Fire grilled meats and sake happy hours
Despite maintaining Raku Japanese's sushi/yakitori bar in the back, Yaki sets itself apart from the old space and other sushi bars thanks to randomly interspersed toys your parents forgot to buy you in the '80s (like ET and Gizmo!), and booths adorned with bamboo shades you can unfurl in case you want to privately play shirtless with those toys your parents neglected to get you. Even if you're not into toys, get yourself there for: Yakitori: They'll be skewering all sorts of animal bits ranging from the less adventurous chicken meatball, to the edgier and kind-of-bad-ass-to-order-loudly beef tongue and chicken heart.Ramen: You can add miso/heat to their traditional Tonkotsu broth, which comes standard with egg, pork, green onion, ginger & kikurage mushrooms, but can be bolstered by a load of add-ons, including ones approved by both Orville Redenbacher (corn) and Val Kilmer (butter). Japanese Pizza: More commonly known as okonomiyaki to people that live in East Asian island nations that are particularly proud of their rising sun, these savory flatbreads come standard with okonomiyaki sauce/ mayo/ dried bonito flakes, but can be jazzed up with everything from squid to jalapeno. Super-Cheap Happy Hour: From 6 to 8p, you can shower your friends with liquid rice on the cheap thanks to 99-cent small sakes, then encourage them to buy you $3 Sapporo drafts ($10 a pitcher), apps like pork gyoza for $3.50, and sushi rolls that, much like shirts in that covered booth, are 35% off.