The very first U.S. location of Fugetsu, a Japanese okonomiyaki chain, is shutting down in Santa Clara but has reopened inside of a longtime Japanese restaurant in Sunnyvale.
Fugetsu will close for fantastic at 2783 El Camino Genuine immediately after Sunday, May perhaps 9, said Shinya Fujimoto, who owns the U.S. cafe. But as of Wednesday, the Japanese chain’s popular okonomiyaki — crispy, savory pancakes adorned with a sweet mystery sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes and toppings like fried egg and fish roe — are readily available at Sunnyvale Japanese staple Rokko. Fujimoto’s companion owns Rokko, so when his lease was up in Santa Clara it was an uncomplicated transition to continue to keep Fugetsu alive in the Bay Place — and to be in a position to serve okonomiyaki on hot plates in a dining room for the 1st time considering the fact that very last March.
At the Sunnyvale outpost the foods is being organized by a chef who was qualified at Fugetsu in Japan, Fujimoto explained. The okonomiyaki batter gets mixed with cabbage, pork, shrimp and other fillings and is cooked gradually to preserve a fluffy, tender interior with a concurrently crispy exterior. The wished-for texture and good quality get time: The okonomiyaki takes about 20 to 30 minutes to prepare dinner correctly, and is only flipped once.
“We cook dinner it incredibly little by little to capture the cabbage within the crispy layers, which will make it extremely flavorful,” Fujimoto claimed. “We’re incredibly particular about that to create that identical degree of okonomiyaki that we offer you in Japan.”
In addition to the traditional solutions, Fugetsu serves okonomiyaki with pork, scallops, potato or spicy cod roe. The area outpost also makes two versions that aren’t accessible in Japan: an ebi mayo okonomiyaki topped with shrimp, inexperienced onions and melted cheese, and a different with stewed beef, a fried egg and pickled ginger.
An additional favorite at Fugetsu is yakisoba noodles, stir-fried with pork, shrimp, scallops, cabbage and other mix-ins. Fujimoto was not able to source the noodles from Japan, so he put in 3 months performing with a area noodle business to create a equivalent stateside variation. They’re thick — measuring around ⅛ of an inch — and have a mochi-like, chewy texture. You can also purchase modanyaki, the boy or girl of okonomiyaki and yakisoba, with the noodles added as a topping.
Fujimoto is an okonomiyaki fan turned operator. He’s a indigenous of Osaka, Japan, in which Fugetsu was born as a very small street stand after Entire world War II. The entrepreneurs of the stand, tough-pressed for foods, place no matter what they experienced on hand into a batter and cooked it, Fujimoto claimed. “Okonomi” means “anything you want,” he mentioned. The economical, comforting dish immediately assisted Fugetsu come to be a hit in Osaka and past.
Fugetsu is now a world chain with 80 places. Fujimoto, a Silicon Valley engineer who would make an annual pilgrimage to the cafe on excursions to Japan, inevitably approached the proprietors about bringing Fugetsu’s okonomiyaki to the United States. He opened the 1st shop in Santa Clara in 2016.
Fugetsu is serving largely the very same menu at Rokko, even though they program to slowly increase new dishes. Fujimoto hopes to get to new diners at the Sunnyvale locale, in particular in Mountain Perspective, Palo Alto and the northern Peninsula.
The Santa Clara Fugetsu was much too little to justify opening inside of at confined potential throughout the pandemic, so the cafe tables outfitted with exclusive griddles to preserve the okonomiyaki warm remained shut. But the okonomiyaki establishment can now give in-man or woman, dine-in dining at Rokko, which will carry on serving its personal menu as well.
“As excellent as takeout is, you cannot conquer the encounter and the top quality of food items that just will come out of the kitchen area,” Fujimoto explained.
A 2nd outpost of Fugetsu, a takeout-only keep in San Jose, continues to be open. Fujimoto had planned for it to be a sit-down cafe but retooled the idea in the center of construction at the time the pandemic hit. He took inspiration from section stores in Japan that promote grab-and-go food stuff. The San Jose sector serves okonomiyaki to go as effectively as Japanese treats, bento bins and onigiri from Shalala Deli.
Fugetsu. 190 S. Frances St., Sunnyvale. 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and 5-7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. 4:30-7:30 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. fugetsu-united states of america.com/#
Elena Kadvany is a San Francisco Chronicle team author. E mail: [email protected]. Twitter: ekadvany
