New Japanese dining concept arrives here

Miso Izakaya, which opens today on the edge of Inman Park, will teach a lot of intown residents a new word and a new concept in Japanese dining: the izakaya. And another will follow fast on its heels in Doraville.

An izakaya is a bit like Japan’s answer to the tapas bar —- i.e., a convivial spot where groups of friends can drink and nosh on shared plates. Usually, izakayas offer a lengthy menu of dishes prepared every which way, from grilled to fried, vinegared, simmered, raw and steamed. A typical meal might include, say, grilled eggplant in sweet miso, smokily charred cuttlefish rings, potatoes steamed in a foil pouch with rivulets of butter, super-crispy fried chunks of bone-in chicken with salt, feathery-light meatballs and sashimi.

Hungry yet?

Izakayas usually have a lengthy drink menu ranging from draft beer to sake and shochu. In summer, shochu cocktails called chu hai are made with fresh squeezed citrus and soda.

Miso opens in a slick little building at 619 Edgewood Ave., along the stretch coming from downtown Atlanta where warehouses just start giving way to Victorian prettiness. An early look at chef-owner Guy Wong’s menu shows a lot of easy-to-like Japanese dishes such as gyoza dumplings, shrimp tempura, fried tofu and edamame.

In late April, the folks behind Duluth’s Haru Ichiban restaurant plan to open Shoya Japanese Restaurant in Doraville. It will be in the Peachtree Pavilion development at 6035 Peachtree Road, a new shopping complex just inside the Perimeter that will be anchored by a Super H Mart supermarket. The Japanese ex-pat community is buzzing about this place, which promises to be the closest to the izakayas back home.