When Yutori opened in Palo Alto this spring, the 5,000-square-foot hub for Japanese food, coffee and goods fast became a popular destination for miso lattes, bento boxes and 7-11-inspired egg salad sandwiches. Starting Thursday, it will add a contemporary sit-down restaurant serving Japanese dishes that incorporate Californian and Italian influences.
Just like the rest of Yutori, the restaurant is inspired by the many trips that owner Jerome Ito — a former Google sushi chef and the owner of local udon shop Taro San and poke chain Go Fish Poke Bar — and his wife, Linh Tran-Ito, have made to Japan.
The restaurant’s menu is geared toward family-style dining, such as a bone-in tonkatsu for two or whole roasted branzino lettuce wrap with shiso salsa verde and rayu chili oil, meant for two to three people to share. The Nikkei ceviche ($32), a style developed by Japanese immigrants to Peru, comes with tuna, salmon and halibut cured in lime juice, sitting atop a pool of black sesame sauce and roasted kombu oil. A Japanese mustard greens salad ($22) features a medley of vegetables and herbs, such as shiso, sugar snap peas and Tokyo turnips, from Hikari Farms, a family-owned farm in Watsonville specializing in Japanese produce.
Itameshi pastas, a style that melds Italian and Japanese influences, are also on offer, such as a mentaiko-topped seafood pasta with lobster, clam and scallops in a lobster dashi broth ($58). A maitake mushroom pasta ($38), meanwhile, incorporates nori into beurre monte, a classic French butter sauce. Main dishes include a 3-ounce Japanese Shinshu Wagyu cut ($98) served with golden egg yolk, ponzu and fresh-grated wasabi; and a vegetarian spin on katsu made with cauliflower and a Japanese curry mole sauce ($34)…