Izakaya Seasun, which opened final month in Nomad, pulls décor instantly from eating places in Korea, the place the chain originates.
Photograph: Courtesy of Izakaya Seasun
At 9 o’clock this previous Sunday, Okay-pop melodies and blue Hawaiian highballs stuffed the eating room at Izakaya Seasun in Nomad. A quoted 60-minute wait grew to become half-hour, spent in a foyer with a kitschy pretend sizzling spring puffing clouds from a fog machine and cartoon cats posing with beer and sake on a backlit banner. A lot of the New Yorkers I knew have been residence watching the White Lotus finale, however this, to me, was extra entertaining than TV.
A buddy and I began with sashimi: salmon, hamachi, sea bream, and Wagyu, all organized on a dome of crushed ice. Subsequent have been a basket of finger-length fish sticks and a platter of caramelized yakitori together with a skewered king oyster mushroom, hen coronary heart, and properly rendered hen wings. Kimchee pancakes have been tangy and gentle whereas a Nagasaki champon sizzling pot was stuffed with mussels, pork, and a break up crab. To drink: a slushy frozen beer. This was bar meals accurately, Japanese filtered via the lens of Korea. As contemporary pineapple hit our desk for dessert, a few prospects wandered in searching for a desk on the still-full restaurant.
Izakaya Seasun’s well-calibrated setting and array of meals shouldn’t be an accident. It’s the primary U.S. location of a Korean chain that touts its “heat izakaya sentiment” and Japanese jazz-café décor as promoting factors for potential franchisees. The placement on twenty seventh Road has the identical glass bricks, oversize audio system, dark-blue paisley wallpaper, and lacquered-wood panels because the eating places in Asia: Like an Applebee’s or Cheesecake Manufacturing unit, each element is taken into account so that it’ll match the company wants of a globe-spanning enterprise.
Chain eating places aren’t typical “Underground Gourmand” fare, however more and more I’ve been operating into them by chance whereas searching for new locations to eat. Izakaya Seasun is simply the newest entry right into a style of restaurant that may be present in corners throughout all 5 boroughs, foreign-exchange chains from different nations that exist right here with just one or two eating places, by no means doing a lot to tout their company origins however however providing the sort of frictionless expertise that comes from many years of optimization and coaching. Present followers will acknowledge them after they spot them, however for everybody else, there are particular tells: The foreign-exchange chain shouldn’t be doubtless to provide in to the whim of native traits, as an alternative counting on the already-proven menus and vibe they packed from residence. These chains are sometimes younger, discovering success via viral advertising and marketing and social media earlier than deciding to maneuver to New York, usually close to a university campus or a group enclave. And a degree of recent authenticity retains these spots in style among the many diaspora whereas additionally sparking curiosity from newcomers contemplating them for a primary date, most of whom don’t know how well-known they’re again residence.
Generally that preliminary New York Metropolis flagship turns into a number of, as with Heytea, the Chinese language drink chain that got here to New York in late 2023 and now has nearly as many places as Shake Shack. However many are one-offs with a family-restaurant really feel regardless of the franchise framing, like Papparich, which simply relocated from Flushing to the Decrease East Aspect. Nonetheless others require particular build-outs just like the eating room at Grandma’s House and Izakaya Seasun. Different latest arrivals like I’m donut ? — which is opening its first location exterior of Tokyo in Occasions Sq. this spring — and Pull-tab (which simply began pouring osmanthus oolong aerofoam espresso in Bryant Park) are single-item specialists constructed to scale.
“Regardless of its low high quality, the venue’s affordability has made it a preferred vacation spot amongst younger Koreans,” one chef sniffed after I requested if he knew about Izakaya Seasun. However I believe that the worth proposition is a small a part of the enchantment. As a diner at a neighboring desk dipped a slice of beef via effervescent sukiyaki sauce, my buddy noticed that Izakaya Seasun could be an ideal first-date restaurant, exactly due to the graceful edges and ornamental stimuli that helps alleviate any awkwardness or a foul temper. “It’s enjoyable,” stated my buddy. “There aren’t that many enjoyable eating places anymore.”
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