Dining critic Justin Lo shares review of Nokiribi at The Veil | Where Richmond Eats
You can't put Baby in a corner. But you can put Andrew Manning in one and watch him cook pretty much anything.
The former head chef of Longoven and Lost Letter broke it off with his partners, Patrick Phelan and Megan Fitzroy-Phelan, at the end of last year. Ever since then, he's been confined to a small, open kitchen, his own corner cubicle, inside of The Veil's cavernous new taproom in Scott's Addition.
Manning pulls shifts there as a short-order cook at Nokoribi, the counter-service Japanese spot that he opened in April 2023. Tickets come in rapid succession through the brewery's POS system. Stackable cafeteria trays take the place of fancy, white tablecloths. And customers, after ordering at the beer line, wait to be buzzed when their food is ready for pickup.
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It's a far cry from the world of fine dining he recently left behind. (There's no real expectation of service either, which seems to suit the chef's introverted personality just fine.)
Don't think of it as a demotion, though. Think of it as Manning's solo act - his Harry Styles era, if you will - a chance to reinvent himself.
And reinvent, he has. The chef often flirted at Longoven with Japanese influences, from koji marinades to dashi broths. His affinity for them was real. It was, in fact, among the most compelling aspects of the chef's work, as noted when I reviewed him back in 2019. Now at Nokoribi, this has turned into a full-blown, committed relationship.
Instead of more ethereal fare, Manning has come back down to earth - and then some - with a menu inspired by the back-alley pubs and subway stalls of Tokyo. Nokoribi's izakaya-style grub, along the lines of what a Japanese salaryman would traditionally enjoy afterhours over libations and karaoke, are meaty and carby, fried and grilled, salty and saucy.
In other words: perfect food for the Scott's Addition scene, filled with drunken, young professionals of its own. Like the fratty guy in a Pokémon costume ahead of me in line one night. Or the young couple dressed as Princess Peach and Mario. (If it hadn't also been Halloween week, I would've said these otaku cosplayers got Manning's memo.)
The yakitori game at Nokoribi is strong. As well it should be, since the name, in Japanese, means "embers." Skewered meats and vegetables, grilled over white-hot beds of charcoal, are truly the highpoint of the menu.
Grab one of seven countertop seats surrounding the kitchen, and watch as the exciting action unfolds. Like gladiators in the ring, Manning and his crew impressively attack the fire and smoke from several long, rectangular grills with a simple uchiwa fan.
Why they haven't staged a yakitori "omakase" dinner here yet is beyond me. Though, to do that, they'd have to change their practice of only offering two types of yakitori at a time.
The kebabs du jour -- priced at $12 for two to three skewers, served on rice -- change regularly.
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One day, it might be cocktail-sized shrimp, paired off with a dynamic yuzu sauce that copies both the twang of Memphis BBQ and the spicy-sweet cadence of Korean gochujang. Or stumps of trumpet mushrooms, bound together like a log raft and covered in gingery soy glaze, helping to beautifully char and caramelize them until they can hardly be told apart from grilled short ribs.
The next day, there could be something totally different - such as chicken tsukune, molded in the shape of a mini crooner's mic around the bamboo skewers. These Japanese-style meatballs are lacquered with a thick, soy-based tare, forming a candy shell around them and catching whiffs of smokiness from the charcoal.
When Nokoribi debuted, many of their dishes felt too dainty for the hungry, beer-chugging crowd. A better balance has been achieved since then, though I'm disappointed by a couple of the items they've cut loose from the menu.
A delicate katsu sando on soft, Japanese milk bread - so demure, so mindful - has been replaced by a ploddingly heavy, Reuben-inspired version, weighed down by melted cheese and slaw, which has as much to do with the genre as a rude American tourist at Tokyo Disneyland ($14).
An udon, once served mazemen-style with just a lovely gloss of dashi butter and an egg yolk quivering in the center, is now reduced to a soupy mess of noodles in a muddled, Parmesan-laced mushroom broth ($16).
There are other issues as well. A hefty dose of kombu, compounding an already strongly-flavored trout dish ($16), brings in way too much of the sea for any land dweller. And cold Brussels sprouts, cut into unwieldy chunks, taste more like parboiled cabbages and less like the wasabi ranch-dressed salad they're meant to be ($8).
The biggest recurring problem, though, is the rice. On both visits, the grains that came with our grilled items were inconsistently cooked, both soggy and stale, devoid of anything you'd call "toothsome." Which, for any Asian cuisine, is as close as it gets to a cardinal sin.
But Nokoribi is saved - maybe even divinely - by their karaage chicken ($12). Dredged in a mix of corn and potato starch, the fried nuggets have a sparkly crunch to them, one that dazzles the tongue, then disappears quickly, revealing juicy morsels of dark meat that feel like an a-ha moment at the end of a magic trick. It's not hard to see why they're a staple on the menu.
(On Sundays, you can get a whole game day-ready bucket of these, along with sticky garlic-ginger chicken wings, double-fried drums, and an assortment of pickles, for $55.)
You'd do well to consider the miso-braised pork belly ($16) from the Nokoribi menu, too. Its rich, unctuous layers, caressed with ginger and smoked paprika and a warm, gentle touch of chilis, are cooked well beyond the point of fork-tender, until they practically melt at the touch of a tine.
What more can I say? Manning does it all. Whether atop the peaks of fine dining, or from the smoke-filled recesses of the Tokyo underground -- he remains one of truest talents in Richmond dining. As Nokoribi proves, not even close quarters can cramp the chef's style.
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Justin Lo is the Times-Dispatch dining critic. Follow him on Instagram @justinsjlo.
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