{"id":321613,"date":"2026-05-18T19:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321613\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:34:08","slug":"fish-bird-a-popular-berkeley-izakaya-is-closing-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321613\/","title":{"rendered":"Fish & Bird, a popular Berkeley izakaya, is closing for good"},"content":{"rendered":"

Restaurant management announced on Instagram<\/a> that it is closing on Sunday, June 14, after six-and-a-half years of serving diners at at 2451 Shattuck Ave.<\/p>\n

Owner Yoshika Hedberg told the Chronicle that the restaurant\u2019s lease is up and she decided against renewing it. Fish & Bird has stopped being profitable, she said, as sales have dipped and higher ingredient and operating costs press her already-thin margins. In the last two years, co-owner Asuka Uchida and chef Shin Okamoto also departed, leaving her as the sole operator.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a great six-and-a -half years. I love our regulars and I\u2019m going to miss them a lot,\u201d Hedberg said.<\/p>\n

Hedberg and Uchida, who met at Japanese chef Chikara Ono\u2019s now-closed Oakland izakaya B-Dama and later worked together at Ono\u2019s Alameda omakase spot Utzutzu, opened Fish & Bird in January 2020<\/a>. They brought in Okamoto, a former colleague at B-Dama, as chef.<\/p>\n

Fish & Bird quickly garnered attention with dishes tapping into sousaku ryouri, or \u201ccreative cuisine,\u201d a style of contemporary restaurant in Japan that leans into varied preparations and international influence. Fish & Bird landed on the Chronicle\u2019s list of the top Japanese and sushi restaurants in the Bay Area<\/a>; former Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho wrote that the restaurant\u2019s style \u201cclosely reflects what one can find in restaurants in Japan\u2019s cities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Early dishes included cheese-stuffed fish cakes, duck\u00a0tataki dressed with black vinegar and a runny quail egg, and nabe with thin slices of Berkshire pork and mizuna, a Japanese mustard green, in a clear broth. In typical izakaya fashion, the bar offers sake, shochu, beer and Japanese spirits like whisky and gin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to do something no one is doing here: a modern style of Japanese cooking,\u201d Hedberg told the Chronicle ahead of the restaurant\u2019s opening. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to call it fusion. It\u2019s something truly Japanese but with a flair of local flavors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hedberg, who is turning 60 soon, is thinking about what she\u2019ll do after closing Fish & Bird. After Uchida left the restaurant, she started Plenty Plus<\/a>, a brunch tasting menu popup out of Oakland caf\u00e9 Plenty. Hedberg is, however, done working in restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physical work is demanding. The hours are demanding. I want to do something else next,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n