NIKU X

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in Los Angeles.

Chef Shin Thompson, who earned a Michelin star for his Chicago restaurant Bonsoiree, runs this yakiniku restaurant inside the Wilshire Grand Center for the Chubby Cattle group. Dinner centers on tabletop robatayaki grilling: a smoke-filled box arrives with six cuts of Wagyu, domestic, Japanese, and Australian, that Thompson dry-ages on site to draw out the differences between them. A caviar course pairs Stone Axe Wagyu tartare with Hokkaido uni and gold leaf, and a tomahawk service ends with whiskey lit tableside. The all-you-can-eat format runs in tiers up to the full Wagyu spread.