San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Sushi guru inspired Bay Area chefs
Chef Ken Tominaga, a trailblazer in the Bay Area’s Japanese restaurant scene and an inspiration to many of the area’s top chefs, died Monday after a short battle with cancer. He was 61.
Tominaga’s death comes 32 years after he opened the Sonoma County institution Hana Japanese Restaurant in Rohnert Park, often said to be the first in Wine Country to offer high-end Japanese cuisine and sushi with impeccable attention to detail and seasonal fish. A cultlike favorite of many Bay Area chefs, Hana developed a reputation within the culinary industry as a go-to dining spot when off the clock.
“His passion for Japanese flavor was infectious, and as he grew his family, he grew a thriving business for over 30 years, sharing his mastery of traditional Japanese cooking with the Bay Area community and beyond,” his family wrote in a statement.
Tominaga’s son Kousuke Tominaga, who leads operations at the restaurant, credits Hana’s acclaim to his father’s approachability and willingness to teach others; a man of few words, he always had a smile on his face, loved ones said.
“He really changed the way Western culture (in the Bay Area) views Japanese food,” said Kousuke Tominaga. At the time, “there was a huge lack of understanding of the beauty of eating in Japanese culture. I think he felt like he needed to fill the void in Sonoma County.”
The sushi guru was also behind San Francisco’s lauded Pabu Izakaya with celebrity chef Michael Mina and Healdsburg’s ambitious, three-story newcomer the Matheson with chef Dustin Valette. Beyond Ken Tominaga’s clear-cut skills in the kitchen, Kousuke Tominaga believes it was his father’s work ethic and passion that attracted such collaborations throughout his community.
“He had this eternal flame of passion for anything he involved himself in,” he said. “It was always about the bigger picture and having a purpose for what you do every day. He taught me the importance of chasing a dream.”
A Tokyo native, Ken Tominaga developed his love for the culinary world at a young age. He worked at restaurants throughout high school, moving his way up from dishwasher to prep cook. Later in life, he made a point of introducing his two young sons to food in a similar manner; he took family members out to study other restaurants and exposed them to ingredients such as kimchi and uni.
But Tominaga didn’t pursue the culinary arts right away. He studied engineering in college, where he met his future wife, Emiko Tominaga. Just one day apart in age, they married at 19 and were together for 40 years. In 1986, the couple moved to California to join his family’s optics business in Santa Rosa, where he made rifle scopes by hand.
“If we were to have another life, I wouldn’t choose anyone other than him,” Emiko Tominaga said.
After his family sold the business, Tominaga, who also loved surfing, golf and anything competitive, returned to Tokyo to pursue his passion: food. There, he attended the acclaimed Akasaka Cooking School, simultaneously learning from local sushi masters in restaurants.
In 1990, Tominaga opened Hana within a modest Rohnert Park shopping mall.
“I didn’t know what American people ate,” he recalled to The Chronicle in 2014. “I tasted every restaurant in my area.”
His research — and efforts to educate diners — paid off.
Healdsburg chef Valette, who tapped Tominaga to oversee sushi and seafood options at the Matheson, said Hana was one of his go-to date-night spots. “He was definitely a trend
setter, one of the big people who came up here and changed Sonoma County,” Valette said.
Valette and Tominaga spent four years working together to open the Matheson in 2021. It wasn’t the first time a noted Bay Area chef had sought out Tominaga’s talents. In 2014, Tominaga partnered with chef Michael Mina, a longtime friend, to open Pabu in San Francisco’s Financial District. A modern take on the traditional Japanese izakaya, Pabu expanded rapidly, opening other locations across the country in cities including Boston and Baltimore. (San Francisco is the only location that remains open.) Former Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer raved about Pabu’s pristine sushi and distinctive small plates, putting it on his list of the Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area for several years.
Mina said he and his family were regulars at Hana for 15 years, calling it “the most magical restaurant.”
“I credit Ken with teaching and showing me what it really means to run a restaurant like your home,” Mina said in a statement.
Tominaga also worked with famed Wine Country chef Cindy Pawlcyn at the now defunct Fish Story and with Douglas Keene at his since closed restaurants, the Michelin-starred Cyrus and the Japanese steak house Shimo.
Valette described Tominaga as “a joyous person” who was “always excited” — and an inspiration.
“He inspired me to push myself harder, to refine my style more, to understand the bigger picture,” Valette said. “It wasn’t just about one dish, it was the holistic feel of the menu and how to make someone happy in your restaurant.”
Tominaga is survived by his mother; wife; sons, Keita and Kousuke Tominaga; and brother. Keita Tominaga is the head chef at Hana; the family said it will continue to operate the restaurant. In Japan, said Kousuke Tominaga, a long-established family business is called a and is considered “a big deal.”
Funeral services will be private. The family plans to provide a live-stream link to a memorial service on the Hana Facebook page at facebook.com/hana.japanese.sonoma.
“He inspired me to push myself harder, to refine my style more, to understand the bigger picture. It wasn’t just about one dish, it was the holistic feel of the menu and how to make someone happy in your restaurant.”
Chef Dustin Valette, a colleague