Restaurateur Alex Kinjo, who owns MF Sushi and Mai Kitchen, opened Yakitori Kona in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood earlier this month, according to Eater Atlanta.
The restaurant, which serves Japanese skewers made from a variety of bite-sized pieces of meat or vegetables, is located at 1004 Virginia Ave. NE. The space was home to Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit until it closed in 2022
Kinjo told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the space, which was small, narrow and sloped, was challenging to design. The name is partially based on its location, as “kona” means corner in Japanese.
Kinjo, who opened Vietnamese restaurant Mai Kitchen in Virginia-Highland in 2022, said each concept he designs has its own brand and story. He said he thinks the sister restaurants bring something new to the area.
“(It) is a good balance for the neighborhood,” Kinjo said. “Something that’s updated, and it’s two more new cuisines that they didn’t have before.”
Credit: Courtesy of Elliot Liss
Credit: Courtesy of Elliot Liss
The interior of the restaurant is “dark and moody,” Kinjo said, with a color scheme of red, which represents fire, and black, which represents the charcoal on which the food is cooked. The restaurant offers bar seating, a banquet area that can seat around 25 and two four-top tables outside.
“It makes you feel invited to go in there,” Kinjo said. “You feel (the) mystique, the aura of it, you feel like you’re in Tokyo or somewhere and you just discovered this place.”
Credit: Courtesy of Elliot Liss
Credit: Courtesy of Elliot Liss
In addition to inspiring the color scheme, charcoal plays a significant role in the food in the form of binchotan charcoal made of oak wood ordered from Japan. Kinjo said the heat from the charcoal seals flavor inside the meat.
The menu was developed by culinary director Hugo Valdez who said he wanted something that was “approachable to everybody but also kind of twist things up a little bit.”
One of Valdez’ biggest goals with the menu was to keep everything as local as possible, including using local chicken from Springer Mountain Farms and mushrooms from Ellijay.
“At the end of the day, you can be the best restaurant but if you don’t have that community outreach and that community force, it can either make or break you,” he said.
Menu highlights include whole squid with tare sauce, chicken heart skewers and chicken skin with lemon pepper togarashi spice, which Valdez said is an homage to how Atlanta is “lemon pepper hot.” Each skewer comes with Japanese powder pepper and three tasting sauces: lemon togarashi spice, a roasted chicken tare and an umami sauce with garlic chili and mayo.
Credit: Courtesy of Alex Kinjo
Credit: Courtesy of Alex Kinjo
Starting in October, Yakitori Kona will offer a lunch menu with an assortment of three bento boxes, including chicken, vegetable and “surf n’ turf” options. All will come with rice, miso soup and a side salad. A late-night snack menu is also in the works.
Beverage director James Wampler said he was shooting for an “accessible, light-hearted and fun” cocktail menu, with drinks including F U Eddy, with grapefruit-infused vodka, orange oleo saccharum, lime and egg white. Be sure to ask Wampler for more insight on the name.
The Yes, Yes You Do is made with Japanese spirit schochu as well as lemon, lychee, tarragon and elderflower.
The restaurant is open 5-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 5-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays and Sundays. The bar is open until midnight Tuesdays-Thursdays and until 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
1004 Virginia Ave. NE, Atlanta. 404-343-1653. qr.yakitorikona.com/p/VgJy9MPuO2.
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