Kono is a yakitori based tasting menu. For those that don't know, yakitori is a Japanese dish that usually consists of skewered chicken grilled using a charcoal grill. Originally they were mainly sold from small, take out only booths/restaurants called yakitori-ya. They are considered a common "street food" though they have become staples of izakayas and even higher end restaurants in Japan. They are especially eaten in Osaka, which is where I first had real yakitori, with different parts of the chicken including the skin, the oyster, the feet, etc. Yakitori has been served in the US and NYC specifically for quite some time now, but the first and perhaps only tasting menu was Torishiin in NYC. I went there in December 2019, and thought it was fantastic. I had heard they declined in quality since then, with chef turnover.

Enter Kono. Chef Atsushi "ATS" Kono is an alum of Torishiin and had opened up his own "Kappo style yakitori" pop up, Chikarashi Isso, in the Bowery hotel almost exactly 2 years ago.