Sakuma's Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar - Streamwood

It seems like LTHers are serious about their sushi, so I'm going to share the place where most Japanese expats consider the best sushi in Chicagoland. As many of you know, the Japanese expat community isn't in the city, but in the northwest suburbs. So it makes sense that best stuff is in the suburbs.

My family has been going to Chef Sakuma for the best sushi in the area for as long as I can remember. If you are a White Sox fan, Tadahito Iguchi is a regular there as well -- my parents said they saw him on Sunday after the season opener.

If you like non-sushi items and you're willing to splurge, sit at the sushi counter in front of Chef Sakuma and order his Omakase (chef's choice) course. There are three grades, and they reflect three price points -- I believe it's $40, $50 and $60 (per person). You'll get several courses, usually with sashimi, a cooked dish or two, a soup (the dobin-mushi, when in season, is amazing), sushi and dessert. [sidenote: I am a bit uncomfortable with the "secret" menus that ethnic restaurants have. I've often noticed non-Japanese people staring at our food and opening the menu trying to figure out what the beautiful dishes that appear in front of us are. I am happy to explain the omakase course to them, but I feel weird about the discrimination and exclusion this practice implies.] We always have the omakase so I haven't seen the menu in forever, but they also have the typical stuff any Japanese restaurant would have. He also has a good selection of sake, so if you like the good stuff, ask for recommendations. His best customers often bring back rare bottles from various regions in Japan as gifts, and the chef sometimes lets the customers at the counter try them.

Unfortunately, Chef Sakuma's English is pretty poor and he's not all that friendly, but his wife is very approachable and talkative. Chef Sakuma has special soy sauce (I believe his makes it himself) for sashimi and sushi and pays a great deal of attention to every detail. Sakuma is the only place that I have liked the uni (sea urchin), so please give it a try and let me know if you think it's different than other places you've tried. For hamachi lovers, ask the chef if he has "kampachi" (a special kind of yellowtail) that day. That is by far my favorite, but I have never found it in the city. I find oo-toro to be too fatty, but his chu-toro is to die for. Chef Sakuma also marinates some items in wine (I think tuna and ikura) which gives it an unusual and delicious taste.

Sakuma's Japanese Restaurant/Sushi Bar
43 S. Sutton Road
Streamwood, IL 60107
(630) 483-0289

Unfortunately, Chef Sakuma's English is pretty poor and he's not all that friendly, but his wife is very approachable and talkative.

Thank you for this information and the work around.

[sidenote: I am a bit uncomfortable with the "secret" menus that ethnic restaurants have. I've often noticed non-Japanese people staring at our food and opening the menu trying to figure out what the beautiful dishes that appear in front of us are. I am happy to explain the omakase course to them, but I feel weird about the discrimination and exclusion this practice implies.]

You know we go round and round on this issue. I like to believe rather than discrimination, they felt burned by an early experience with nieve Americans/Foreigners who returned quality food believing it was bad/wrong/not to their liking. Then again it can be an issue that they believe we don't understand their culture and foodways, which is largely true, though there are devotees who really want to understand.

Omakase varies from day to day I would imagine making any attempt to translate the secret menu almost impossible.

Of course this issue of secret menus is not limited to Japanese. At Seven Wives in Chinatown, they have an American menu and one for Chinese. The Chinese family meal packages are not only more interesting than what is offered to non-Chinese, it is cheaper to boot!

I hope you will be a regular contributor here especially on Japanese food and related culture.

Best regards,

That's interesting: I began reading the OP's post and immediately wondered if she/he was going to address the fact that Chef Sakuma has a reputation (especially in the Japanese expat community) as being unfriendly and, at times, downright rude. Sure enough, it was touched on.

The food always gets high marks, though.

Having never been there, I wonder if anybody can expand on this guy's personality and whether he deserves this reputation.

I hesitated to mention the personality issue, but I decided to do it so that my fellow LTHers aren't offended when they try to chat up the guy and he isn't as interested and friendly as you hoped.

Clearly, my dad has a great relationship with Chef Sakuma so he is more likely to be nice to us. I will be very un-Japanese and say that Chef Sakuma is perceived to be a narcissistic snob. He considers himself an artist, and feels that most people don't have the palate to appreciate his craft (this includes Japanese customers). He will talk about his fancy china, the special soy sauce, the rare sakes he received as gifts, his golf score, whatever... in a way that definitely sounds condescending. That's what turns off the Japanese customers most. It's not very becoming to brag, and it's worse to be condescending, especially coming from "a guy who works in a restaurant." There's a Japanese prejudice against the food and beverage industry (mizu shobai) which is far too historical and complicated for me to explain. It's so paradoxical because Japanese people love food and drink so much!

