Category Archives: Chefs

The Transportive Experience of Nagai Edomae Sushi

Posted on by One comment
The signature kohada nigiri at Nagai Edomae Sushi.
The signature kohada nigiri at Nagai Edomae Sushi.

As you approach Nagai Edomae Sushi on Broadway Street in Redwood City, the front door and windows are obscured by shoji screens, offering no glimpse inside.

Although the street teems with other restaurants, you can’t just walk in like any other establishment. Indeed, a small sign by the door indicates: “Private omakase by reservation only.”

Opened last fall, this restaurant with all of 10 seats around a Japanese cypress counter provides a very intimate experience that somehow transports you away from the congestion outside its front door to a state of quietude.

Behind the counter stands Chef-Owner Tomonori Nagai, who grew up in a family of fishermen in the small coastal town of Iwaki, before finding his calling as a sushi chef, in which he worked at Morimoto in Honolulu and Michelin-starred Shinji by Kanesaka in Singapore.

Chef Tomonori Nagai in his element.
Chef Tomonori Nagai in his element.

In 2019, he opened Sushi Nagai on Union Square in San Francisco, which unfortunately ended up closing during the pandemic. That was where I first experienced his food. After being invited two weeks ago as a guest of Nagai Edomae Sushi, I think I prefer his new location more, just because its smaller size makes for an experience that feels more personal and special.

Chef Nagai opened his restaurant with business partner Sunny Noah, who also owns the omakase restaurants, Tancho in Castro Valley, Iki in Palo Alto, and the soon-to-open Ren in Menlo Park.

Read more

Stephanie Izard Debuts Valley Goat

Posted on by 2 comments
A mound of "disco fries'' at the new Valley Goat.
A mound of “disco fries” at the new Valley Goat.

It’s always an occasion when a “Top Chef” champion opens a new restaurant. Even more so when it’s Stephanie Izard, arguably one of the most successful winners to emerge from the Bravo TV show’s 22 seasons (and the first woman to win). And especially when she chooses to do so in Silicon Valley.

At the end of March, the James Beard Award-winning chef opened Valley Goat at the new Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale.

After opening her original Girl & The Goat in Chicago in 2010, Izard was named Food & Wine “Best Chef” in 2011. When she opened Girl & The Goat in Los Angeles in 2021, she gave up the Windy City for Tinsel Town, moving there with her family. Valley Goat is her first Northern California restaurant, and what she told me is the first of several planned restaurants she will open with Treehouse Hotels.

Chef Stephanie Izard, who has spent the past six weeks in Sunnyvale, to oversee her Valley Goat restaurant.
Chef Stephanie Izard, who has spent the past six weeks in Sunnyvale, to oversee her Valley Goat restaurant.

Quirky and playful, the hotel is like a glamping playground gone wild for Gen Z. There’s a beer garden with picnic tables set with Jenga towers, rubber duckie floats in the pool, and a fence cleverly painted with tree trunks to blend in and create the look of a lush forest with real trees.

Read more

Japan Eats, Part IV: Ima in Kyoto

Posted on by 2 comments
Kyoto rice with icefish is presented at Ima.
Kyoto rice with icefish is presented at Ima.

Kyoto, JAPAN — In Japanese, Ima means “living room.”

If only my own living room in the Bay Area were filled with the relaxing fragrance of cedar, the warmth of a crackling fire, and such tantalizing aromas as this one.

Tucked away on a quiet street that once housed kimono shops, this newcomer opened barely two months ago in a renovated 110-year-old townhouse.

With a small team of three, it is overseen by Chef Kiichi Imai, who trained at Michelin-starred Hotel de Yoshino in Wakayama, before going to work in several Tokyo restaurants. He later worked on the opening team for Michelin-starred Txispa, a wood-fire restaurant in Spain, before returning to Japan to cook most recently at Noma Kyoto.

The restaurant is inside a 110-year-old former townhouse.
The restaurant is inside a 110-year-old former townhouse.
The restaurant is all about live-fire cooking.
The restaurant is all about live-fire cooking.

One of the restaurant’s investors will surely be familiar to anyone with a sweet tooth in the Bay Area: Charles Chen, founder of Basuku Cheesecakes.

Ima is all of 10 seats at the counter, which affords a clear view of the live-fire grill fed with oak firewood from Miyami forest in Kyoto. From start to finish, the hearth plays a major role in the dishes, blending Japanese and French influences that meld with sure-handed searing and charring.

Even the menu is smudged with artful burn marks.

Read more

Japan Eats, Part III: Yoshoku Izumi in Osaka

Posted on by 2 comments
Beef katsu sando at Yoshoku Izumi in Osaka.
Beef katsu sando at Yoshoku Izumi in Osaka.

Osaka, JAPAN — Getting a reservation at Yoshoku Izumi was an arduous affair. Even when we managed to land the remaining seats on a Saturday night at 8:30 p.m., the extensive list of dos and don’ts on its website had us quaking in fear we’d commit a faux pas and get thrown out mid-bite.

Visions of the iconic Soup Nazi on “Seinfeld” were firmly planted in our heads.

We may have stepped inside the unmarked door, identifiable only by its potted maple tree outside, with trepidation. However, we left not only completely at ease, but thoroughly charmed and beyond content by a tasting menu that was absolutely delicious, as well as a relative bargain.

Our journey to this restaurant, renowned for its yoshoku or Japanese-style Western cooking, began last year, when my friend Charles, who travels often to Japan and knows conversational Japanese, recommended it highly. Having dined there twice, himself, he wasn’t sure if anyone on staff spoke much English. And unfortunately, Izumi is one of a number of restaurants in Japan that only takes reservations by phone.

The unmarked restaurant.
The unmarked restaurant.

So, I enlisted my friend Donna, who speaks Japanese, to try calling the restaurant on my behalf. She called, and she called. No matter if it was morning, afternoon, or evening in Japan, no one ever picked up the phone even after days of her trying. There was no answering machine, either, to leave a message.

Read more

Feasting at Baekjeong Korean BBQ

Posted on by Leave a comment
Come hungry to Baekjeong Korean BBQ because it's a huge spread of food.
Come hungry to Baekjeong Korean BBQ because it’s a huge spread of food.

When Baekjeong Korean BBQ opened its first Bay Area location at Westfield Valley Fair shopping center in in August 2023, waits reportedly were up to 4 hours to snag a table.

No way was I going to deal with that.

So, I bided my time, and happily waited until this month to try the restaurant that’s created a sensation everywhere it’s opened.

The restaurant seats more than 200.
The restaurant seats more than 200.

Baekjeong Korean BBQ started in 2003 in Korea by Kang Ho Dong, a former professional wrestler and South Korean TV personality. In 2012, he joined forces with Michael Chon, CEO of Kijung Hospitality Group, to expand the restaurants to the United States, the first of which opened in Los Angeles, where the late-great, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold hailed it as one of that city’s top restaurants.

Read more
« Older Entries