Yoichi’s Kaiseki is a Sensory Experience
Set off the dominant State Street of downtown Santa Barbara, Yoichi’s appears quiet and unassuming in a one-story building adjacent to a mostly residential block and a few offices. The team behind the restaurant is small but dedicated. They offer a prix fixe dinner of Japanese food in the traditional form of kaiseki.
The idea behind kaiseki is more than the goal of being fed; it is the entire sensory experience, being fully aware of the details of the moment. The moment takes into consideration the offerings of the seasons, and autumn evokes koyo, the color of autumn leaves, the harvest and cooling temperatures. As you progress through the stages of your meal, each dish is artfully prepared—delicately plated in beautiful bowls and platters that have been intentionally selected to balance every taste and texture presented to you. You take a journey through the season over the multi-course meal, following an established progression of the preparations—starting with zensai or appetizers through to kanmi or dessert—but each step is inspired by the creative mind of Chef Yoichi Kawabata, resulting in a pleasant meander through a garden of exquisite bites.
This autumn offers not only the rich bounty of our local produce like squash, seafood and persimmons, but also an array of ceramic tableware along the koyo theme. For this, Kawabata commissioned ceramic artist Nakanishi Yoshi, a Santa Barbara resident at the time, to create dozens of unique bowls, platters, sake and teacups varying in size, texture and glaze, enough to fill a table many times over. If you sip mindfully while cupping your sake, you may form an attachment to a particular piece. How does it feel in your hands? Is it pebbled with texture or smooth? Does the light make it shimmer or glow? Take it all in: You’ve just made a memory of a moment that you can enjoy long after the meal.
You can depend on there being four distinct seasonal dining experiences, but there will always be something different and special at Yoichi’s.
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Yoichi’s
230 E. Victoria St., Santa Barbara
Dinner service Thu–Sun 5:30–9:30pm.
yoichis.com