Bill Addison has a nice piece in Atlanta magazine on 14 new restaurants that he thinks are good, with Abbatoir leading the pack. It’s a good article and I recommend it. I had a somewhat different reaction to his claim that Shoya Izakaya was the first restaurant in Atlanta to “truly epitomize the Japanese izakaya model.” I say this because I recall a restaurant which I believed to be an izakaya in the strip mall behind Lenox Square, in roughly the same area where Hashiguchi Jr now lives. And at the time (late 1990s? early 2000s?), there were two Japanese restaurants in the strip mall, one serving sushi and udon (this one was either on the spot of Hashiguchi or was Hashiguchi), and the other seeming to be almost an annex of a larger Chinese restaurant, and so was easy to miss.
This second Japanese restaurant had no sushi, but did serve sashimi. Its entire menu was in Japanese, in strips on the wall. If you walked in, the two waitresses would greet you in falsetto and almost the whole of the clientele were hard drinking Japanese businessmen. There was one English menu, hand written, which English speaking patrons had to share. It was passed on as new English speaking groups would enter and be served. I recall having donburi there twice.
I don’t recall the name of this place. People with more disposable income than me say this restaurant moved, but I can’t prove that either. I’d love to know more about the place. It’s gone from the Lenox area for sure, and the Chinese restaurant beside it has disappeared as well. I suspect this restaurant has a more reliable claim to being the first izakaya in Atlanta.
If someone can remember the name of this place, help me track it down, I’d be delighted.
October 30, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Hello!
I enjoy very much of your blog for time to time. I am a flequent visitor.
I am not sure if I can give you 100% correct answer, but if I remember correctly, it was called just “IZAKAYA”. Yes, it was kind-a next to Hashiguchi Jr. and in fact, owner was same:Mr.Hashiguchi. They did not serve Sushi but rather Izakaya type foods (tapas/appetizers)
with Japanese tradition of the end of drinking meal such as Noodle, Don Dishes and green tea pouring rice (O-Chazuke).
Also, they had a Karaoke-box next to it. It was rather large living room with Karaoke machine. I have been there 3-4 times and that’s it. I used to call that strip shopping center as “Japanese strip mall” because there were 2 Japanese restaurants, book store and suvenior store.
Shoya Izakaya is a very good. I have gone there once. I know the manager. He used to manage Haru-Ichiban. If you ever get a chance to visit, pls. try their Okonomi-Yaki.
My huband grew up near Stone Mountain (PV HS Grads) so Snellville is his neighboring city. We are very familier. His parents love to go to “Eagle’s Landing Cafe”. They took me once. I loved it simply because they have beignet! Food can be salty to my Japanese taste a bit but the most of things are good. We go there for time to time.
I will look forward more of your blog and new and old places. When I found your blog,
I thought, “Wow! This person has pretty much same taste as mine. Went to the most of the restaurant he visited and agreed the most of things he said on it!”
I can relate to the some of stories you post espeically about your mother-in-law.
When my parents comes from Japan, it’s very hard for us to take them to any restaurant, but believe me or not, they LOVE Cracker Barell. They said their vegitables are good and not so salty! They always said,
Everything is salty here!”
Pls. keep up with good work.
I really appreciate for your hard work!
Regards,
Coko