Restaurant Nisei

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

The Story Behind the Name

Nisei is a Japanese word for second-generation Japanese Americans — and it is also the lens through which Chef David Yoshimura cooks. The restaurant on Polk Street in Russian Hill, San Francisco, is a direct expression of his identity: a chef shaped by exacting kitchens and a life lived between two cultures. Before opening Nisei, Yoshimura cooked at wd~50 in New York City, staged at Kagurazaka Ishikawa, Nihonryori Ryugin, and Asador Etxebarri, and helped Californios earn its first Michelin star within six months of opening. He also passed his Certified Sommelier exam along the way. All of that experience converges on a single purpose: to bring the Bay Area a new approach to Japanese American food.

The results came quickly. Within the first year of opening, the team earned one Michelin Star, Michelin's Young Chef Award, and a James Beard nomination for Emerging Chef. The restaurant's beverage program, led by Master Sommelier Andrey Ivanov — one of fewer than 300 people worldwide to hold that title — has now earned Wine Spectator's Best of Award of Excellence, a recognition that reflects the program's depth and its thoughtful pairing of wines and sakes from around the globe with the cuisine at Nisei.

The Menu

The tasting menu moves with the seasons of the Bay Area. Chef Yoshimura describes the philosophy as evoking feelings of nostalgia, refinement, and wonder through the lens of Japanese American cuisine — drawing from personal memory as much as from classical technique. Courses shift between the playful and the precise, always grounded in exceptional local ingredients sourced from farmers, fishermen, and artisans who share the restaurant's commitment to the land and sea.

Pastry Chef Ellie Estrada-Londo, who trained under Michael Mina, Michael Tusk, and Dominique Crenn, brings the dessert program to life with an emphasis on wagashi, the art of Japanese confections. Chef de Cuisine Rachel Aronow leads culinary R&D and kitchen operations with a systems-thinking approach rooted in sustainability and purposeful collaboration.

The Room and the Team

The dining room sits beside Nisei's sister bar, Iris, on a residential stretch of Russian Hill. Assistant General Manager Anna Fong, one of the restaurant's longest-tenured team members, contributes ikebana floral arrangements to the space — a detail that quietly anchors the cultural narrative running through the entire experience. Service Director Fiona Heenan, a Certified Sommelier and ceramicist, approaches hospitality as a form of storytelling.

Sustainability is woven into every layer of operations: seasonal sourcing, waste-conscious cooking, and long-term partnerships with producers who honor the same values. The aim, as the team puts it, is food that is as thoughtful as it is memorable — a standard that the restaurant's growing list of accolades suggests it is meeting.