Sumika
Kuniko and Gary Ozawa opened this in 2006 so local Japanese Americans had somewhere to sit. The grill in the middle of the room burns binchotan shipped from Japan.
Why go
The grill sits in a glass case in the center of the dining room, stocked with binchotan brought in from Japan, and the Chronicle is direct about why that matters: Those coals are ideal for cooking the many skewers that the restaurant sells.
1 The skewer list runs to chicken knees and to enoki mushrooms wrapped in pork. The Ozawas opened the izakaya to give local Japanese Americans a place to mingle,
and they have opened three more restaurants since, the ramen shop Orenchi among them.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the oyakodon at $16.60. The Chronicle calls it
a can't-miss dish,
made withsmoky grilled chicken and runny egg.
1 - Order: the chicken breast finished with sour plum sauce, and the chicken knees, which the guide calls chewy.1
- Avoid: lunch on Friday or Saturday. Those two days open at 5:30pm.2
What locals & experts say
- San Francisco Chronicle, best Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area:
A can't-miss dish is the oyakodon ($16.60), a sweet-and-salty rice dish of smoky grilled chicken and runny egg.
1 - San Francisco Chronicle, on the fuel:
In the center of Sumika's dining room is a glass-encased grill stocked with imported binchotan coals from Japan.
1
Good to know
- Hours: open seven days. Sunday to Thursday, lunch 11:30am to 2pm and dinner 5:30pm to 8pm. Friday and Saturday, dinner only, 5:30pm to 9pm.2
- Groups: an 18% service charge applies to parties of six or more.2
Verdict
should-visit — Kuniko and Gary Ozawa opened it in 2006 so that local Japanese Americans had somewhere to sit, and the three more restaurants they went on to open, Orenchi among them, came out of this room. The grill in the middle of the dining room burns binchotan shipped from Japan, and the Chronicle's guide calls the $16.60 oyakodon a can't-miss. That is a specific kitchen with a specific reason to exist, working with the right fuel.