A New Napa Diner Infuses Americana Classics With a Side of Japanese American Nostalgia

A New Napa Diner Infuses Americana Classics With a Side of Japanese American Nostalgia

Find plate-sized chicken Parm, “mile-high” lemon meringue pie, French toast, and more at George + Kin’s.

It isn’t a take on yōshoku (Western-influenced Japanese cuisine), but rather a traditional American diner experience in the spirit of many modern American diners that have incorporated international cuisines into their menus mirroring the melting pot. “We lean heavier towards classic Americana with an accent of Japanese, rather than an equal-weighted Japanese American diner,” Koenig says. “We want to make sure that our menu reads familiar, comfortable, but when the French toast drops on the table or you see the pancakes, or you’re eating a bowl of our vegetable miso soup or our curry udon, we want to make sure that you feel a little bit of that Japanese creativity peeking through.”

Koenig named the restaurant after his great-aunt and great-uncle Kiniko and George Sato. The Japanese American couple worked as farmers in Idaho, and became parents to Koenig’s mother, Wendy, raising her after her mother, George’s sister, passed away. When Wendy had Koenig and his siblings, they would visit Kiniko and George, “pulling potatoes and berries and carrots” on the farm.

The Satos passed down a love of food through the family line. Koenig worked with George + Kin’s consulting chef, Itamar Abramovitch, on the menu, digging deep into family photos and discussing the food that Koenig grew up on and what the Satos ate at home. “The thing that really clicked for me was when [the family was] talking about making sushi, but with tinned salmon, because they couldn’t get fresh salmon. So they made sushi with tinned salmon,” Ibramovitch says. “So we’re doing Americana, but we’re putting Japanese influence into it.”

The resulting menu feels familiar with little surprises. The breakfast menu, for instance, features “fluffy buttermilk pancakes” with two versions: one featuring butter and maple syrup, with an option to add chocolate chips or bananas, along with “Auntie Kin’s Short Stack,” which pairs those pancakes with citrus butter and kumquat syrup. A cornerstone of the menu is the restaurant’s “not-so-classic” Japanese milk bread (as the menu calls it) with a bit of sourdough thrown in for tang and structure while still maintaining the fluffiness of milk bread. The result is almost brioche-esque, and it’s used across several dishes, from large, thick-cut French toast to burger buns, to the diner’s sandwiches (Think: Japanese egg salad made with Kewpie mayo and local eggs or a katsu-style fried chicken sandwich with sesame slaw).

On the lunch and dinner menu, see the playful back and forth between the two cultures in dishes like the Kim’s Parm Plate, where pork (or chicken) is flattened to damn near plate size. It’s then cooked katsu-style with panko crumbs, and served with mozzarella-studded marinara dramatically poured over the cutlet tableside. A curry udon soup is a take on a Japanese dish Abramovitch sampled during his travels, bringing together curry with udon noodles and a fluffy Idaho potato foam. The spaghetti and meat sauce, meanwhile, reads like the typical Italian American dish, but instead George + Kin’s subs udon noodles in for spaghetti, and the meat sauce gets a dash of miso “because it makes things more tasty,” Abramovitch says. “It is still a diner, there’s no question there, but it’s all through that lens of, ‘How would Auntie Kin make this more delicious?’”

Koenig’s mother, Wendy, flew out to Napa from New Jersey to share some of her cherished family recipes with the team. She shared her “mile-high” lemon meringue pie recipe with tall peaks of meringue, as well as Kin’s “Dream Cake,” a 12-layer chocolate sponge cake with buttercream frosting that she made on birthdays. She also finally gave up her special toffee recipe, which will be featured as crumbles on the restaurant’s ice cream sundae and in a milkshake.

Koenig and Abramovitch are committed to continuing the tradition of diners as “democratic eating establishments.” To that end, they offer classic breakfast options such as George’s Big Morning, a pancake with two eggs any style, plus hashbrowns, toast, bacon, and sausage. Other dishes include Wendy’s (or Mom’s) granola bowl, a sharp cheddar omelet, or an iceberg wedge salad. They’re also committed to keeping costs down for the customer, and much of the menu caters to that, with budget-friendly options. Take the burgers, for instance: The diner smash burger clocks in at $9, while George’s Jumbo Juicy Burger features a 10-ounce patty, caramelized and fresh onions, cheese, and tallow fries for $19. A few main entree dishes top out at $28, while the majority of the menu flies under $15 or less.

The diner has many threads of Koenig’s childhood woven throughout, but in referencing his own growing family and Abramovitch’s family, both of whom live in Napa, he’s also looking to create a space for the town. “Napa Valley has such amazing restaurants and experiences from restaurateurs and chefs at the higher end of the spectrum, from price point and experience,” Koenig says. “But our group has always tried to appeal to the local community, appeal to the families that live in Napa... First and foremost, we’re a Napa group that’s proud to be in town doing things for the local community, and we hope that that kind of family spirit and family ties shine through the experience.”

George + Kin’s (3824 Bel Aire Plaza, Napa) debuts on Sunday, April 12, and is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.