The non-Japanese people don't have to deal with most of that, because his English isn't that great. Unfortunately, when his non-Japanese customers talk to him, he sometimes ignores them -- I'm not sure if he didn't hear them, didn't understand them, or doesn't know how to respond -- but it is very uncomfortable to observe (it's not my problem but still!). His wife, who is Malaysian but understands English and Japanese very well, compensates very nicely. I hope he knows how lucky he is to have her! She just can't be in every conversation all the time. Chef Sakuma also had and wandering eye which he had surgery on a few years back, and he was very self-conscious about that. It got better for a while but it seems to have come back. This adds another dimension of complexity to his awkward social skills.

But like most artists with difficult personalities, he LOVES customers who "get" him. He will gush to us about the German expat who eats at his restaurant 3 nights a week or the American couple who will eat anything he puts in front of them because they truly understand Japanese food... and I think most LTHers would fall in this category. At first, I'm sure you might find him standoffish. But if you always sit at the counter and he watches you eat, he will figure out that you "get" it. I think most of the non-Japanese regulars found out about the Omakase menu by watching the Japanese people eating them. I've had strangers lean over and ask me what we are eating or what my dad is drinking, and I have let them try my food. I even made my dad share the special sake (I'm not sure if that was out of bounds because it was gratis, but I did it anyway).

I'm not condoning his behavior and don't want to make excuses for him, but we feel that his craft is worth putting up with his quirks.

Asami, thanks for bringing this up. I hope to get a chance to try (Chef) Sakuma's sushi. I'm curious though as to why you've not liked the uni anywhere else? These days very good quality uni is not too rare.

asami wrote:I think most of the non-Japanese regulars found out about the Omakase menu by watching the Japanese people eating them.

I find this a bit odd. I didn't think Omakase was a 'menu' - rather a choice to place oneself in the chef's hands. I would think that any sushi establishment/chef worth his, um, rice would serve an omakase request - at least that has been my experience. If the selection looks good and if the chef indicates that he does have certain items, omakase (with/without specific requests either up front or during the course of the meal) is my choice (with/without price limits).

Do you mean at Sakuma's that only if you ask for omakase does the chef bring out the specialty or seasonal items? Would he not disclose this if he was asked if he has any special items?

Thanks!

Asami, Thank you for your extremely thoughtful response. There's so much in your post. For example, the Japanese really do expect modesty and humility from those who serve them. What happens when a chef is a cocky a**? Of course, he's living in the States so some latitude is given but . . . for the very same reasons you've stated, some of my Japanese friends simply do not like to go to Sakuma because of, well, Sakuma!

On the other hand, I tend to think Americans want to be automatic friends with the restaurant owner. I think Japan and the Japanese have a much more established routine whereby a customer isn't truly accepted by the restaurant owner until the customer has proven himself to be a regular (as in your father's case with Chef Sakuma). I've encountered some truly cold and indifferent owners here in Tokyo who've since warmed to me after seeing my bald head again and again (of course there's also the gaijin factor but we won't go into that).

I suppose it's ultimately about the food but personalities often do so much to help or hinder a meal. (For some reason, the thought of Bobby Flay jumping on top of the kitchen table after his Kitchen Stadium win and how that so offended the Japanese is replaying in my mind now.)

I find this a bit odd. I didn't think Omakase was a 'menu' - rather a choice to place oneself in the chef's hands. I would think that any sushi establishment/chef worth his, um, rice would serve an omakase request - at least that has been my experience. If the selection looks good and if the chef indicates that he does have certain items, omakase (with/without specific requests either up front or during the course of the meal) is my choice (with/without price limits).

Do you mean at Sakuma's that only if you ask for omakase does the chef bring out the specialty or seasonal items? Would he not disclose this if he was asked if he has any special items?

Sazerac, I apologize for my poor word choice. You are right that Omakase is not a "menu" but more a selection of dishes selected by the chef. I should have said "Omakase option" or "Omakase course" instead of "Omakase menu."

I am not sure how Chef Sakuma handles customers asking for specialty or seasonal items, especially if he doesn't know you. If you are a regular and he knows you have a discerning palate or that you enjoy specific things, I am sure he will disclose this fact. I would guess that if you are a California roll and spicy tuna roll only kind of person, he may not mention that he has a secret stash of special kampachi or a rare kind of chu-toro, or that he has started serving the dobin-mushi soup again. This isn't specific to Chef Sakumua -- I'm sure lots of chefs do this. If my family has a relationship with a chef, I know that I can get away from asking those kinds of questions. But with a chef I don't know, I wouldn't feel I have "earned" the right to ask for favors like that. Paul said it best when he wrote:

I think Japan and the Japanese have a much more established routine whereby a customer isn't truly accepted by the restaurant owner until the customer has proven himself to be a regular (as in your father's case with Chef Sakuma). I've encountered some truly cold and indifferent owners here in Tokyo who've since warmed to me after seeing my bald head again and again (of course there's also the gaijin factor but we won't go into that).

Paul, thanks for the Bobby Flay example. Sure, people felt Bobby's flaunting his win was distasteful, but they were more appalled that he would show disrespect to his craft by standing on his cutting board. Bobby would be somewhat "excused" for his behavior as he is a foreigner; Chef Sakuma is Japanese, so he is shunned by some for his very un-Japanese behavior.