Iyasare offers great food beyond sushi
In his Between Meals column, Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer writes about the restaurants he visits each week as he searches for the next Top 100 Restaurants. His main dining reviews, written after three or more visits, appear in the Sunday Food + Wine section.
Last year I reported on the number of Japanese omakase restaurants such as Ju-Ni, Omakase, Robin and Kusakabe that have enriched the dining scene.
Each of these offers a fixed-price menu only, so you have to be all-in for the entire sushi experience.
By looking at what’s flooded our market, you might think that Japanese food doesn’t extend much beyond these expensive menus. That’s what makes Iyasare in Berkeley so special (as well as a few other places, including Onsen, Village Sake and Rintaro).
Shotaro Kamio opened Iyasare five years ago on Fourth Street, in the space that for more than two decades housed the groundbreaking O Chame.
Each time I return for a Top 100 check-in I’m reminded how flawlessly Kamio blends his Japanese heritage and the products that have made the Bay Area so outstanding.
I’m always impressed with those signature dishes that have been on the menu since opening, such as the beet-cured ocean trout ($17), where the orange flesh is ringed by the bright-red stain of the root vegetable; and the kakiage tempura ($16.50), where sweet potatoes, burdock root, onions and shiitake mushrooms are cut into thin strips and bound together with a batter. It’s then cut into wedges and served with a bonito soy broth.
The kitchen has a strong a handle on chawanmushi ($18), the savory custard that Kamio makes with duck eggs. At this time of year he serves it with crab, Hokkaido uni and beads of trout caviar.
I’m always drawn to his larger plates, including beef short rib ($27) braised in miso and set on a sunchoke puree with chestnuts, carrots and fresh grated wasabi. The palate is first soothed by the unctuous meat before being startled by the explosive seasonings.
There’s always a dish or two that surprises me. This time it was the hamachi collar. I was shocked when the waiter said it was $40, but I was also intrigued and ordered it. It is the best and largest collar I’ve experienced, with chunks of white meat about as big as my fist. It was generous for two people, and served with celery sticks cut to look like a fin, shishito peppers, and tangled piles of grated daikon and carrots over the top of the blackened fish. It was also served with a dipping sauce and mounds of ground ginger, wasabi and chilespiked wasabi.
Desserts at most Japanese restaurants aren’t that compelling, but at Iyasare the chef has concocted the perfect ending: lemon verbena and almond semifreddo ($9) with pomegranates, apples and sweet oolong tea poured on table side.
So for me, if I don’t want sushi, Iyasare remains one of the best places to go. Plus, it has the added benefit of being right in the middle of the Fourth Street shopping district (with free parking!) that is always worth a stroll.
1830 Fourth St., Berkeley. (510) 845-8100. www. iyasare-berkeley.com. Lunch and dinner daily.
There’s always a dish or two that surprises me. This time it was the hamachi collar.