The Japanese-inspired izakaya menu seems unassuming and straightforward on first glance, but once the plates begin to arrive, complexity unfolds with every bite.

f it hadn't been for Dunmore's résumé, I might have ignored Nojo, another East-West izakaya with a focus on skewers. After all, Nombe, Ippuku, Chotto, Izakaya Sozai, Kasumi, and 2G Brasserie have all opened in the past two years, doing exactly the same thing. What could Nojo add to the genre? A fair amount, it turns out. There's something less self-consciously Japanese and more Hayes Valley about the place. There may be shakers of shichimi on every table, poetically named sakes on the beverage list, and ingredients more likely to be found in Nijiya Market than Safeway, but Dunmore isn't pretending to escape the bounds of California cuisine.