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It’s been four months since Chad and Monica Kaneshiro, the husband-and-wife chef team who own San Bruno’s Diamond Head General Store, opened Kuma Nori, a shokudo, or cozy neighborhood eatery, highlighting the dishes they grew up eating. But when their sub-lease expires, they will close their doors for good and focus on new concepts that aren’t so hands-on.
“This will be our last full-service restaurant,” Chad said. “I have been doing this for 30 years and Monica has been doing it for at least 20, and we’re tired of the pressure to constantly innovate.”
The Kaneshiros are looking to spend less time on the line and more time serving specific dishes that are proven winners.
“I would love to have small spots like in Japan where you only serve one dish like katsudon,” Chad said.
A recent segment on KQED’s Check Please, a television show that highlights viewers’ favorite Bay Area dining spots, featured Diamond Head General Store. Chad said that after the segment aired, business at the Hawaiian-Asian breakfast and brunch spot increased quite a bit.
“That feature took Diamond Head to another level,” he said. “We’re hoping to expand the model and open more Diamond Heads further down the Peninsula, especially in San Jose.”
For now, the couple is content, if not energized, with hosting guests at Kuma Nori. The 28-seat space, decorated with items from their collection of Japanese good luck daruma dolls and maneki-neko cats, resembles the tiny restaurants located in tight alleyways in large Japanese cities like Osaka and Tokyo. The small dining room also allows them to change out the menu when inspiration hits.
Spring items like charred asparagus and fresh Dungeness crab with lemon Kewpie, miso Caesar and tobiko are some of the seasonal changes guests can look forward to. Soon Chad will start using squash blossoms in his vegetable tempura with jumbo prawns and shoyu tare. The restaurant’s second most popular dish, mentaiko crab pasta, was just replaced by a garlic uni pasta.
The kuma katsudon (breaded pork cutlet with shoyu tare tamago, steamed rice and nori), though, will never go away. Chad quipped, “The whole restaurant is based on that dish.”
Kuma Nori, 1860 El Camino Real, Burlingame; (650) 689-5436, Instagram: @kumanorishokudo. Open Tuesday through Thursday 5-9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5-9:30 p.m.