Sushi Kappo Tamura
Taichi Kitamura learned the counter under Shiro Kashiba, closed his own Fremont room Chiso/Kappo in 2010, and opened this hemlock bar on Eastlake instead.
Why go
Kitamura is Kyoto-born and his one-time boss was Shiro Kashiba, whom Cicero calls Seattle's sushi master.1 He shut Chiso/Kappo in Fremont to open this one.1 Providence Cicero reviewed it in its opening month and found him working the bar like a host, stepping around the counter to hand a plate over himself while tracking the cooks, servers and apprentices behind him.1 Kappo is the cooked half of the name and it is not decoration. A daily specials sheet carries the seasonal work, matsutake in autumn, tempura, braises.1 Co-owner Steve Tamura runs the room and the sake list, which Cicero found broad, affordable and annotated for people who do not know what rice-milling percentage means.1 That review is sixteen years old, so read the dishes as what the kitchen was doing then.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is on the specials sheet. That is where the cooking happens.1
- Order: matsutake dobin mushi in autumn, if it still runs. Slices steeped in dashi in a small teapot, lime squeezed in, the broth drunk from a shallow cup first and the dregs eaten with chopsticks.1
- Order: dessert. Cicero's chestnut panna cotta came in a stemless martini glass under an inch of honey-rum syrup with lime zest through it.1
- Avoid: assuming the menu still reads as it did in 2010. Sixteen years of seasons have gone through that specials sheet.
What locals & experts say
- Providence Cicero, The Seattle Times, 21 October 2010:
All of the fish was notable for its delicate flavor and freshness.
On a scallop and short rib plate:thin overlapping discs bound by a potent yuzu-sharpened scallion sauce. The meat was as tender as the mollusk.
1 - Cicero on Kitamura himself:
Some sushi chefs are solemn practitioners of their art, others more gregarious. Taichi Kitamura, like his one-time boss, Seattle sushi master Shiro Kashiba, is one of the showmen.
1
Good to know
- The record is thin and old. One review, published the month the restaurant opened. Sit at the counter and ask Kitamura what is good, which is what the review says he wants anyway.1
- Hygiene: King County inspected on 14 August 2026 and scored the visit at 10 demerits across two violations, rolling grade Good. Lower is better on this scale.2
Verdict
could-visit — The pedigree is checkable and it is the reason to go: Taichi Kitamura trained under Shiro Kashiba, closed his own Fremont room to open this one, and was working this counter himself when Providence Cicero reviewed it. That review is the only outside judgment on this kitchen and it was written in the restaurant's opening month, sixteen years ago. Nothing read here says who works the counter tonight. Sixteen years is long enough that the rung reflects the record and not a doubt about the fish, and one current review would move it.