While I was writing this week’s review of Budonoki in Virgil Village, I reached out to deputy food editor Betty Hallock with a question that led to more queries. The beckoning signage of Pink Orchid bakery nearly overshadows Hakata Izakaya Hero’s modest storefront next door. Wine and sake bottles line the kitchen window at Hiro Chiya’s Hakata Izakaya Hero in …
The tinted glass entrance to Budonoki, which faces the intersection of Melrose and Virgil avenues, doesn’t so much mirror its surroundings as stare back blankly. As the pupils dilate enough to take in the room’s major details — a bar angled along the left wall, paper lanterns across the ceiling, fluorescent purple and reddish-pink lighting that more recalls the curated …
