Chef Katsu Brooklyn

"Fast-casual isn’t exactly Clinton Hill’s strong suit, but Chef Katsu upped the game when it started serving its Japanese bowls and sandwiches from this Greene Avenue storefront. The specialty here is the namesake katsu sandwiches — which come with either chicken, salmon, pork, or mushroom.  But don’t sleep on one of the rice bowls, such as the teriyaki portobello with shishito peppers, pickles, and a jammy egg. On the beverage menu, drinks run the gamut from yuzu-mint lemonade to hojicha lattes." - Emma Orlow

"If you live in Clinton Hill, you probably go to Chef Katsu once a week. Everything on the menu at this counter-service Japanese spot on Greene Ave. is a good choice, but we’d recommend the curry rice bowl, or the salmon dashi chazuke to start. We like to get takeout and head to Fort Greene Park if it’s nice out, but there are a few tables inside, and Prima is down the block for a post-curry drink. " - willa moore, bryan kim, tiffany yannetta, neha talreja

"If you live in Clinton Hill, you probably go to Chef Katsu on Greene Ave. once a week. (And there was that one week when you went to this counter-service Japanese spot three times, but we don’t have to talk about that week.) Everything on the menu is a good choice, but here’s what to order, and when: The curry rice bowl always, the salmon and ikura bowl if you’re hot and bothered, the salmon dashi chazuke—which comes with a cup of dashi broth—if you need to be healed, and the pork katsu burger if you just need a sandwich. There are a few tables inside, but we think the curry tastes better on your couch, and the salmon bowl tastes better with iced yuzu mint lemonade in Fort Greene Park. photo credit: @stuffbeneats photo credit: Willa Moore photo credit: Willa Moore" - Willa Moore

"When the restaurant below their Clinton Hill apartment closed during the pandemic, married couple Katsutoshi and Chiemi Machida found the perfect home for the Japanese comfort-food pop-up they’d debuted at Smorgasburg in 2018. The menu is blissfully straightforward: The marquee Katsu Burgers — panko-crusted cutlets fried and topped with slaw and housemade sauces — plus photogenic rice bowls and a handful of sides. For dessert, the clear move is the doughnut matcha-ice-cream sandwich, unless you happen upon the chef’s elusive hojicha cream puff. And the place to eat it is out in front on the lovely tree-lined street among the work-from-homers and the French bulldogs. —Rachel T. Sugar" - Eater Staff, NYMag Staff

"Weeks often passed without me leaving my neighborhood this winter, thanks to a combination of my ongoing work-from-home life and, well, the occasional blizzard. And so it felt particularly glorious that just as spring arrived in Brooklyn earlier this month, so did a new Japanese to-go spot at the end of my block in Clinton Hill. Owned by a husband-and-wife team local to the area, Chef Katsu's menu is full of the sort of high-quality-yet-low-key dishes I thought I'd have to go back to Japan for. So far, I've managed to sample two items since the soft opening: an umami-packed salmon teriyaki bowl with a soy-glazed soft boiled egg, blistered shishito peppers, and delicately sliced pickles; and an impossibly crispy chicken katsu burger topped with shiso-dressed shredded cabbage and slathered in curry sauce."