Japanese Food and Cooking

Feasting Out: Traditional Sake-Drenched Japanese New Year's Eve at Nombe

​Where: Nombe 2491 Mission (at 21st St.), 681-7150 When: Thurs., Dec. 31 Time: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for regular seating; separate New Year's Eve party from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. The deal: Japanese izakaya pub food, drinks, and music. Regular seating until 8 p.m. with toshikoshi soba available; from ... More >>

Yoshi's Chef Rolls with Soy Crêpes, Non-Fishy Alternatives to Nori

C. AlburgerThe Caliente roll at Yoshi's: If you're from Japan, avert your eyes.​Sho Kamio -- chef of Yoshi's San Francisco (1330 Fillmore at Eddy) -- is firmly grounded in Japanese training, but he's not afraid of roll play. Exhibit A: one of Sho's ongoing dalliances, the paperlike soy crêpes ... More >>

Nombe's Street-Food Ramen Expands the Mission's Late-Night Offerings

Luis ChongSaturday's street-food serving of chashu kimchi ramen: Better than homemade.​If you find yourself hungry in the Mission after midnight on a Saturday ― just like we were last weekend ― your options are no longer limited to a few taquerias. Now you can add ramen to your short list ... More >>

Yu-Zen and the art of sushi

Early-Bird Special: Yu-Zen

cygnoir/FlickrYu-Zen's futo maki.​An early nibble from the Weekly's Wednesday food review. We all know the taste of mid-grade sushi-joint food like we know the taste of a McDonald's burger: starchy tempura, elaborately gooshy fantasy rolls, watery miso soup. Get something better, and it seem ... More >>

Organizers at U.C. Berkeley Want to Make the World's Longest California Roll. Why?

revjim5000/FlickrThe length to beat: 300 feet.​Yeah, this is how we roll: Food history may be made on Sunday, Nov. 8, when a group in Berkeley attempts to make the world's longest California roll. Eight years ago, a group in Maui set a record for a 300-foot-long roll. The Cal organizers hope ... More >>

Pace Yourself

Vegan Eats: Cha-Ya's Japanese Cooking Sticks to Your Ribs

Hana Gomoku: Sushi rice with kaiware, shiitake, green bean, carrot, lotus root, tofu pouch, yam cake, hijiki, burdock, broccolini, daikon, cauliflower, and zucchini.​We heart eating vegan, but have never felt quite so nourished and satisfied as we have after eating at the recently opened Sun ... More >>

Four West Coast Restaurants Changing Sushi As We've Known It

elkanah5730/FlickrThe new traditionalist: Sebo's Michael Black.​It's ironic -- sushi, a cuisine that fetishizes a few simple, pristine ingredients, just might be the last restaurant genre to pick up the ingredient-centric mantra of modern food. But a sustainable sushi revolution that ignited i ... More >>

Tsunami Mission Bay's Boxless Bento: Splurge Worthy

Janine KahnYeah, we noticed it's not technically in a box.Unless you do sketchy things with other peoples' money for a living, $15 for lunch is probably out of reach. Except on super special occasions, like making it through another week still employed. Next time you have something to celebrate, hea ... More >>

Former Alice Waters Assistant Turning His Hand to Bento Boxes with a Drop-Dead Sensibility

Peko-Peko's kakuni, made with pork from Marin Sun FarmsEven in this town, many of us know Japanese food as monster maki, fast-food ramen, and greasy tonkatsu cutlets. Sylvan Brackett wants to change that. The former assistant to Alice Waters is making bento boxes combining authentic Japanese techniq ... More >>

Dish Duel: Tempura Soba

The first of our occasional series where we'll pit the same dish from two different restaurants against each other concerns tempura soba, the Japanese soup dish of buckwheat noodles paired with a side of tempura shrimp and vegetables for dipping, in a battle between Sunset District noodle shop Hot ... More >>

Beyond the California Roll: 10 Types of Hood Maki

(S.F. sushi spots create specialties far more regionalized than just the California Roll; image via Flavor J) It's not that the California Roll isn't appreciated, but it sure is fun to see sushi joints naming their maki after the neighborhoods where they operate. Here are 10 that stand out: 1. Po ... More >>

Turning Japanese

At this tiny spot, tasty skewered treats are served with a vintage soundtrack.

Salad Daze: Kyoto Sushi's Yasai

Delica rf-1 Invented the Meat and Potato Remix

Food Porn: Yakitori and Kushi Katsu at Halu

SF Weekly's Seven-Day Dish

Food Porn: Deep-Fried Shrimp Heads At We Be Sushi

Izakaya? O Yes

Small plates but big flavors in Japantown.

SF Weekly's Seven-Day Dish

Snazzy and Jazzy at Yoshi's

Some interesting and fancy Japanese cooking is paired with a glamorous restaurant and nightclub.

It'za Izakaya

You can get (almost) any kind of Japanese food you want at Hime restaurant

Hard-Core Sushi

Sebo raises the bar for quality and variety

Omnivorous

In 2006, San Francisco is still a marvelous place to eat (stop the presses!)

Dinner and a Show

The food duels with presentation at the best little sushi house in San Francisco

Picnic in the City

Forget the burgers and brats; we're packing roast beef sushi

Noodle-icious

Total immersion in a Japanese film retrospective prompts a lust for soba and udon

Feckless Eating

After a week of feral grazing, thoughtful food that you can eat out or take home

Best Japanese

Poetic Food

Ingredients: Asian restaurants and April, spring flowers and sprouts

Comfort Food

A delicious oasis of calm for pre- or post-holiday dining

Readers' Choice

Two e-mail tips lead to delectable Japanese fare

Best Japanese Restaurant

Kabuto A&S

Fish Story

Kabuto's new digs are smaller, but its menu is still huge

If You Knew Sushi

The freshest and most unusual fish is the draw at the eccentric Midori Mushi

Movie Meals

A strategy for eating near the San Francisco International Film Festival

Best Japanese Restaurant

Maki

Down on the Corner

26's Corner

Discovering Japan

Takara

Sinking Sun

Ozumo

Best Oshinko

Sanraku Four Seasons Japanese Restaurant

Best Japanese Restaurant

Kabuto Sushi

Best Music to Eat Sushi By

Hanabi Japanese Restaurant

Kobe Seekers

Osaka Grill

Ready for Takeoff

SFO restaurants

Funky Maki

Biiru Biru

Hairballs

Glas Kat Supper Club

Battle Sushi, Part Deux

Amberjack Sushi; Sanraku Four Seasons Japanese Restaurant; Mas Sake; Kabuto Sushi

Best Undiscovered Sushi

Yoshi-san's Monkichi