji-style panels on the far wall accented with the Mifune family crest.
INNOVATIVE JAPANESE
MIFUNE’s cast of top Michelin-starred chefs displays a level of refinement that would make its namesake proud. The restaurant is an offshoot of the well-known Paris restaurant Sola; the New York restaurant is led by chef-owner Hiroki Yoshitake. His washoku cuisine features traditional Japanese cooking that places prime importance on the land and sea’s seasonal bounty. The re-imagined French techniques create innovative, artistically composed dishes. Yoshitake seeks to provide guests with a completely new Japanese dining experience.
Co-execitove chefs Tomohiro Urata and Yuu Shimano
56 | OUR CITY, YOUR LIFE | MAY 2021
The Michelin-starred co-executive chefs Yuu Shimano formerly worked at Guy Savoy in Paris, and Tomohiro Urata honed his skills at La Maison Troisgros in Roanne. The result is a menu full of uniquely flavored dishes that never stray far from Japanese or French traditions. The food is flush with luxe ingredients—caviar, foie gras, truffle, and foams—all making appearances on the menu.
