Why you should experience Smokehouse in Tokyo, Japan.
Smokehouse is a smoke-driven barbecue restaurant where Jingumae's creative character, American pit traditions, Tokyo craft-beer culture and David Chiddo's conviction that regional American cooking deserved serious treatment in Japan converge above Cat Street.
Set along Cat Street near Meiji-dori and just steps from Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Smokehouse occupies the upper floor of a two-level project pairing slow-smoked American barbecue with a coffee roastery below. Brick, timber, steel and an open terrace give the restaurant the easy physicality of a contemporary smoke joint, while the cooking places brisket, ribs and pork shoulder at the center of a neighborhood better known for fashion. T.Y. Harbor Brewery beers connect the dining room to a brewing operation founded in Tokyo in 1997, letting smoked meat and locally produced craft beer share the table as originally conceived. The result is a warm, unmistakably Jingumae barbecue room where wood smoke and Tokyo-brewed beer translate an American regional tradition into the cadence of Cat Street.
What you should know about Smokehouse.
Smokehouse is best known for opening on October 19, 2013 from an idea restaurateur Shinpei Terada assembled after an American businessman unexpectedly offered him a two-floor Cat Street property beside his denim shop and longtime culinary partner David Chiddo revived an earlier suggestion to build an American barbecue restaurant. New York-born Chiddo had trained professionally before working in Los Angeles and France, moved to Japan in the early 1990s and subsequently helped reshape T.Y. Harbor Brewery before developing Cicada and Beacon, giving Smokehouse a chef whose career in Tokyo already spanned Mediterranean cooking, American grilling and brewpub culture. Terada connected Chiddo's barbecue proposal with T.Y. Harbor's own beer and a separate conversation with Nozy Coffee founder Masataka Nojiro, whose ambition to open an Omotesando coffee shop supplied the second half of the property; Smokehouse opened upstairs while The Roastery began roasting single-origin coffee below on the same day. Chiddo approached the project through American regional distinctions instead of a generalized grill concept, developing Kansas-style back ribs, Carolina-style chopped pork shoulder and Texas-style beef brisket at a moment when dedicated smoke barbecue remained scarce in Tokyo.
Beef brisket spends hours absorbing smoke until its exterior develops a dark bark around yielding slices, with the Texas-inspired preparation gaining another roasted register from an espresso glaze. Pork shoulder moves toward Carolina through pepper and apple-vinegar sauce, cutting rendered richness with acidity, while Kansas-style back ribs receive a spice rub and sauce before their final exposure to heat. Smoked chicken and sausage broaden the platter without obscuring the central technique, and sides such as macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and cornbread give the meat the supporting textures expected around an American barbecue table. T.Y. Harbor Brewery ales bring malt, bitterness and carbonation against smoke and fat, allowing Chiddo's regional references to remain legible across a meal built around patience, wood, seasoning and the slow conversion of tough cuts into tender meat.
How to fold Smokehouse into your trip.
Smokehouse works as the meal in an afternoon exploring the art, fashion and independent creative institutions embedded within the lanes surrounding Cat Street.
Begin at Ota Memorial Museum of Art, formally opened in Harajuku on January 13, 1980 after the death of Seizo Ota V, whose fascination with Hokusai encountered at the Art Institute of Chicago helped inspire a private collection that eventually reached 12,000 ukiyo-e works spanning paintings and woodblock prints. Continue to Design Festa Gallery, opened in spring 1998 from the philosophy behind the Design Festa art event, transforming former residential buildings into an exhibition complex where professionals, students and first-time exhibitors can rent spaces, sell work without gallery commission and participate without restrictions based on age, nationality or medium. Conclude at Watarium Art Museum, opened in 1990 in a sharply geometric building designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, whose narrow urban commission gave the Watari family a permanent home for exhibitions connected with international contemporary artists including Nam June Paik, Keith Haring and Sol LeWitt. The progression moves from Ota's lifetime pursuit of ukiyo-e through an exhibition system built for emerging creators into Botta's purpose-designed home for contemporary art before Smokehouse closes the circuit with another Cat Street project born from international influences and an unusually specific creative concept.
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