Ikinari Steak

Capitulating to local custom, this proliferating Japanese chainlet no longer requires diners to wolf down their cut-rate beefsteak at standing tables. Now, there is rest for the weary and stools for their backsides. Other defining characteristics remain the same, though: After a host shows you to a station, you place your order for drinks and appetizers, take your number card to the open-kitchen counter, and specify precisely what you want to eat: sirloin, rib eye, or filet mignon; how much of it you want — from 200 to 1,000 grams, priced per gram; and how you’d like it cooked. When your steak arrives on a sizzling platter, you may not mistake it for a 150-day dry-aged Pat LaFrieda côte de boeuf, but the wet-aged meat (choice grade, from Illinois) is surprisingly good, well-seasoned, and nicely grilled with a great beefy taste. The appetizers (plain salads, mugs of beef broth) aren’t much to write home about. The garlic pepper rice, on the other hand, is wonderful: Served on a sizzling platter of its own with bits of beef trimmings, it develops a crust to rival any Korean bibimbap or Persian tahdig.