Gozu, a Dramatic New Wagyu Steak Restaurant, Opens in SoMa | Eater SF

"I attended a friends-and-family dinner last week and learned that Gozu, the hotly anticipated new wagyu beef restaurant, will officially open to the public on Tuesday, November 12. Chef Marc Zimmerman—who seared wagyu at Alexander’s Steakhouse for eight years and spent years chasing the best beef in Japan—personally sources cattle from his favorite ranch in Japan and breaks down the whole animal to serve across a customizable tasting menu of small bites that the chef passes across the counter. The space feels like a dramatic, smoke-scented black box: Alm Project designed the dining room with the grill in the center, a combination of wood and binchotan charcoal burning brightly, a glass meat locker to eye the massive cuts of marbled steak, and even blacked-out bathrooms with Toto bidet toilets from Japan. Menus are 13–15 small dishes coursed out over eight rounds (about two and a half hours) and typically cap out at $150 (generally $120–$150); there’s also a reduced 6–8 dish menu over five courses for $95–$125. Wagyu appears in nearly every course but is parceled out in small portions—sashimi, raw steak, cooked fish, chawanmushi, vegetables, three steak courses (skewers, slices, braises), then rice and broth and dessert—with milk bread rolls as a Japanese twist on Parker House. It isn’t exactly cheap, but the 13–15-course format and price point make it surprisingly accessible compared with other Bay Area high-end wagyu options, and Zimmerman says he wants to use the entire 750-pound animal, including the fat and trim, rather than serving oversized, overpriced slabs of steak." - Becky Duffett