My favorite Sonoma County Japanese restaurant is Yao Kiko. The owner and head chef there is Sam, a grouchy, stern, middle aged man who grunts and sneers at the customers. But it doesn't matter. I am not really there to talk to Sam, but to eat his gorgeous sushi and sashimi. This is the place where the large glistening jewel-like slices of fish drape down almost touching the plate and cover the rice completely. Even though you're supposed to eat sushi in one bite, unless you want to look like a chipmunk, take it in two! This is the best sushi in Santa Rosa! I begin the meal with a hot bowl of Miso Soup - tofu and seaweed in a dashi-moto and soy bean paste broth. We also order hot green tea, hot sake, and Japanese beer. We always have the Poke Salad - field greens mixed with thinly sliced pieces of ahi and dressed with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, wasabi, green onions, red onion, and finished with sesame oil and seeds, and tobiko (Flying Fish Roe). This is the best salad in Sonoma County!
If we're with a large group, we'll order a mixed plate of Tempura or some Gyoza or Sesame Chicken as an appetizer. The Bento Box dinner or lunch is also a fun way to get to try lots of different things all at once. Bento boxes typically feature salad, soup, pickles, sashimi, sushi rolls, chicken katsu, and a couple of pieces of tempura. We like to order in shifts, so next come the rolls of maki: Oshinko - a pickled daikon, Teka - cucumber, Maguro - tuna - each roll wrapped in seaweed and covered in sticky rice, a quick stroke of wasabi and then the filling. Each roll cut into perfect bite-sized pieces. Many people think of Japanese food as raw fish, but those who know sushi, know it's the rice. I judge sushi on how the rice tastes. I like my rice a little sweet and chefs who make their rice with the addition of a little Mirin (Japanese sweet wine) will win my favor.
I dip pieces into a spicy mixture of soy sauce and wasabi and eat it in two bites. The cold succulent pieces of ahi (tuna), hamachi (yellow fin), and shiro maguro (albacore) melt in my mouth as the bite of the wasabi stings my nose, and the saltiness of the soy sauce drenches the sides of my tongue. I am in gustatory heaven as each piece slides down my throat. Next we get the fancy rolls. The Dragon Roll or the Rainbow Roll are good choices - each a work of art with many colors and textures of different fish, rice, and seaweed. Sometimes I settle for amaebi - tender pink and white raw shrimp on a bed of rice that comes with the whole head deep fried in tempura batter. My husband takes a bite and the legs decorate his beard in little orange spikes. I prefer to pick the legs off one by one and then bite off the eyes and finally devour the whole juicy head filled with succulent tamale. Yum! For dessert we order Unagi- strips of eel served hot with a special sweet sauce. Finally green tea ice cream mochi or tropical fruit flavor. For some reason the bill comes with a coffee flavored candy. An odd ending to a wonderful meal. One week later when I find this morsel at the bottom of my purse, I pop the candy into my mouth and recall how much I love Yao-Kiko and my grouchy sushi chef, Sam. I can't wait to go back! This is gonna cost ya $80-100 bucks, so save up...it's worth it!
Yao-Kiko
2700 Yulupa Ave
Santa Rosa (next to Long's)
707-578-8180
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