If you've passed through Chinatown at night recently, you've noticed lights glowing from the second floor of a double storefront at 211 N. 11th St., just south of Lee How Fook and Vietnam. Looking closer, you see what appears to be a big TV screen showing bright graphics.
It's karaoke, and it will be a big part of the action at Yakitori Boy, which should open in the next few weeks, once the liquor license goes through. The place is just about finished.
The owner showed me around, but declined my request to photograph. The first floor has a 90-seat dining room and what appears to be two sushi bars, in addition to a drinkin' bar. In fact, there's one sushi bar and a yakitori bar, at which cooks will prepare chicken meat on a stick over grills. The word "japas" on their stationery is a pun on "Japanese tapas."
Upstairs, visible from the street, is another bar with a karaoke machine and big-screen TV. Lining the halls, though, are seven or so private booths filled with karoake equipment. The idea is to grab a few friends over drinks and sing till you're hoarse.