"After a week of saying that you just want to keep this year's birthday casual, only to retract that statement day-of, head to Itsumono. This Japanese gastropub in the International District works great for a last-minute group hang where you might share pork katsu swimming in tikka masala curry, caesar salad topped with garlic whip, and loco moco-inspired scotch eggs. Make sure rounds of sparkling sake jelly shots hit the table—they're tasty enough to knock back by the multiple, but have a pretty low ABV." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley