Next month, two high-profile San Francisco chefs will open the doors to a modern izakaya that feels like an alliance of equals.
Called TBD, the Union Square restaurant has been in the works for the better part of three years — ever since Ray Lee relocated Akikos to the East Cut, leaving dark the Bush Street storefront where his parents first opened the omakase destination in 1987. It happened to be the same month chef Tommy Cleary closed his cult-favorite omakase restaurant, Hina Yakitori, after four years on Divisadero.
Their culinary partnership started where many modern ones do: in the DMs.
“Ray and I connected on Instagram,” Cleary says.
Tommy Cleary and Ray Lee.
“Well, before that, I think you came into Akikos,” Lee says. “We had a formal introduction when you had dinner. From there, we connected over Instagram.”
TBD will serve dishes from both chefs, who are on a mission to make it the kind of ambitious but approachable restaurant that’s increasingly hard to find in San Francisco. “We want our guests to spend $100, $120 per person,” Lee says. “We want them to come in once a month, or once every other month — not to go to the restaurant just because they’re celebrating an achievement.”
Which does not mean they’re playing it safe. Cleary’s section of the menu will bring the classic yakitori for which he’s known into a new era. Taking a cue from Akikos, where a procession of dry-aged nigiri sits at the heart of the omakase menu, Cleary will bring in heritage Rhode Island Red chickens and let them rest in a dry-ager for three to seven days, a process that deepens the flavor and allows the skin to get extra-crispy when grilled.
The exterior of TBD. | Source: Courtesy TBD
Unconventionally, he won’t be serving yakitori on skewers. Instead, he’ll cook the various cuts of chicken over Kishu binchotan, a traditional white charcoal produced in the Wakayama prefecture, and will plate them in custom-made wooden boxes. “It’s an idea I was going to head toward when I was doing Hina, toward the end,” Cleary says. “It’s more like what you would get at a kaiseki kind of restaurant, where each compartment is composed of a different kind of dish.”
Lee, meanwhile, has been working on a selection of izakaya-style small plates starring seasonal and local ingredients. There will be classics like okonomiyaki and chicken karaage — but always with a modern twist. The deep-fried chicken, for example, will arrive with the claw on, slathered in a honey-butter chilli glaze, and will be presented with a knife and fork. He’ll also bring back some Akikos classics that diners haven’t seen since the pandemic, including truffle agadashi tofu and soufflé chawanmushi. There will be a selection of dry-aged sashimi and a tuna Wellington that sees blush-pink bluefin wrapped in nori and swaddled in a puff pastry shell.
Heritage chicken in a dry-ager. | Source: Courtesy of TBD
As for the TBD name, Lee says it reflects both the food and the yet-to-be-finalized plans for the business. The lease on the Bush Street space runs out in five years, and Lee says they’ll see how the restaurant does before deciding if they should extend, find a new home, or come up with a new concept altogether. “Plus, when you have a tuna Wellington on your menu and unique ingredients that may not be Japanese … I would hate to call it fusion. I don’t want to be labeled,” Lee says. “So, we’re just TBD. We’re still figuring it out, and we’re writing our story.”
The chefs have yet to land on a precise date but plan to open for dinner in March.