Divisadero's onward march toward becoming Valencia 2.0 continues with the news that a small nigiri-only sushi bar is coming to the former KK Cafe space at 252 Divisadero (at Haight). As Hoodline has it, it's going to be called Ijji, and it'll be headed up by chef-owner Billy Kong of Noe Valley's Saru.
It will just be a wee, 16- to 18-seat affair, and Kong says he wants to keep things really simple. "There's been so much sushi opening up in San Francisco the past few years, with very high-end omakase," Kong tells Hoodline. "Every time you go, it takes an hour and a half to three hours. I just wanted to do a simple, nigiri-only restaurant."
Ijji joins a list of new spots opening this year on the corridor, taking the trend of Divisadero's foodie-ness to new heights in the coming months. First up we'll be seeing a new second location for Hayes Valley's Souvla (531 Divisadero), a Namu Gaji spinoff tentatively called Namu Stonepot (553 Divisadero), Tsunami Sushi expanding next door at 1300 Fulton (at Divis), the new cocktail spot from those former Bourbon & Branch guys Horsefeather (528 Divisadero), the coming transformation of the Harding Theater (616 Divisadero) into an arcade bar called Emporium, and eventually a big Italian spot called Che Fico (838 Divisadero) from a pair of restaurateurs from New York and Chicago, moving into a space that was not previously a restaurant. Brace yourselves.