A hospitality group heavyweight in the luxury hotpot scene, with restaurants like the X Pot and Chubby Cattle, is planning to put its stamp on yakiniku (Japanese grilled meats) — complete with a wagyu tasting menu and chef who’s earned a Michelin star — at the fancy Niku X, slated to open in late December at 900 Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown LA.
Niku X is one of the new guard of Japanese restaurants showcasing opulent ingredients, like Kaviar, which has locations in Pasadena and Arts District. Over the past few years, Niku X’s parent company, the Las Vegas-based Chubby Cattle International, has made a splash in upscale Asian dining: It refined the hotpot scene with its focus on wagyu beef and robot servers at the X Pot restaurant (with locations in Rowland Heights, Las Vegas), and installed a futuristic refrigerated conveyor belt delivering plates of meat at Chubby Cattle in Las Vegas, among other cities.