Hama-Ko Sushi, San Francisco

It was startlingly warm in San Francisco on the day that our friend, Chris, took us to Hama-Ko Sushi in Cole Valley. On the way we stopped at the top of Twin Peaks to admire the magnificent, clear, rain-free, fogless views. This is why people fall in love with the City by the Bay, don’t you think?

Hama-Ko might be another reason.

This place is tiny and obscure. Nestled along the N-Judah MUNI line on Carl near Cole, I’ve ridden by here hundreds of times and never saw it before, perhaps because their small sign’s hidden and only says the street address, “108B CARL.” That’s easy to miss. (They don’t have a web-site either.)

After hearing Chris go on and on about this place for weeks, I’ve come to think that the obscurity is part of the restaurant’s charm. You sort-of need to be an insider to find it. And don’t even start in about sitting at the sushi bar! Chris has been going here for years and still has never had that privilege.

If there is such a concept in America, this is a mom-and-pop sushi operation. Hegui is under the impression that tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants like this are everywhere in Japan, but here, too? At Hama-Ko the charming staff of two does everything at their own leisurely pace in their own way. You simply can’t be in a rush. To me, that heightens the enjoyment, but it does require planning ahead a little, and possibly patience.

The dining room is small, relatively unadorned and focused around the sushi bar and kitchen. I liked the large empty green sake bottles lining the windowsill, like quiet guardians overseeing this magical space.

You must order in two rounds and cannot change your mind or ask for extra later. First we started with Sapporo in large bottles, extra dry chilled sake, green tea and water: round one.

This gave us time to peruse the food menu. The focus here seems to be on nigiri, maki and sashimi. Not much cooked stuff. The waitress made a big point of emphasizing the freshness of the ingredients and that most of them are local, so unaffected by the tragic events in Japan recently. Much of this was familiar territory: hamachi (yellowtail), toro (fatty tuna), tako (octopus), tobiko (flying fish roe), and saba (mackerel). We ordered all of these as well as some less common choices: ankimo (monkfish liver), kaki (oysters), tai (Japanese tilefish), natto (a roll of fermented soybeans) and shiba-zuke (pickled vegetable roll). Our server wasn’t sure about the natto, which is an acquired taste known for smelling rotten. We laughed: both for her gentle concern and because we enjoyed it so.

Before the fish, we started with the moro-kyu, a cucumber dish with a delightful savory miso sauce, as well as miso soup all around.

We enjoyed a beautiful meal that satisfied as it educated. This is a place worth returning to again and again. Thanks again, Chris for taking us there!