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EAT THIS: HAMACHI COLLAR AT YAKITORI TORIMAN
Happy Halloween! It’s no trick – one of Santa Cruz County’s most popular food stalls aims to open a permanent home in Capitola later this year and is adding more Japanese groceries, treats and grab-and-go items to the menu.
Owners Kaito Akimoto and Yuko Asaoke started Yakitori Toriman as a mobile food stall in 2018 in San Francisco and began holding pop-ups regularly in Santa Cruz in 2021. The menu of around a dozen different types of traditional yakitori — skewers of grilled meats, tofu or vegetables cooked over hot coals until smoky and caramelized in a savory-sweet glaze — has earned Toriman a dedicated following in Santa Cruz and the greater Bay Area.
Billowing clouds of fragrant smoke have become an undeniable lure for those in search of blistered pork belly stacked with scallion ($12), glistening skirt steak ($21) or plump trumpet mushrooms ($8.50). Akimoto skillfully controls the temperature of the glowing coals along the long, narrow grill, efficiently rotating each skewer until it’s tender and kissed with smoke. Pork belly, fried tofu ($8.50) and chicken meatballs ($12) are among the more popular items, but Yakitori Toriman also offers offal like chicken gizzards ($11), hearts ($11) and skin ($11), each with their own delightful texture ranging from chewy to squishy to crispy.
When it comes to ordering at Yakitori Toriman, just follow your heart. But if you see the hamachi collar ($21) on the menu, get it. The luxurious yellowtail collar emerges with buttery, smoke-kissed flesh that nearly melts as it’s plucked from the bone.
The next two pop-ups are this Saturday and next Saturday, Nov. 8, at 1 p.m. in front of Apéro Club wine bar in Santa Cruz’s Westside neighborhood. More info on Yakitori Toriman’s Instagram page.
BEST OF THE WEEK AHEAD
Below, find a curated list of the best food and drink events in Santa Cruz County for the coming week. At the top, I share my picks of unmissable local happenings.
NEWS OF THE WEEK
ICYMI – here are food news stories from Lookout that you might have missed.
- Mission West’s next chapter: Santa Cruz’s ‘five-star dive bar’ to change hands in January (Lookout)
- Gabriella Café alumni return to the kitchen to lift up longtime chef facing cancer (Lookout)
- Commercial Dungeness crab season faces another year of delays across Santa Cruz County (Lookout)
- The Landing joins a growing number of modern seafood restaurants in Moss Landing (Lookout)
