thanks, i hope you enjoy it. right now they’re only doing one seating a night at 7pm.
pro tip: rappahannock has $1.50 happy hour oysters everyday from 4-6.
3 Likes
forgot to mention if you do the hh at rappahannock they validate for 2 hours of free parking. after my 2 hours was up i exited the parking garage and reentered to get a new ticket for dinner at hayato. or you can try parking on alameda for free, dinner will be much longer than 2 hours. i paid $14 for 5 hours even with 2 hours free.
From the website:
2 Likes
That was some smart planning and execution, @PorkyBelly! We’re planning on arriving at 6:30PM to make sure we’re there on time for Chef Go.
1 Like
Enjoy your dinner, looking forward to your thoughts.
1 Like
I’m not well-versed in kaiseki meals…that’s more of my friend’s game after spending over 4 years working in Japan. She is most excited to go tonight. The photos and write ups you guys provided were so fantastic.
2 Likes
No worries! Here’s a quick primer on kaiseki from Wikipedia, in case you’d like some background…
As I’ve mentioned in my review, Chef Go is a veritable cornucopia of information about Japanese cuisine, and is eager to share his knowledge with his customers.
2 Likes
Feel free to ask Chef Go any questions you may have, he’s very gracious.
2 Likes
There is a lot of beauty in restraint. It is also delicious!
Thanks to all for their notes and helpful tips! We had a fantastic time last night.
The menu exactly mirrored the experience that @J_L, @PorkyBelly, and @Hungrydrunk recently enjoyed, so I won’t go into photos and descriptions since they’ve done such a great job already. I will say that it was a pleasure to see craftsmanship in motion and to be able to chat with Chef Go during our meal. He answered every question we asked and was happy to share his experiences in Japan and at home.
There was so much precision and simplicity in the kaiseki meal experience. I came away with learning a whole lot. My friend and I really appreciated our meal…and the bottle of Dassai 23 we selected to pair with it. I don’t know a whole lot about sake, but I can say that the Dassai 23 is probably one of the best I’ve ever had. Our neighbors were nice enough to share a bit of their sake selection with us…Wing of Japan…that was pretty amazing, too!
We are so excited to come back and see how Chef Go will evolve over time.
P.S. We didn’t feel like driving, so we Lyfted over. FYI, Lyft drivers not familiar with the complex may get lost dropping you off or picking you up. I’m sure this applies to any rideshare app. Thankfully, we planned ahead to make sure we had a window of time for such emergencies.
We did have time to hop over to Rappahannock where we had one drink and I tried one Rappahannock and one Rochambeau (they mistakenly gave me the Kumiai instead of the Olde Salts). I wanted to try new oysters that I’d never had before. I was really impressed with the Rappahannock and the Rochambeau…they were meaty and brine-y. Really enjoyed the flavor. I’d want to come back to try their menu…and the Olde Salts, too.
10 Likes
Great report! And nice bangbang with those oysters!
Quite honestly…all inspired by those more experienced than I.
1 Like
Thanks for the report, glad you enjoyed it. how long was your meal? mine was close to four hours, i’m wondering if Chef Go will try to shorten service to fit in two seatings a night or stick with one.
About 3.5 hours. We arrived promptly at 7PM and had signed the check around 10:30PM. We stayed a bit longer to chat with Chef Go about an assortment of random things.
1 Like
Got your thread too.
2 Likes
As mentioned in the other Hayato thread, reservations are now open on Resy with some initial problems fixed.
1 Like
link
Dassai 23 and Born Wings of Japan are good sake to enjoy and excellent for sipping while you enjoy the meal. The 23 is a nice high end for casual drinkers as well, and fantastic with cleaner flavor sashimi, particularly pristine sweet uni for me. The variant Dassai 23 centrifuge is more velvety smooth and is superb with raw oysters (took a bottle to Connie & Ted’s 2+ years ago). The Wing of Japan is aged 2 years before release so it has a bit more mouthfeel and texture.
Though Dassai and Born are a bit too easy as they are established brand names. I look forward to seeing something interesting on his list!
1 Like
Hi, @beefnoguy. In talking to Chef Go and seeing his menu, I think he is inspired a bit by the sake menu at his family’s restaurant in Seal Beach. He has the higher end offerings from some of the breweries his family supports and some labels I’ve never heard of. I’m new to sake, so admittedly, I just go along with whatever my friend wants to drink.
The Eater article boosted the two Hayato reviews to over 1k views! 
1 Like
Now fully booked through August. Good for Chef Go, bad for us.
6 Likes