We paid a visit to what used to be Miyuki on Solano last weekend. Turns out Akemi has been
around for about a year now, and I’m sorry it took us so long to try it.
The restaurant is sleek and elegant, more intimate, with romantic lighting, reclaimed wood, lovely, rustic stone tableware – overall, a badly needed remodel on the rundown, garishly lit Miyuki space. I’m still not sure who owns the place - Akemi’s website calls it “the latest incarnation of Miyuki.” A server told me they were the same owners, but a manager-looking-type on Saturday said no, they were new owners.
Three of us ordered the hamachi “salad” - yellowtail, avocado, edamame jalapeño, and ponzu; miso-marinated black cod; okonomiyaki seafood pancake with cabbage, bonito, nori, aioli, tonkatsu sauce; a 49rs Roll; spicy scallop handroll; nigiri of toro, shiro maguro, and sake.
Everything was wonderful. The hamachi was a bit hard to eat with chopsticks, as the other elements sat on top of the sashimi. But otherwise, a beautiful dish. The cod was perfectly cooked, nice and moist, with a little bit of charring and a bit of arugula salad on the side. The okonomiyaki was my favorite, and did its bonito-shavings-dance-thing as it was brought to the sushi bar, and was delicious – very fresh tasting, great texture. I’d be very hard-pressed not to order it again. All the fish was fresh though, and nicely cut.
I’m dying to try their lobster ramen, tonkotsu ramen, the grilled kurabuta pork belly, and the momiji braised spare ribs.
Their wine list is really interesting – all Italians! I can’t remember the name of the producer, but it seems they’re only using one, and they’ll be switching up the wines intermittently. The manager-type said that they picked Italians as they go very well with Japanese food, and sushi in particular. I had a really lovely, extremely floral sauvignon blanc; which I’d remembered to get the name of it as the wine list isn’t on the website.
We’re really happy with this change.
