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“It wasn’t just about one dish, it was the holistic feel of the menu and how to make someone happy in your restaurant.” “He inspired me to push myself harder, to refine my style more, to understand the bigger picture,” Valette said. Valette described Tominaga as “a joyous person” who was “always excited” - and an inspiration. Tominaga also worked with famed Wine Country chef Cindy Pawlcyn at the now-defunct Fish Story and with Douglas Keene at his since-closed restaurants, the Michelin-starred Cyrus and the Japanese steak house Shimo. Michael Mina and Ken Tominaga teamed up to open Pabu Izakaya in San Francisco. “I credit Ken with teaching and showing me what it really means to run a restaurant like your home,” Mina said in a statement. Mina said he and his family were regulars at Hana for 15 years, calling it “the most magical restaurant.”
Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. (San Francisco is the only location that remains open.) Former Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer raved about Pabu’s pristine sushi and distinctive small plates, putting it on his list of the Top 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area for several years. A modern take on the traditional Japanese izakaya, Pabu expanded rapidly, opening other locations across the country in cities including Boston and Baltimore. In 2014, Tominaga partnered with chef Michael Mina, a longtime friend, to open Pabu in San Francisco’s Financial District. It wasn’t the first time a noted Bay Area chef had sought out Tominaga’s talents. Valette and Tominaga spent four years working together to open the Matheson in 2021. “He was definitely a trendsetter, one of the big people who came up here and changed Sonoma County,” Valette said. Healdsburg chef Valette, who tapped Tominaga to oversee sushi and seafood options at the Matheson, said Hana was one of his go-to date-night spots. John Storey / Special to The Chronicle 2014 His research - and efforts to educate diners - paid off.Ĭhef Ken Tominaga, who developed his love for the culinary world at a young age, prepares sushi at Pabu in S.F. “I didn’t know what American people ate,” he recalled to The Chronicle in 2014. In 1990, Tominaga opened Hana within a modest Rohnert Park shopping mall. There, he attended the acclaimed Akasaka Cooking School, simultaneously learning from local sushi masters in restaurants. “If we were to have another life, I wouldn’t choose anyone other than him,” Emiko Tominaga said.Īfter his family sold the business, Tominaga, who also loved surfing, golf and anything competitive, returned to Tokyo to pursue his passion: food. In 1986, the couple moved to California to join his family’s optics business in Santa Rosa, where he made rifle scopes by hand. Just one day apart in age, they married at 19 and were together for 40 years. He studied engineering in college, where he met his future wife, Emiko Tominaga. Later in life, he made a point of introducing his two young sons to food in a similar manner he took family members out to study other restaurants and exposed them to ingredients such as kimchi and uni.īut Tominaga didn’t pursue the culinary arts right away. He worked at restaurants throughout high school, moving his way up from dishwasher to prep cook. Provided by Tominaga GroupĪ Tokyo native, Ken Tominaga developed his love for the culinary world at a young age. Outside of the kitchen, Ken Tominaga loved surfing, golf and anything competitive. He taught me the importance of chasing a dream.” “It was always about the bigger picture and having a purpose for what you do every day. “He had this eternal flame of passion for anything he involved himself in,” he said. Beyond Ken Tominaga’s clear-cut skills in the kitchen, Kousuke Tominaga believes it was his father’s work ethic and passion that attracted such collaborations throughout his community. The sushi guru was also behind San Francisco’s lauded Pabu Izakaya with celebrity chef Michael Mina and Healdsburg’s ambitious, three-story newcomer the Matheson with chef Dustin Valette. I think he felt like he needed to fill the void in Sonoma County.” At the time, “there was a huge lack of understanding of the beauty of eating in Japanese culture. “He really changed the way Western culture (in the Bay Area) views Japanese food,” said Kousuke Tominaga.
Tominaga’s son Kousuke Tominaga, who leads operations at the restaurant, credits Hana’s acclaim to his father’s approachability and willingness to teach others a man of few words, he always had a smile on his face, loved ones said.Ĭhef Ken Tominaga was always smiling, loved ones said. “His passion for Japanese flavor was infectious, and as he grew his family, he grew a thriving business for over 30 years, sharing his mastery of traditional Japanese cooking with the Bay Area community and beyond,” his family wrote in a statement.
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