Restaurants: Taka Taka Opens in NYC to Swinging Salsa and Flowing Sake

"Happy birthday, Taka Taka, you are now zero. On the Day of the Dead. Now let's have some fun!" shouted the leader of the Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra as the band ripped into a sizzling set of Latin dance music. Quick to respond were several hundred guests dressed in striking "funeral chic" masquerade befitting the Mexican holiday and quaffing the high-end mescal, Oseki saki and Sapporo beer flowing freely. Dozens immediately grooved into their sexiest salsa moves, watched approvingly by the festive day-glow skulls and funeral masks that twirled on strings hung from the rafters.

And so began the launch party for New York's newest restaurant, located at 330 West Broadway in Soho, featuring a tantalizing Japanese-Mexican fusion cuisine in hip surroundings in the heart of Soho. The design includes a stainless-steel conveyor belt that travels the length of the sushi bar and then winds between the booths throughout the space. The booths themselves are equipped with induction hot plates invisibly imbedded in the table surface, for cooking shabu shabu. For the party, the conveyor belt transported a choice of seven cocktails and a dozen dishes that artfully combined Japanese and Mexican ingredients.

Conveyor-belt delivery of Japanese and Mexican cuisine make NYC's new Taka Taka Restaurant a unique take on a fusion restaurant.

As the night and the drinking progressed, it also conveyed notes the guests scribbled onto the paper coasters and sent circulating around the belt, reading in various handwriting, "Let's make love," "Text me a dirty picture [phone number included]," "Let's make more love," "Send me a drink, I am the guy with the hat in the corner booth," "Let's make even more love." That spirit was no accident, explained a server. "The owners encourage fun, surprise and interaction among the guests. We actually put the first notes on the belt to get the idea rolling."

Serving up cocktails and fun at the grand opening of Taka Taka.

In fact, just as fascinating as the jalapeno-garnished sushi, the tempura-and-teppanyaki tacos and the ribeye chipotle yakitori is the story of the three brothers behind the new venture.

"Taka Taka is our first Japanese-Mexican restaurant in the U.S., but it is based on a proven concept in Mexico. We have eight similar restaurants there under the brand Moshi Moshi," explained middle brother Andres Mier y Teran. Actually, building brands is what their business is really all about.

Taka Taka's owners, the brothers Mier y Teran of Groupo MYT.

To the Latin beat thumping in the background, his younger brother (and company CEO) Carlos elaborated, "We develop the concept for the restaurant – the cuisine, the menus, the design. We pull together the financing. We start up the first restaurant and operate it. We grow it and open new branches. We build it into a brand, then let it go." By letting it go, he means selling it to longer-term investors who invest to expand the brand to its full potential, as the brothers meanwhile go on to build the next new restaurant brand.

Through their company Grupo MYT they have worked this model very successfully for 15 years, with dozens of restaurants under a slew of brands, in Mexico (where Carlos lives), New York (where Andres lives) and L.A. (where Alfredo lives). There are, of course, some family dynamics. Noted Andres, "We are three brothers, one an engineer, one an architect and one a lawyer. We do not always agree, but we all bring the ideas that make this business work. I am the middle child, so I play the role of negotiator between the oldest and youngest brothers."

Taka Taka Restaurant, located at 330 West Broadway in New York City.

The Day of the Dead salsa-infused party spilled from the new restaurant into a warehouse space next door, where partygoers danced the night away. Always thinking of the next new thing, Carlos looked around the cavernous room and said, "We rented this space for the launch party, but just look at how marvelous it is. I could see opening a Mexican cantina here, right next door to Taka Taka."

Our bet is that he will do just that.

Taka Taka Restaurant
330 West Broadway (at Grand Street)
New York, NY 10013
212-966-8252
http://www.takataka.mx/