Restaurants come and go as trends ebb and flow here on the Central Coast. But for more than 60 years, Ichi-Riki has been firmly anchored in Seaside, serving sushi and Japanese cuisine. Owner Shizu Lamm, affectionately known as “Suzie-san” to her regulars, is 90 years old and has worked here for more than 60 years with no sign of slowing down.
Nestled among auto body shops on Del Monte Boulevard at the edge of Seaside and Sand City, the pink glow of Ichi-Riki’s neon sign entices eaters day and night. Step over the threshold and Ichi-Riki reveals a spacious dining room, a welcome relief from cramped – er, cozy – spots that prioritize profit over comfort these days. The large sushi counter takes center stage with a coat-clad chef hustling to and fro, taking orders, calling out hot orders for the kitchen, rollingmaki and slicing sashimi. To the side are private dining rooms, including a traditional tatamiroom where diners must shed shoes before entering. Assorted accolades, business cards and accumulated trinkets adorn the walls leading to the kitchen. Watch closely and you’ll see Suzie-san periodically emerge from there to assess the dining room.
Ichi-Riki’s menu skips the trendy tastes that have taken over Japanese restaurants as of late. No ridiculous rolls, no flavor fusion. Instead, traditional favorites fill the bill of fare, split into the hallmarks of Japanese cuisine: golden-fried tempura and katsu pork, broiled sweet and sticky teriyaki, cooked sukiyaki hot pots, filling donburi rice bowls and steaming udon noodle soups for slurping. Look for combo specials and bento boxes at both lunch and dinner too.
And of course there’s sushi – simple selections like pairs of nigiri served on a pat of sticky rice, sliced sashimi and combination platters. There’s a menu of makimono, but no mango or macadamia in these rolls, no asparagus or apple either. Among the maki hand rolls and a dozen sliced sushi rolls, the cream cheese-spiked “Philadelphia” and the fried soft-shell “spider” are the most exotic of the lot.
Ichi-Riki does go beyond Japanese with a handful of Chinese specialties – chow mein, fried rice, sweet and sour pork and shumai pork dumplings. And in its most telling sign of age, the menu detours from Asia to the U.S. with a trio of American classics: The rib-eye, burger and cheeseburger are retro relics from the days when restaurants offered obligatory options for picky palates unaccustomed to global gastronomy.