Kono

"Kono is a sleek, serious yakitori restaurant with a crown-to-tail approach to serving chicken. Once the skewers start rolling in this omakase meal, you’ll get everything from heart and liver to inner thigh and chicken oyster, each with a distinct flavor. A resin model of their chochin skewer—a dainty stack of fallopian tube, liver, and an unfertilized egg—will appear mid-meal with several other interesting add-ons. Order at least a few. Almost everything in the space is black (even the toilet paper), keeping the spotlight squarely on the golden chicken skewers. " - bryan kim, neha talreja, hannah albertine, molly fitzpatrick

"The dwindling St. Marks Place yakitori scene — R.I.P. Yakitori Taisho — of the 1990s in one of several unofficial Japantowns of NYC helped pave the way for a cadre of high-end yakitori omakase spots that include Michelin-starred Torishin and Torien. Kono is another. Here, Torishin veteran, Atsushi Kono coaxes the umami out of nearly every part of his organic Amish chicken from chicken skin to soft bone — over glowing 1650 Fahrenheit binchotan charcoals until it crackles and crisps — and dominates a $165 tasting menu." - Caroline Shin

"New York finalists of any sort fell primarily in the New York State category, which, in addition to Mitchell, included Atsushi Kono of Kono." - Melissa McCart

"Thought you knew all there was to know about chicken anatomy? Think again. Kono's $175 omakase includes everything from hearts to oysters to chochin: a stack of liver, fallopian tube, and unlaid egg. Be wary about the add-ons as some are pricey, and not super worth it. But simply being in the all-black room, watching licks of red flame sputtering up from white-hot binchotan whenever a piece of chicken fat drips onto it, makes Kono an extremely cool place for a night out. A meal here really is the embodiment of “dinner and a show." - will hartman, neha talreja, bryan kim, willa moore

"Similar to Torien, your only option here is a $175 omakase that has 13 courses and is served at a 14-seat counter. Around halfway through your meal, the server will present you with a jewel-box offering of add-ons that include things like rooster crown and the rarely-seen Chochin skewer. We get why the latter is the chef’s favorite item. It combines fallopian tube with chicken liver that adds a bit of acid to cut the richness of an unlaid egg grilled in its membrane." - team infatuation