A Japanese Barbecue Fires Up the Grills Near Union Station

The Union Station neighborhood now has a new Japanese barbecue restaurant. Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ has dozens of locations from California to Massachusetts and 700 restaurants worldwide. Now downtown Denver’s first Gyu-Kaku slots into 3,000 square feet at Union Denver, home of the new Whole Foods Market.

Gyu-Kaku, pronounced GEW-KAH-KOO and meaning “horn of the bull” in Japanese, provides a Japanese yakiniku (grilled barbecue) dining experience. Customers cook over a grill at the center of every table, ordering from a roster of proteins, including Harami skirt steak in miso marinade and certified Angus kalbi short ribs in tare sweet soy marinade.

The restaurant also serves noodle bowls, rice dishes, and vegetables, as well as pork dumplings, fried bacon chips, and Japanese fried chicken.

Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ, 1998 18th St., 720-726-4068. Open nightly from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

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