Fashionable Japanese Yakitori Restaurant Torikizoku Simply Opened in Torrance

Torikizoku, a yakitori chain with greater than 600 places in Japan, opened its first U.S. location in Torrance on January 24, 2025. Torikizoku is finest identified in Japan for its reasonably priced flame-licked hen skewers grilled over binchotan charcoal, served in a boisterous eating room alongside beer and sake.

The primary Torikizoku opened in Osaka in 1985. Within the 40 years since, the restaurant has grown into one in all Japan’s hottest izakaya chains. Areas in Japan supply plates of skewers, sides, and extra at a set worth of 308 yen, which is a bit over $2 apiece. Along with its growth into the U.S., Torikizoku has additionally opened places in Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

Torikizoku provides a easy menu in Torrance with all kinds of kushiyaki (any type of skewered meals), together with yakitori (particularly skewered hen). The hen choices embody kizoku yaki (jumbo yakitori), momo (thigh), teba (wings), tsukune (meatballs), hatsu (coronary heart), sunagimo (gizzard), and yagen (cartilage). Hotate (scallop), ebi (shrimp), uzura (quail eggs), tomato, shishito, and harami beef are additionally obtainable. To spherical out meals, Torikizoku serves sides like edamame, cucumber salad, yaki onigiri, and rice. Orders of karaage (fried hen), takoyaki, agedashi tofu, and okonomiyaki pair nicely with the Suntory lager on draft, whereas yuzu shio ramen and soboro don (floor hen rice bowl) are on deck as small fundamental dishes. Every plate is obtainable at a set worth of both $4 or $8.

Alongside the skewers, Torikizoku serves alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage choices, together with a yuzu bitter, grape Ramune soda, scorching inexperienced tea, sake, and umeshu. Bottles of wine, sake, and shochu are additionally on the menu.

The inside of Torrance’s Torikizoku is paying homage to its places in Japan however with a extra upscale minimalist design and lightweight wooden. A semi-enclosed host stand greets visitors; parallel wooden beams type a slanted ceiling over it. Rigorously organized bottles of sake and wine, together with cookbooks and pottery, sit on the cabinets behind the counter. A U-shaped wood bar takes up the middle of the eating room, wanting right into a glass-enclosed extension of the kitchen the place cooks grill kushiyaki over binchotan. A couple of rustic wooden tables are organized all through the house. Round Noguchi-style paper lamps grasp overhead, casting a delicate gentle on the grey lime-washed partitions and concrete flooring.

Torikizoku joins an already excellent lineup of yakitori eating places within the Southland, together with Shin Sen Gumi, Koshiji, and Torimatsu, in addition to izakayas like Ototo and Izakaya Hachi. Its arrival, coupled with the latest opening and quick recognition of Japanese bakery Bread, Espresso, & in Redondo Seashore, might mark the start of a brand new wave of Japan-based eating places increasing into Los Angeles. If Zoku’s success within the South Bay is any indication, Torikizoku is bound to make its mark on the area.

Torikizoku is positioned at 21839 Hawthorne Boulevard, Torrance, CA 90503, and is open from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday via Sunday.