New York City: Kodama (July 2018)

Kodama (July 2018) – Sit-Down Dining Here, with Takeout at Black Sushi

My spouse and I dined at Kodama for lunch on a Sunday afternoon in late July 2018. Kodama is open daily from 12:00 noon until either 10:30/11:00/11:30 pm, depending on the night of the week. The restaurant also offers delivery and takeout during those same hours. 

Kodama is located in Midtown West/Hell’s Kitchen/Theatre District on West 45^th Street (between 8^th and 9^th Avenues), across the street from the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (which is currently showing Kinky Boots). Kodama’s management also operates a more casual counter-service outlet called Black Sushi, located on 8^th Avenue (near the corner of West 45^th Street), and connected to Kodama by way of a back hallway. (The restaurants share the same restrooms, which are located on the casual-dining side.) The restaurant’s owner is a Korean-born chef who came to the US in order to open a Japanese restaurant on Long Island and a sushi-catering business in Manhattan. He later took ownership of Kodama, which at 25+ years old, is one of the oldest Japanese restaurants in NYC. 

Kodama gets its name from tree-inhabiting spirits in Japanese folklore. The interior space of Kodama includes a drinks bar (which was unoccupied when we visited), a sushi bar (which was very popular), and stand-alone blonde-wood tables. Hanging lanterns, prints, and Japanese memorabilia decorate the ceiling and walls.

Kodama serves Asian cuisine, including both cold and hot and raw and cooked selections. If you don’t eat sushi, sashimi, or rolls, rest assured that you can get other entrees such as teriyaki (which arrives on a hot stone plate), rice, curry, noodle, and tempura dishes. One unique thing that Kodama serves is black rice, a more nutritional version found in Korea, Japan, and Southern China and available for only a small upcharge. To start, we shared some steamed dumplings. As our entrees, we ordered one sushi sampler and an order of tempura (which included a side of white rice). Dessert (some sort of berries atop a mascarpone custard) was yummy, although it was still frozen a smidge. My spouse enjoyed a Sapporo from Kodama’s full bar, but I only ordered an iced tea, although I was pleased when it was served in a sort of Ball jar mug with a decorative metal cutout lid. The sushi rolls named after Broadway shows (Kinky Boots, Mamma Mia, Spider-Man) seemed to be popular. 

We enjoyed our lunch in the Theatre District, where we often struggle to find a decent restaurant before a performance; we found our answer at Kodama.