Step Inside the Warm Minimalism of Sushi Sato for Affordable Tastings and Whiskey Cocktails | Eater SF

"Stepping in off Post Street, I found an unexpectedly minimalist but warm space that will house Sushi Sato, which opens next Tuesday, November 2; it’s the first of three Japanese restaurants wrapping around a corner in the Tenderloin and is the Mins group’s biggest concept yet. Executive Chef Alex Kim, who comes from Sushi Hon and Sushi Hakko, crafted an omakase-focused menu with a fish buyer in Tokyo who texts him every day at 3 a.m. from Toyosu market to confirm selections; he also combines Japanese and Californian ingredients, from sushi rice grown in the Sacramento Delta to fatty tuna from Baja California and uni from Santa Barbara. Chef’s Tastings run $40–$55 for six to ten pieces, while the Sato’s Tasting is $80 and adds starters, sides, and desserts, and there’s also a full a la carte menu so you can sip cocktails and snack on toro tartare or fatty tuna and sea urchin piled on crispy rice crackers. Beverage director Derek Li — who joined the group after crafting drinks at Izakaya Hon and previously at the Cold Drinks Bar at China Live — is starting with six cocktails (expanding to 16) that lean on Japanese spirits and ingredients like black and green teas, shiso, and peppers; the Rakuen features Kikori whiskey infused with oolong, coconut, and housemade pistachio syrup, and the Sakura highball refreshes Tori whiskey with a floral sakura cordial. The bar will offer some 80 types of whiskey with ambitions to grow to 150, including a Yamakazi 18 year and Nikka 21 year. Designer Ron Stanford of Step 3 Studio “stripped it to the studs” to create warm minimalism — exposed brick, polished wood floors, deep blue paint, backlit whiskey bottles, a long cream-porcelain-topped bar with open iron shelves and hypnotic light fixtures, two front-window tables, and Baltic birch slatted screens that separate a lounge with low couches for whiskey sipping and the occasional live DJ — and the space is a respectable 2,500 square feet on its own with below-ground production space that could brew sake." - Becky Duffett