Passing the knife at Oakland’s Delage: New chef, familiar spirit

The great handoff.

Love it or hate it, when a chef decides to step away from their restaurant, change is inevitable. A new chef at the helm can mean a few things: a new menu, a new look, or maybe an entirely new restaurant in everything but the name. But for chef Kyle Itani, Delage’s next chapter is not about starting over, but about building on the restaurant’s Michelin-level omakase while adding a few touches of his own.

Delage, an intimate, Old Oakland omakase restaurant, was founded in 2016 by chef Chikara Ono. Credit: Nicola Parisi courtesy of Delage

Delage is an intimate sushi and omakase restaurant in Old Oakland. Opened in 2016 by lauded Japanese chef and restaurateur Chikara Ono, the name “Delage” has Kyushu roots, a play on Ono’s nickname “Dela” and the Kyushu dialect word for house “ge” creating a shorthand phrase spoken among friends for an invitation. Ono has previously opened restaurants like izakaya counter AS B-Dama, Masabaga and okimari concept Utzutzu in Alameda. This handoff comes as Ono plans on returning home to Japan.

536 9th St, Oakland; delagesushi.com

Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. p.m. Closed Sunday.

“Delage has always meant something simple: an invitation,” Ono said in a statement announcing the handoff. “I’m spending more time in Japan, and I couldn’t leave this house in better hands than Kyle’s.”

Born in Vacaville, Itani has worked in California restaurants like Yoshi’s (at both Oakland and San Francisco locations) and Kozen in Sacramento. Itani has also worked abroad at small yakitori shops throughout Sendai, Japan. In 2012, Itani rose to culinary fame with his award winning Japanese-American diner, Hopscotch, a spot that earned him accolades from the James Beard Foundation and the ever-so-coveted three star review from former San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer. He then went on to open other concepts like Yonsei Handrolls, Itani Ramen and Berkeley’s Itani Sushi, a spot that the chef says set the stage for the Delage handoff.

As he plans to return to his home country, Japan, chef Chikara Ono (left) approached longtime friend Kyle Itani (right) to take over Delage. Credit: courtesy of Delage

“So really this started in early 2024, with a longtime friend of mine, Akira Komine, who had Kirala One on Shattuck which had been there for like 30 years or something, and then he opened Kirala 2, which was grab-and-go takeout in a food court in like Epicurus Garden next to Chez Panisse,” Itani explained. “So he had reached out to me if I was interested in taking that over.”

Itani transformed the former Kirala 2 space into Itani Sushi in 2024, with friend and former colleague chef Jeremias Jimenez, who he met years prior while working at Yoshi’s in Oakland. Together, the pair built out Itani Sushi as a grab-and-go operation then expanded into an omakase service that proved difficult to execute.

“So we were doing that for a couple years, and then we had started doing an omakase service just Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights,” Itani said. “It was really good, but it was challenging on the service side because I felt like we couldn’t control the environment in that food court. The food is great, but we can’t really give it our all in terms of the vibe, the experience, everything. And then Chikara called me and was like, ‘Hey, I really want to step back at Delagé. Do you know anyone that would want to take it over?’”

Itani later took Ono up on his offer, teaming up with chef Jimenez to build on the omakase experience they dreamt of in Berkeley, but couldn’t quite execute in the space

Delage will stay true to its omakase roots, while adding more affordable al a carte and lunch options, such as the nigiri lunch set, which starts at $39 per person. Credit: Nicola Parisi courtesy of Delage

Jimenez has previously worked at other restaurants like San Francisco’s upscale sushi spot Ozumo and Mujiri in the South Berkeley neighborhood, an Edomae-style nigiri and sashimi restaurant. Now, he’s bringing this Edomae style preparation to Delage — a technique that dates back to the early 1800s, and uses ingredients like salt, vinegar, soy sauce, kombu and others to not only improve the flavor of the fish itself, but preserve it and extend its shelf life outside of typical refrigeration methods.

“This Edomae style of sushi which is Tokyo based, and so we’re just really leaning into that here,” Itani said.

Itani and Jimenez reopened Delage on September 16, expanding on the restaurant’s eight-course omakase dinner menu to include al a carte sushi, takeout and lunch service. Itani’s lunch service includes three lunch sets that patrons can pick from, with friendlier price points in comparison to the restaurant’s omakase dinner, which rings in at $140 per person.

“We’re gonna offer as much as we feel we can execute, and then kind of see what takes hold, and then we’ll go from there,” Itani said.

Dishes like the maki lunch set ($27), hamachi carpaccio ($14), and the kaiso salad ($12), will also be offered at Delage. Credit: Nicola Parisi courtesy of Delage

Each week Itani and Jimenez receive fish boxes from Toyosu Market in Japan. The kind of fish in each box changes regularly, and both chefs learn of the featured dish upon each delivery, which shapes the restaurant’s omakase service for the week. This is meant to reflect a Japanese cultural concept called “ichigo ichie,”or the idea that each encounter or moment is unique and can’t be replicated.

“I mean, in California, we always talk about the seasonality of everything and for sure it’s great to get local seasonal seafood when we can but this is very cool for us to use what’s in season produce-wise in California and what’s in season in Japan seafood-wise and kind of have like this pairing,” Itani said. “Honestly the menus aren’t really gonna ever even duplicate exactly, so it’s kind of fun that this menu exists like today, and that’s kind of it, you know? And then tomorrow it’s something else.”

Delage’s second act will feature a variety of cocktails, Japanese whiskies, sakes, wine and more. Credit: Nicola Parisi courtesy of Delage

The space itself has been revamped and fitted with a new intimate ten-seat sushi bar, alongside the restaurant’s new cocktail program which includes Japanese whisky, sake and wine, all curated by the Itani Restaurant Group’s resident bar manager, Daniel Paez.

Now Itani and Jimenez are bringing fresh energy to Delage, all while staying true to the foundation Ono laid.

“I think that the bones are great. Like everything was great foundationally that he did here,” Itani said. “I kind of look at it like yeah this is Chikara’s house and we’re just keeping it for him, you know, kind of like carrying on his tradition here.”

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