Last night my sister and I went to the recently opened Yonsei Handrolls on San Pablo, right around the corner from Solano Ave. Chef Kyle Itani (formerly of Hopscotch in Oakland fame - a favorite of ours, and sadly closed - which is still doing pop-ups at Itani Sushi) opened Yonsei in Oakland and now in Albany. The restaurant has a full bar and an Asahi Super Dry draft beer machine straight from Japan (which serves the beer colder than cold (as you get it in Japan.) The walls are lined with photos he himself took on a recent trip, we were told. The handrolls here are open-faced, served in little wooden box-like containers, so that the nori stays crispy.
There are three omakase sets: the OG, the Yonsei, and the Baller. We went with the Yonsei and added a chu-toro handroll ($18 add-on) instead of the salmon belly with yuzu kosho ($10 add-on) because my sister can’t do spicy. https://www.yonseihandrolls.com/albany-menu You can also order the rolls ala carte.
We also ordered the duck tataki and hamachi carpaccio, and when while we still had room (we split each of the handrolls - each taking a bite off one end), we also got the grilled squid, and yuzu olive oil cake. for dessert
Everything was stellar, but my favorites were the duck, the hamachi, the ika, and of the rolls, the chu-toro (of course) and the black cod and truffle butter. I think I’d get one of the latter all for myself next time. Probably my least favorite was the salmon, sesame and lemon single roll - it was fine and fresh but just not as special as everything else. The soy sauce comes in a dropper bottle so you don’t overdo it, and their soy is a blend of two soy sauces (which I’d only seen for the first time at Kuriya Japanese Kitchen (also in Albany) and then what we bought in Tokyo.
Pics don’t do the food justice - all were little works of art, and each a delicious morsel.
the Metropolis
the Lychee Peachy
hamachi carpaccio
duck tataki (i’d get this just for me too next time!)
Chu-toro and some type of golden roe. fatty goodness!
Seared albacore with black garlic
i believe these were the tako wasa and saba…
which would make these the toro and takuan and the black cod & truffle butter (OMG).
Asahi draft - icy cold. it makes a difference!
I also had a Suntory Toki shot, neat.
Grilled ika with what we believe was a pickled ginger root (meant to ask and forgot):
salmon, sesame, and lemon.
and finally, the yuzu olive oil cake with yuzu curd - to die for. the toasted walnuts had a real bitter edge tot hem, which i didn’t mind.
They’ve got a good selection of whiskey (including some rare choices), sake, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, and wine. Yonsei doesn’t do take-out, which is understandable, they want to keep that nori impeccably crispy, (although the Oakland location does take-out handroll “kits”). They take reservations, but when we got there at 5:45 we could have just walked in. the place filled up before we left. There is also seating at the bar (it’s just a bar, not a sushi bar). It isn’t cheap, but if you share, and you don’t overdue it on extras (as we did), it’s not crazy ridiculous. (Our bill was almost $200 for all that food and 2 drinks each. - a splurge, for sure, but worth it.)
I looked it up: Yonsei (四世, “fourth generation”) - a Japanese diasporic term. Chef Itani is half Japanese, half American, so this tracks. He’s obviously got quite a love for the cuisine.
This is a really great addition to the neighborhood.
