Taku
Permanently Closed
Japanese fried chicken, rice bowls, and skewers
Japanese fried chicken, rice bowls, and skewers
"Top Chef alum Shota Nakajima closed his Capitol Hill fried-chicken spot; Nakajima told Eater Seattle that the demands of his career made it impossible to be at the restaurant as much as he wanted to be and he didn’t want it to be "half-assed." He also expressed a desire to open another restaurant someday, possibly with a partner." - Harry Cheadle
"Announced on Instagram on Tuesday, March 11 that a temporary closure (since January) will become permanent; the temporary January closure wasn’t necessarily connected to the final decision — "January is a slow month anyway," and the jump in Seattle’s minimum wage added to costs — but the chef also cites his blossoming TV career as a major factor: “With my career trajectory changing, I really haven’t been able to be at the restaurant,” he says, noting he didn’t have a business partner to pick up the slack and that "it was starting to turn into a business that I wasn’t running the way I want to run." He adds, “If I can’t do something that’s not up to my standard right now, I need to not do it, because it feels half-assed.” The spot was an Osaka-style fried-chicken restaurant on Capitol Hill covered in Japanese pop-culture memorabilia (much of it from the chef’s own collection) that served fried food, party food, drunk food; when it opened in 2020 the chef told Eater Seattle, "I want to see drunk people at the curb outside at 3 a.m., eating the Fuckit Bucket, knowing they may regret it later." The menu’s kushikatsu (skewered fried food) dishes were accessible and affordable, and many guests might not have known the joint was run by a famous TV chef. The closure will be marked by blowout farewell dinners: a "Farewell Dinner, Volume 1" on Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22 with fellow Top Chef alum Luke Kolpin (a $300 event that has already sold out), and a second set of parties on Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5 that the chef says he’ll announce on Instagram and for which he’ll be “flying some people out.” He expresses deep appreciation for the city: “I have all of the gratitude towards Seattle and the people in Seattle,” and frames this as a pause rather than a full exit from restaurants as he plans to be more deliberate going forward." - Harry Cheadle
"At his lively Capitol Hill restaurant and Osaka-style bar, star chef Shota Nakajima focuses on marinated, battered, and twice-fried karaage with dry and wet seasonings including curry, teriyaki, and salt and pepper. A “Fuckit Bucket” easily feeds three or four people with three full pounds of chicken over a pound of fries and some shredded cabbage, and a late-night dine-in-only menu with Japanese egg sandwiches and fried rice is available until 1:30 a.m." - Jade Yamazaki Stewart
"Shota Nakajima’s Capitol Hill fried chicken restaurant serves a late-night menu until 2 a.m. on weekends and midnight the other nights. Besides the signature double-fried karaaage (with a variety of flavors), you can also order a spicy fried chicken sando, oyako don, and mochi ice cream." - Eater Staff
"If it’s midnight on Capitol Hill, your stomach is growling like an N64 controller’s rumble pack, and you don't feel like having a pizza slice or hot dog, there’s always Taku. The karaage at this Japanese spot is an ideal vehicle for their incredible yum yum sauce, a savory mayo packed with sesame flavor that makes everything delicious. In fact, we'd order extra bonito-coated furikake fries just for the stuff. If you’re looking for something more filling than fried potatoes, we find the karaage sandwich to be much better than the chicken by itself, thanks to tartar sauce, tart pickles, and spicy habanero powder jazzing up the dredge." - Aimee Rizzo, Kayla Sager Riley
