Niku X Opens a Glamourous New Steakhouse in DTLA

Niku X, an upscale luxurious new Japanese steakhouse, has opened on the second floor of Wilshire Grand Center in downtown Los Angeles.

Diners can order the Yakiniku Tasting Menu ($245 per guest), the Masami Ranch Tomahawk Tasting Menu (starting at $335 per guest) or from the a la carte menu. The Tomahawk Tasting menu features a 46-ounce Tomahawk Steak cooked tableside, lit on fire with whiskey. It also includes wagyu tartare, salad, A5 Wagyu bone broth, Wagyu Oxtail pot stickers and roasted bone marrow for appetizers. In addition to the huge tableside Tomahawk, entrées include Tomahawk fried rice with black truffle and Tomahawk tallow fried potatoes with Wagyu butter. Diners can add on caviar and uni dishes.

We sampled a special “Chef’s Choice” menu which included delicious Wagyu Tallow potatoes pave with a sweet Shoyu crème fraiche, tuna tartare, Wagyu fried rice and coulotte steak with chimichurri.

Diners tasting the Yakiniku menu indulge in the beautifully presented Wagyu beef sampler offering six different cuts of Wagyu beef, highlighting both domestic and international samples.

They also can enjoy appetizers of a selection of crudo, live spotted prawn sashimi, caviar and consommé. Additional grill items include Boston Hotate, steelhead trout, Wagyu beef tongue, Toriyama short rib, Stone Axe Misuji top blade, Masami striploin, A5 Miyazaki tenderloin and can add on A5 ribeye and caviar and uni dishes.

The dramatic space opens after entering two huge doors where diners can sit at the long narrow bar and enjoy cocktails and mocktails. The drinks are as innovative as the menu, including a Niku X martini with Wagyu washed Grey Whale gin, vodka and celery root brine bitters; a Sunomono Margarita with tequila, yuzu, pineapple shrub, cucumber, Gochujung Cahmoy and salt; a Ume Raba with Ketel One Grapefruit Rosé, Kaffir lime, umeshu, passionfruit, lemon, ginger beer and bitters and a Matcha Matcha with non-alcoholic gin, Matcha coconut orgeat, lemon, mint and toasted coconut match flakes. Diners are then led to dark wooden booths and tables, spaced widely apart to diffuse noise. The huge dining room is dimly lit with black metal accent walls and gray tiled floors. There are also tiger murals throughout the space as well as huge displays of hanging aging beef. We especially loved the beautiful presentation of all of the dishes and the extra touch of letting us pick out our own steak knife before the onslaught of steak was served.

Niku X is located at 900 Wilshire Boulevard on the second floor of Wilshire Grand, reservations at 323.920.0302.