Who doesn’t love meat on a stick?
Now for something slightly different. Recently I have been showing off dishes I have been cooking at home recently, and although that all fun and good I originally created this site to talk about restaurants and food that I have eaten. Theres been a lot of food and less of the restaurants. Usually I forget to take pictures, and recently due to the recent news in the economy I have been trying to conserve money, which means fewer restaurants.
Today though, I thought I would talk about a restaurant that I think is one of those hidden gems in San Francisco. It's a place I found in August, and up until October I would visit at least every week. It's a Japanese place, that feels very Japanese. I'm not talking about the touristy kind of atmosphere that one sees in Japantown, or some of the other Japanese restaurants anywhere in the country, the Benihana look. Its the kind of place that makes me feel like I'm back in Tokyo, slightly cramped, but cozy, filled with the personality of the owners. A place that stays true to its own style of Japanese food, and hasn't fallen to the urge to conform to what Americans think Japanese food is. When you eat hear it makes you feel good. The place I'm talking about is called Halu.
Located on 8th ave, and Celment. It is in a diverse neighborhood with many different cuisines. Halu is unlike the typical Japanese place one would eat it, for one it doesn't serve sushi. This is one of the biggest pet peeves I have about Japanese restaurants here, but that deserves another post all its own. So you maybe asking yourself if this place doesn't serve sushi what does it serve? Good question and for those who have never herd of prepare to fall in love. What they serve here is yakitori (grilled meat on a stick) and kushi katsu (deep fried meat on a stick). For people who have had kebabs this is very similar to that although much smaller sizes. They do server other foods here like ramen, but their speciallity is yakitori. If you want ramen go to someplace that specializes in it like tampopo, or katanaya, or even genki ramen. Come to Halu for delicious grilled meats.
Their menu of various yakitori is impressive. Usually one would only see chicken with green onions if any Japanese restaurant carried it, but Halu has over 20 different items (i am going by memory on this so i could be wrong). I haven't seen this many items on a yakitori menu since I was in Japan. There are several different parts of the chicken available; thighs, wings, gizzards, hearts, liver. One thing that is sadly missing on that is kawa, or chicken skin (perhaps the most delicious yakitori ever invented). There are different pork, beef, seafood, and veggie varieties available too. There is an option of either a special sweet sauce they coat the items in, or no sauce but a little bit of salt. Both options are very tasty, but I personally prefer the sauce. It brings me back to the taste I had in Japan. Another important point is that they use a yakitori grill, which is specially designed maximum cooking of the meat and no cooking of the skewer. This lends to the unique taste of yakitori.
Although the menu for kushi katsu is slightly smaller, it is by no means an indication of quality. Kushi katsu has a similar coating to another Japanese staple tonkatsu. The katsu here is served with a katsu sauce and an aioli. One of my favorite items they have is a stuffed mushroom. Although its kind of like a time bomb of super hot mushroomly goodness.
One of the best parts of coming here is doing it with a group of friends. Since the yakitori and kushi katsu is made for lots of people. The beer and the other alcoholic drinks here are pretty cheap running at around $4.50 per drink. Here's a tip skip the beer and sake first and go for the shochu drinks you'll be in for a surprise. They are made with an alcohol similar in vodka in strength and composistion, but it is very smooth and its very hard to taste it how they mixed it.
I know I have made a lot of compairisons to Japan when I talk about this place, but is the only other reference that is close, its that good. Although I don't think this place would stand up in a place like Tokyo, where you can get yakitori anywhere near a subway station that just as good, or in many cases better, it is orders of magnitude better then any place available in San Francisco. I am happy that they have chosen not to put sushi on the menu, which I think would ruin the whole appeal of this place. There are perhaps a handful restaurants in San Francisco that can claim the same thing. I was really conflicted with writing this post, I love this place dearly, and want to see it prosper, but I also don't to wait for a table. If this place get really popular and I have a feeling it will, its going to be difficult to get a spot here. With that aside I think everyone who has only had sushi, or those who have been to Japan, or are from there and want a taste of home, a break from the bad Japanes food, or an amazing new experince, Halu is the place for you.
