American Dining Bar "City Dining Macy's" in Kamimaezu 

This time, I will introduce the American dining bar "City Dining Macy's" in Kamimaezu. A shop with an American taste that makes you feel like Brooklyn, NY. From hearty foods such as hamburgers, pizza, and fries, to daily lunch specials, sweets, and alcoholic beverages, it's attractive to have a wide variety of menus that will make you want to stop by during the day or at night. This is my favorite shop, and I go there almost every month.

In this issue, I will introduce the story behind the birth of the restaurant, which is a first for the media, as well as the owner's recommended menu.

A 2-minute walk from Exit 1 of Kamimaezu Station on the Meijo Line and Tsurumai Subway Line. The appearance of concrete is a landmark.

Around the kitchen, there are counter seats that are easy to visit even for one person.

The story behind the birth of City Dining Macy's

Ryosuke Yamanaka, owner of City Dining Macy's

Macy's opened in March 2015. First of all, the owner, Mr. Yamanaka, told me the secret story of the birth of the restaurant, which was first released to the media.

-How was Macy's born?

Mr. Yamanaka: "There used to be a cafe called 'Concrete' in this place, and I worked there as a part-time for about five years when I was a student. After that, Concrete decided to close down, and the owner told me, 'If you want to do something, I'll give you the shop.' But at the time, I hadn't thought about opening a restaurant at all, so I was very worried. I had only one month to reply.

After thinking about it for about a week, I decided to open a restaurant, saying, "This is a great opportunity, so let's try it first!" However, I thought that it would be difficult for me, who had no experience, to do it alone, so I decided to do it with Kenta, who had worked with me at Concrete, and Cassie, who is currently a chef. That was about half a year before the opening. It was the first time to run a restaurant. I had to refurbish the restaurant, the menu had not yet been decided... it was a really eventful start. ”

In the back of the shop, there are sofa seats where you can relax. (This is a non-smoking seat)

Under the sofa seat is a smoking seat that can be reserved for parties.

Macy's has had a tumultuous start. The problems still continue.

Yamanaka: "Since we are going to open our own restaurant, let's do what we can do! So we first dismantled the store and made it into a skeleton. Now that I think about it, I regret that we could have saved more money if we had left the usable parts as they were. (laughs)

The interior design was done by a person who was introduced to us by an acquaintance. To my surprise, he also used to work at Concrete. It was an amazing coincidence. Thanks to him, we managed to open six months later."

There is also a “happy hour” until 18:00 when alcohol is ¥300 on weekdays and weekends. This is a great service for alcohol lovers.

Mr. Yamanaka: “Since we started from scratch, we are running the business with the attitude of trying to take on new challenges. After-parties for weddings, DJ events, acoustic live performances, and recently, a cappella live performances are held every month. It's a challenge every day."

By the way, is the name "Macy's" also American?

Mr. Yamanaka: “There is a department store in the US called Macy's, so customers sometimes ask me about it. However, the original reason is different.

I've always loved the California punk band "Green Day", and if I were to open my own store someday, I'd like to use their song as the title. There was a song title with the word "Macy's" in it, and I chose it without looking into its meaning because it sounded so good. When I looked it up later, I found out that it was a department store in New York. It's an afterthought, but it's a perfect name for an American-style restaurant. ”