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Michelin-Rated Yakitori Restaurant Headed to Hell's Kitchen

By Mathew Katz | April 9, 2014 7:14am
 Tori Shin hopes to open at the former home of La Silhouette on West 53rd Street.
Tori Shin hopes to open at the former home of La Silhouette on West 53rd Street.
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HELL'S KITCHEN — Michelin-rated Japanese spot Tori Shin is planning a new location on West 53rd Street.

The Upper East Side restaurant, which specializes in yakitori, a skewered grilled chicken, plans to open at the former home of La Silhouette at 362 W. 53rd St., records show.

The 99-person restaurant would have a Japanese garden-style backyard seating area that holds 18 people, according to its liquor license application. 

Tori Shin — which means "True Chicken" in Japanese — has operated for seven years on First Avenue near East 65th Street, where it became a fixture for both locals and tourists for having a selection of more than 40 different chicken skewers and a huge menu of sake and sho-chu.

The restaurant recently received a star in the Michelin New York City Restaurant Guide for the third year in a row.

The Hell's Kitchen location will have a near-identical menu, records show.

Along with table seating, the new restaurant will have a bar centered around a performing chef, similar to a hibachi grill.

The proposed backyard could draw controversy, however. In January, Clubhouse BBQ tried to open in the same location, but neighbors heavily opposed it, fearing loud parties behind their building, according to Hell's Kitsch.

"Tori Shin has a proven business model as well as a track record as a good business neighbor in its current location," wrote the restaurant's owners in the liquor license application.

"It will offer a unique alternative to the other restaurants in the neighborhood."

Staff at Tori Shin could not immediately comment on the new location, but said they hoped it would open by late summer.