June 29 2018 | By Serena Dai for Eater NY
Hitmakers Behind Her Name Is Han Fire Up a New Yakitori Restaurant in Nomad
Above: Photo via Nonono
The hitmakers behind restaurants like Her Name Is Han now have a yakitori restaurant in Nomad, a casual spot called Nonono.
The more than 70-seat, bilevel restaurant at 118 Madison Ave. at East 30th Street opened earlier this month, with rustic wood tables, floor-to-ceiling windows, and lots of modern, hanging globe lights. Though company Hand Hospitality and its owner Kihyun Lee have more recently gained acclaim for Korean projects, Nonono serves Japanese fare — more in line with their longtime Midtown restaurant Izakaya Mew.
Head chef Daichi Tokuda, in fact, worked at Izakaya Mew before helping to develop the menu here, helped by yakitori chef Akira Kishimoto and sous Kazu Moriyama, according to general manager Keisuke Oku. Yakitori is the main event. The restaurant receives whole chickens every day, and like at other yakitori spots, the team splits much of it into skewers: thigh, wings, skin, knee cartilage, heart, neck meat, and other offal and non-offal options ranging from $3 to $4. The bones then go toward making chicken broth-based ramen, available three different ways. “We don’t waste any part,” Oku says.
But the menu goes far beyond skewers, with a long menu with pristine food photos that displays a wide range of options including sushi rolls, cream curry udon, chicken wings with a pork dumpling stuffing, grilled romaine, and a dish called dragon ball that includes grilled beef, a tofu sauce, and quail eggs.
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