☞ EAT: Restaurant Revealed at 1280 Amsterdam

When the construction at 1280 Amsterdam started up last fall for a new restaurant, there was some hope that another decent eatery would arrive at this cusp of Manhattanville and Morningside heights.  It appeared that another Chinese restaurant was taking over the old Blockbuster space but now the new signage has revealed otherwise. Current photo after the jump.

This corner of 123rd Street (technically Manhattanville) is the next block past Columbia's main campus and has the large retail space empty for some time but now a Hibachi "fusion" restaurant appears to be arriving soon.  Fusion is sort of a dated word these days but the name Nikko at least sounds Japanese.  It has been reported that the owners of the chinese takeout next door might be involved in this one so authenticity could be an issue here. At least the Japanese style barbecue of Hibachi is a new concept making its way uptown but a Japanese-owned sushi joint still has not come about above 110th Street.