The bar at Kansai Bistro.

by J.K. YAMAMOTO
Hokubei Mainichi

Kansai Bistro, one of San Francisco’s newest Japanese restaurants, offers its customers a first-class dining experience and also lends a helping hand to local non-profit organizations.

Located at 4112 Geary Blvd. in the Richmond District, formerly the site of Sushi Rock, the restaurant was established by Bob Kiyota with business partners Adrienna Robson and Raymond Medeiros. It opened in April.

Kiyota, a self-described “Nihonmachi boy,” attended George Washington High School, City College of San Francisco, and San Jose State. He has a master’s degree in social welfare from San Francisco State. He ran a community mental health program in San Francisco and a psychiatric hospital in Los Angeles, and was an executive with an HMO. He also served as chief of staff to the late Rep. Phillip Burton (D-San Francisco). For the last 20 years, he’s been involved in international trade.

“I’ve been going back and forth to Japan, and sort of found my cultural heritage,” he said. “Japan is a fascinating country .... A lot of Japanese Americans, especially my generation, Sansei, they don’t relate to Japan. Not that they have to ... but they haven’t even traveled to Japan, let alone try to do any business there. I found nothing but open arms to my wanting to do business, made some friends, have some phenomenal contacts that I’ll maintain for the rest of my life.”

Fulfillment of Fantasy

This experience led him to fulfill a “fantasy” he has long had about opening a restaurant — despite the fact that many restaurateurs that he knows, including clients of his consulting business, have failed.

“But being Japanese and finding out how complex and how wide and how deep Japanese food is, that’s what got me to think maybe we can do it better than the next person,” Kyota explained. “Many of the Japanese restaurants aren’t owned by Japanese, not even Japanese Americans. So people get the wrong impression of what Japanese food is. It’s very one-dimensional when in fact Japanese food is very complex, very layered. There’s a history behind the dishes.”

“Kansai” refers to the region of Japan that includes Osaka and Kyoto. Many of Kiyota’s Japanese friends had told him that Kansai was more representative of traditional Japanese food than Kanto (the Tokyo region). “Bistro” signifies that modern Japanese cuisine is also represented.

Kiyota emphasized that he is not serving Asian fusion but “modern Japanese food blended with traditional Japanese food. So I take offense when people say, ‘Your fusion food is great.’ It’s not fusion food ...

“So if you see a steak on our menu, it’s got a kamameshi sauce. Not necessarily a traditional slant on it, but our slant on it ... Sushi pizza is definitely a twist (but) not necessarily fusion because the ingredients, the roots, are sushi.”

Kiyota admits that he's a “food snob” who thinks that Japan “has the greatest cuisine on the planet." China, which he also visits frequently on business, would be second.

Coming Up With Ideas

Kiyota said he works closely with the head chef, Russell Yang, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy and former sushi chef at Barracuda Sushi on Market Street. “It’s a combination. Russell comes up with ideas. Maybe I come up with ideas. But he always signs off on it because he’s the boss in the kitchen ...

“We come up with some creative dishes, like Japanese fish and chips. We try to use good material, fresh halibut, fresh salmon, non-farm-raised stuff ... We think we have a pretty fun menu.”

Kiyota added that the menu is still a work in progress. “For me, there’s always room for improvement.”

The food has gotten high marks from customers who are originally from the Kansai area or have lived there. “They’re surprised that we have dishes that they know, that they’re familiar with. Or if it’s one of our new dishes, they can look at it and figure out why it’s on the menu.”

Yang will get some additional exposure as one of the local chefs giving cooking demonstrations at Kimochi Inc.’s upcoming “Sansei Live” fundraiser.

Richmond vs. J-Town

Being located in the busy Richmond District has its challenges, Kiyota noted. “We’re in a competitive neighborhood. There’s probably 14 Japanese restaurants in the immediate 15 square blocks ... Of course, we want to be THE Japanese restaurant ... We’re seeing increasing patronage by Japanese. That makes me feel good.”

Kansai Bistro needs to become a destination point “because we’re on a major corridor — most people fly by our restaurant at 35 miles an hour.”

The new restaurant inherited a number of patrons from Sushi Rock, but is gradually building its own clientele as well.

Kiyota, who enjoys interacting with customers, said, “If somebody comes in, they’re going to have a good experience. They’re going to get served well and have good food ... We treat our patrons as part of our little community, and hopefully we’ll start expanding that community.”

Japantown has its advantages, such as a parking garage. On the other hand, “We’re on the large side in terms of a Japanese restaurant, and if we were in J-Town, we’d have to look for something around a 40-seat model. Here we have 135.”

Helping Non-profits

Kansai Bistro maintains ties to Japantown and the larger Asian American community through fundraising. Part of the revenue from one business day went to Kimochi, which serves seniors, and another day was dedicated to Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC).

“Hopefully we’ll have that ongoing relationship and do other things for them,” said Kiyota, who once served as fundraising chair for JCYC.

The restaurant also hosted a fundraiser for Asian American Recovery Services, which deals with substance abuse, and is discussing a similar event with Self-Help for the Elderly, a Chinese American organization.

Kansai Bistro also hosted a fundraiser for Sue Lee, one of the District 1 candidates for the Board of Supervisors and a long-time friend and neighbor of Kiyota’s. He said he is open to hosting other political events.

Kiyota invites anyone who is interested in holding a reception to come by and check out the facilities.

Details of the restaurant’s program for non-profits are available on the website, www.kansaibistro.com.

The restaurant’s hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 5 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, with Happy Hour every day from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information, call (415) 386-6188.