by Eve Hill-Agnus
Two vastly different restaurants—one, Niwa Japanese BBQ, the other Abacus—are teaming up to offer an expensive variety of Japanese wagyu and serve it in their own ways. When I learned of the small wagyu story unfolding in Dallas, I immediately thought of A Tale of Two Cities or Romeo and Juliet—“two houses, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene ….”
For Jimmy Niwa, owner of Niwa Japanese BBQ in Deep Ellum, where meat sizzles over grills, wagyu is not monolithic. He’s teaming up with executive chef Chad Bowden of Abacus to bring in Toriyama Umami Wagyu, which each chef will serve in his own way. For Niwa, it’s about expanding horizons. For Abacus, it’s a feather in the cap of a restaurant that serves buffalo and wild game. Why not consider regional wagyu a boutique novelty as well, with nuance in the meaty flavor, not just decadence in the fat?…
Image courtesy of Niwa Japanese BBQ