Rintaro

General Notes

Rintaro is an upscale izakaya-style restaurant serving a variety of Japanese small plates. Excellent vibes, especially the seating in the courtyard (I actually prefer it to the interior, which feels a bit unpleasantly dark). Food is solid as well, and clearly thoughtfully prepared. Their menu will look familiar but each item has its own unique spin on it. Definitely on the pricier side, but a great choice if you're down to splurge and want to try a bit of everything (their menu is like a small-plate style).

Positives

> It was really cool to witness one of the sushi chefs painstakingly and manually cutting the daikon into a very thin julienne for use as a garnish in the sashimi dishes. It's incredibly labor intensive but apparently leads to a slightly more crisp, juicy texture. According to the chef, this is the only restaurant in SF that uses this traditional practice. Shows the attention to detail they put in the food.

Negatives

> The interior is unpleasantly dark. It's certainly a vibe, but I prefer restaurants to be moderately well-lit inside. That being said, the outdoor seating is lovely. It's a great choice regardless of the weather -- they have a canopy on top and pretty solid heaters.
> Expect to wait a while if you don't have a reservation. This place is VERY busy.

Dishes Tasted

• ★★★☆ Cheesecake -- seasonal dessert -- grapefruit, blood orange. Excellent flavor, nice fluffy texture.
• ★★★★ Hojicha Panna Cotta -- one of the greatest desserts of all time. The flavor is incredible. I've made it myself before and I've been pretty pleased with the result. I just wish there were more almond cookie that came with it
• ★★☆☆ Kama Tama Udon -- udon "carbonara" with a raw egg yolk, butter, ginger, scallion, bonito flakes. Sounds good in theory but not quite as good in practice. The bonito and ginger are a little strong and kind of overwhelm the flavor.
• ★★★★ Kanpachi Kama -- this was incredible, super tender + flavorful, cooked to perfection. It was on their "specials" menu for the day under the yakitori section
• ★★★☆ Yakitori Knee -- pretty solid, very tender, not quite as crisp on the outside as I was hoping though.
• ★☆☆☆ Oden -- Daikon + Hanpen (steamed fluffy lingcod fish cake). The flavor of the broth is excellent, but I'm not a fan of how it's served. It gets cold really quickly, and at that point it just isn't nearly as satisfying. The fish cake doesn't absorb the flavor of the broth very well.
• ★★★☆ Maguro Sashimi -- akami (lean tuna) plus a few slices of otoro. A little pricey ($35) but pretty excellent quality overall
• ★★★☆ Ika no Nuta -- Hikari farm komotsuna, tokyo turnip, pink lady apple, scallion, and monterey bay squid with mustardy sweet white miso. I love the flavor of this dish; the white miso and Japanese mustard come together in a way that dresses the dish perfectly.
• ★★★☆ Aisu Meron Parfait -- melon parfait with vanilla ice cream, green melon jellies, whipped cream, and langues de chats. I generally don't like melon that much but the melon jellies were wonderful. It had significantly more acidity than melon. That and the acidic melon juice near the bottom really helped bring everything together. It was a surprisingly simple but lovely combination.
• ★★★☆ Zaru Udon -- chilled rintaro hand-rolled udon with mori tsuyu, sliced hikari farm myoga, ginger, and scallion. Simple, delightful, and refreshing, espcially when it's warm out. Be sparing with the amount of ginger + myoga that you add to the tsuyu though; it's very strong. The udon noodles are a lovely al-dente, much chewier than most udon.
• ★★★☆ Kurobuta Tonkatsu -- The katsu is really well-fried. The breading was delightfully oily, in an intensely savory and not greasy way. I enjoyed the flavor combination of the miso and mustard as well. The pork was not as tender as I would have liked, and there was some silver skin that made it difficult to chew. The breading also didn't stick to the pork cutlet very well.
• ★★★★ Yakitori Chicken Oyster -- charcoal grilled chicken oyster. It's wrapped with chicken skin. It's so juicy inside and delightfully crisp on the skin. The flavor is really well-balanced and highlights the chicken.
• ★★★☆ Katsuo no Tataki -- charred pacific bonito with hikari, farm myoga, grated ginger, grated garlic, chives, and rintaro ponzu. The charred flavor is AMAZING, and the fish itself has a lovely texture. My only gripe is that ponzu by itself isn't quite enough seasoning.