Popular Atlanta pop-up OK Yaki is slated to make its brick-and-mortar debut next week.
Owner Corban Irby announced the Dec. 15 opening on OK Yaki’s Instagram account:
Irby first announced his plans to open a brick-and-mortar location in May.
OK Yaki launched as a pop-up at East Atlanta Village eatery We Suki Suki in 2016, and has since been a fixture at neighborhood restaurants, breweries and art galleries. Located at 714 Moreland Ave. SE in the newly renovated Seville complex, the East Atlanta brick-and-mortar will take Irby back to where it all started.
The restaurant will focus on the pop-up’s core dishes of okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and gyoza cooked primarily on a large teppan griddle, along with some new menu items including karaage chicken and Japanese curry, as well as vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes.
Credit: Wendell Brock
Credit: Wendell Brock
The restaurant’s layout will accommodate 45 guests, with 15 bar seats around the open kitchen . The bar will feature a window allowing access to a 1,000-square-foot patio. A walk-up window will service patrons wanting to place to-go orders outside.
For now, the restaurant will offer patio seating only, with spaced-out picnic tables and high tops that will accommodate about 40 people. Irby said he plans is to finish building booths inside the restaurant before offering dine-in seating early next year.
Once OK Yaki receives its liquor license for 2021, the bar program will feature Japanese-style draft beer in frozen mugs, as well as sake, shochu and whiskey highballs. Until then, the restaurant will be BYOB.
Irby, who developed an interest in Japanese street food after living in Osaka years ago and returning to visit several times, envisions a minimalist design that he hopes to adapt and evolve to the space as the restaurant grows.
Although the main focus will be on the brick-and-mortar, Ok Yaki will continue doing pop-ups around Atlanta after its grand opening.
In a June interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Irby said that although focusing on takeout wasn’t part of his initial business model, “if we have to continue doing the takeout until the time is right, we’ll do that.”
OK Yaki will be open from 2-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. In addition to heated patio seating, the restaurant will offer takeout and delivery. Masks are required for customers when they are not seated and at all times for OK Yaki staff.
714 Moreland Ave. SE, Atlanta. 404-999-9254, okyakiatl.com.
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