BBQ News
Japanese BBQ restaurant comes all the way from Tokyo to Dallas' Greenville Ave
There's a new Japanese BBQ restaurant opening on Greenville Avenue that was founded in Tokyo more than 60 years ago. Called Manpuku, it's a premier chain of Japanese barbecue, aka yakiniku, restaurants and will open its first location in Texas at 2023 Greenville Ave., in the former Yucatan Taco Stand space.
According to a Manpuku representative, the restaurant will open in early 2021, once construction has been completed.
Manpuku means "to be happy with a full stomach" in Japanese. "Yakiniku" means "grilled meat." So many translations today.
At a yakiniku restaurant, you get bites of raw beef, pork, seafood, and vegetables which you cook at your table over gas or charcoal grills. As Eater notes, yakiniku restaurants aren't plentiful around Dallas, other than Niwa Japanese BBQ in Deep Ellum and Gyu-Kaku in Addison, although we do have numerous Korean versions of the same thing.
Beyond the benefit of getting your meat cooked to your taste, this kind of dining is also rumored to be a fun group event, which surely we will return to some day soon.
Manpuku's menu includes meats such as sirloin, tri-tip, and short rib. They have two kinds of rib eye, US Prime and US Kobe.
Their two signature items include tongue and U.S. Kuroge Wagyu, aka black hide Japanese beef.
The tongue is specifically Leek and Tongue with Salt, a dish they say was born in the Tsukishima area of Tokyo, consisting of beef tongue topped with finely chopped Tokyo Negi — onion — and spices.
Their dipping sauce is another specialty, made from a stock of vegetables and fruits that has never changed since the birth of Manpuku decades ago.
They make two beef soups — spicy beef soup and a Korean-style kalbi soup — as well as edamame, kimchi, noodles, and fried rice.
When you dine, you order in twos or fours, and get a selection of meats, plus sides, salads, and ice cream, for a flat rate, from $45-$65 per person, depending on which package you order.
They serve alcohol including Japanese beer, sake, and shochu.
They tout their network of "traceable" producers of meat, and also say they defy the current trend of choosing meat based on the amount of fat and instead focus on cuts that are flavorful.
Manpuku has seven locations across Japan, plus four restaurants in Southern California, in West Los Angeles, Torrance, West Hollywood, and Costa Mesa.
This will be the first not only for Dallas and Texas, but the first in the U.S. outside California.
Their remodel of Yucatan, which closed in 2018, is comprehensive. They're repositioning the bar to run alongside the side street Bell Avenue, facing the convivial Libertine Bar. This will make the front of the restaurant potentially more welcoming to passersby.
They've already torn out cement walls at the entrance to help connect the adjoining patios. Inside, they're installing 18 cooktops for customers to do their grilling thing.
This neighborhood is shaping up as a destination for great Asian, with Teppo, one of Dallas' longest-running and most respected Japanese restaurants, nearby, as well as the popular Wabi House, which specializes in ramen.
Right next door to Manpuku is another world-famous concept: Hinodeya Ramen and Bar, the Tokyo-born concept from Masao Kuribara, acclaimed ramen maker and native of Japan.
Like Manupuku, Hinodeya made its U.S. debut in California before expanding to Dallas where it opened in August 2019. We're so international.
Daydream brings people together over their love of coffee and literature. Photo courtesy of Daydream. 
The shop features a pink La Marzocco espresso machine.Photo courtesy of Daydream