Kaname Izakaya and Shochu Bar
After 17 years of business at its International District location, Takohachi, the Japanese joint famous for its cheap, delicious ramen, closed its doors last June. In its wake comes Kaname Izakaya and Shochu Bar, which opened Monday.
Although he’ll try to preserve Takohachi’s reputation for homestyle Japanese cooking at fair prices, owner Todd Kuniyuki says Kaname's ramen will be better. He brought in a Japanese ramen chef to design his broth, which is mostly pork-based, as opposed to Takohachi’s chicken-based broth, and puts daily kitchen ops in the hands of Chef Dean Yari, former owner of Togetsu.
In addition to ramen, expect a roll call of Japanese favorites (teriyaki, donburi, and tonkatsu, a house obento, etc.), plus a few regional specialties. At lunch, nothing on the menu tops $10, and nothing on the dinner menu is over $15.
There’s no alcohol served at lunch, but hit the bar in the back after work, and you’ll find shochu straight up, or in cocktails like a shochu screwdriver or shochu with sesame milk.
Kaname-Izakaya, 610 S. Jackson St., 682-1828. INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT
8 comment(s)
Andrew says:
Boy this makes me happy! Takohochi was a really sweet little place.
Posted On: Wednesday, Oct. 10 2007 @ 5:24PM
Kate says:
An Izakaya is a bar where people go for the purpose of drinking that happens to serve small plates of food for everyone to share. They are not open for lunch and they don\'t serve Ramen. Sure, I will try it out but why is the owner choosing to call this an Izakaya?
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 11 2007 @ 2:08PM
jess says:
Kaname does have a long apps list on its dinner menu (hence the term Izakaya), but yeah, perhaps it strays from the traditional definition . . .
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 11 2007 @ 2:26PM
Nathan says:
THEY ARE OPEN FOR LUNCH & SO IS THE BAR. Their #1 Seller is RAMEN. They just opened on Saturday and are still hiring and training staff and have yet to find someone to work behind the bar during lunch, but the bar is open.
The owner\'s wife is from Kagoshima. Brother-in-law is an interior designer in Kagoshima and designed the place. They brought in a consultant from Kagoshima to create the menu. The menu is a combination of Takohachi, Togetsu, & new menu from Kagoshima. Most of the Shochu is made in Kagoshima which is known for their sweet potatoes.
Try the Gobo Garlic Fry.
They just opened on Saturday and are still training staff, so there will be changes.
Most of the Japanese born and raised in Japan have said it looks just like an izakaya in Japan.
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 11 2007 @ 11:20PM
John J says:
Hmm... im very excited to try the place out. We loved Takohachi so this should be interesting. But like the person said above, I dont know why they are calling it an Izakaya considering that they close quite early for an \"Izakaya\" (10:00pm is the latest on some days).
Posted On: Friday, Oct. 12 2007 @ 7:52PM
penman says:
Yeah.. kind of a disapointment as an izakaya. I think that Izakaya\'s can serve whatever they like, but it must be open until later. Only problem is, even if they did I would stay away from that area late at night...
Posted On: Thursday, Oct. 25 2007 @ 1:44AM
kay says:
The saba and gobo fry was amazing. I went with two of my friends to explore this new restaurant in japan town and I was not disappointed.
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 8 2007 @ 4:32PM
bernel says:
Kaname was awesome. I went with friends after work for appetizers, drinks and dinner, and the service and food was fantastic, and reasonable prices, terrific ambiance. The owners take great pride in their restaurant, and it shows in the food, and took the time to come out to say hello. I am going to try to convince my firm to have their annual holiday party there! Enjoy!
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 14 2007 @ 8:43AM