Kemuri Tatsu-Ya Racks Up Another Accolade

Kemuri Tatsu-ya, the Japanese Texan izakaya from Austin’s best noodle soup shop Ramen Tatsu-ya, continues to be one of the country’s favorite new restaurants. This time, it was named as one of Bon Appetit’s Hot 10 list.

It’s been a major year for Kemuri since it opened in January, and rightly so for chefs-owners Tatsu Aikawa and Takuya Matsumoto. The duo took their Japanese and Texas influences to create a fun easy space for food and drink in Austin, with great cocktails to boot. “I am not trying to make a big deal out of mashing two ideas,” Aikawa previously told Eater, “this is just me.”

Eater roving restaurant critic Bill Addison included Kemuri in his 2017 best new restaurants guide, calling the restaurant "the biggest surprise of my research year." Men’s magazine GQ, which put it on its list of the best new restaurants this year, described it as "a saloon out of a Quentin Tarantino fever dream" (that is a good thing). Local critics also love the restaurant, from Statesman to Chronicle to Texas Monthly to Austin Monthly.

Bon Appetit described the restaurant as "challeng[ing] expectations while delivering new and exciting flavors,” seen with the hot pockets filled with tofu, cheese, and brisket, the Frito pie take with octopus fritters, and the smoked fish collar.

Austin wine bar and all-day cafe June made Bon Appetit’s long list of 50 restaurants for 2017, but didn’t make the cut-down selection. Dai Due was the last Austin restaurant to make the selected list in 2015.

• Best New Restaurants in America [Bon Appetit]
• Kemuri Tatsu-Ya [Bon Appetit]
• Two Austin Restaurants Make Bon Appetit's 50 Best New Restaurants List [EATX]
• All Coverage of Kemuri [EATX]