Grilled rice balls for all

In 1940, thousands of Sacramento’s Japanese residents were forced into internment camps, and what was once the fourth-largest Japantown in the state began to wither away.

Today, Sakura Gifts and Osaka-Ya remain visible reminders of what Sacramento’s Japanese community lost. But, perhaps, the neighborhood will experience a renaissance fueled by efforts from local Japanese-Americans, such as Craig Takehara and Tokiko Sawada.

In March, the husband-wife duo opened Binchoyaki in the space formerly occupied by Doughbot. It’s the truest izakaya-style restaurant in Sacramento—lively and unique, with an appreciated mix of tradition and innovation. Multigenerational Japanese families fill up the small space on a nightly basis.

“Bincho” refers to charcoal and “yaki” means grilled in Japanese. The owners import binchotan charcoal from Japan for their open-flame grill, which sits prominently near the restaurant’s center. The best seats in the house are at the bar, with a clear view of the action. Once seated, you’ll get three menus: one for plates from the kitchen, one for skewers from the grill and one for drinks. There’s Japanese beer, sake and shochu.

All of the grilled items I tried were expertly cooked, with the tare sauce adding a nice sweetness but not overpowering the natural flavors of the meat—or the charcoal. Of particular note: the rich and juicy duck, dotted with sharp wasabi cream ($6); the medium-rare salmon loaded with salty salmon eggs ($6); the saba with shatteringly crispy, smoky skin ($7); and the yakionigiri ($1.50), a triangle of rice with delightfully crunchy and flavorful edges.

If you’re blindly ordering a full meal of single skewers, it is possible to wind up with an alarmingly high bill. But, that’s easy to avoid if you smartly choose a mix of grilled and larger items—and yakionigiri for all—off the other menu. For example, there’s a big bowl of light, clean shio ramen ($8), an exercise in restraint. The tori karaage ($8), Japanese-style fried chicken, offers a healthy portion as well. Vegetable skewers are delicious but overwhelmingly unsubstantial—think two mushrooms for $4.

Whatever you do, you should absolutely order the Krispy Rice ($10), a dish that’s commonly seen in Los Angeles and New York sushi restaurants but remains suspiciously absent here. Four small cylinders of sushi rice get deep fried and topped with spicy tuna—each crispy bite delivers big flavor and a warm, soft interior.

The basil- and miso-marinated, grilled black cod ($15) showcases chef Takehara’s fine dining background. It’s simultaneously decadent and delicate, with a pile of fried leeks and an incredible, buttery miso emulsion spread across the plate.

You won’t find any sushi here, but there are a few dishes that’ll satisfy raw fish cravings. Again, Takehara’s sauce skills shine with the barely seared tuna ($15), which hovers above a blend of sesame and miso.

At lunch, the regular two menus are subbed out in favor of bento box-style options. The main dish comes with a sizeable salad, umami-rich miso soup, pickled veggies and a bowl of short-grain rice—a fabulous deal. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautifully seared, furikake-crusted salmon ($16) served over bok choy.

Thoughtful details abound, from the ceramic chopstick holders to the cucumber water. Servers are warm, knowledgeable and adept at spacing out your mass orders into a leisurely dining experience. A board of specials always tempts, and the owners keep rolling out more goodies, like housemade kombucha.

Judging by the groups of Japanese grandmothers enjoying an 11 a.m. ramen lunch, and the Japanese parents lugging in strollers for dinner, Binchoyaki is exactly what the community—and this historic neighborhood—needed.