This Japanese Restaurant Is The Go-To Spot For Visiting Baseball Megastars — Just Ask Ichiro And Ohtani (2024)

ALBANY PARK — Chef Isao Tozuka and his wife Chiyo realized their dream ofopening their own restaurant in 1990. The Japanese immigrants had lookedaround Chicago. Downtown was too expensive. They considered somethingby O’Hare International Airport but that didn’t fit their plans. Sothey landed in Albany Park.

For them, it was the crossroads of Chicago.

Chicago Kalbi, 3752 W. Lawrence Ave., is in its 34th year ofserving Japanese-Korean food. That’s an impressive streak for anyrestaurant, let alone a 60-seat mom-and-pop tucked away along a stretchof Ecuadorian,regional Mexican, Indian and other ethnicdestinations.

Isao Tozuka was trained as a French chef in Tokyo. When he opened ChicagoKalbi, he decided to import Wagyu beef from Japan and serve free-rangechicken and Kobe beef as well. Charcoal grills are delivered to dinnertables with joy and love.

“We opened here because it is close to the highway [KennedyExpressway],” Isao Tozuka said during a recent Friday afternoon conversation atthe restaurant. “Everybody can come. From the airport, from Downtown, from thisneighborhood.”

Word spread about Chicago Kalbi (which means “short rib”) — specifically among Japanese baseball players, where Isao’scooking creates a meaningful home plate.

The woody aroma of barbecue wafts through the dining room, its walls lined with autographed Japanesebaseballs, photographs, more autographs and bobbleheads brought in bycustomers. Cubs rookie pitcher Shota Imanaga celebrated his April 1opening day win with teammate Seiya Suzuki at Chicago Kalbi. When theLos Angeles Dodgers came to town later that week, superstar ShoheiOhtani showed up. (There are pictures of dozens of players with Isao and Chiyo at Chicago Kalbi).

Ex-Cub and current San Diego Padre Yu Darvish has visited. So hasformer Montreal Expos pitcher Tomo Ohka. St. Louis Cardinals pitcherMiles Mikolas, who played three seasons with the iconic Yomiuri Giants inTokyo, brought the Cardinals pitching staff to the restaurant last May.

Former Yomiuri pitcher Takashi Kashiwada was the first to findChicago Kalbi when he pitched for the New York Mets in 1997. He wasfollowed by Japanese forkball pitcher Hideo Nomo, who visited when hewas with the Dodgers in 1998. Seattle Mariners-Yankees outfielder IchiroSuzuki followed Nomo.

Ichiro is the restaurant’s biggest fan. In 2014, Ichiro and the Yankeesplayed at Wrigley Field May 20 and 21 and on the South Side on May22, 23, 24 and 25 — and Ichiro went to Chicago Kalbi every night for steak, according to Cubs historian Ed Hartig.

“Ichiro played for 19 years, and every year he ate here,” Isao Tozuka said.“Crazy.”

Ichiro personally gifted Chiyo Tozuka with an All-Star Gamebaseball. Three-time MLB All-Star outfielder and Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson is a Blue Island native, but hedidn’t know about Chicago Kalbi until Ichiro told him when they wereYankees teammates. Granderson’s signature is part of the pastiche ofsalutations on the restaurant’s west wall.

In an interview last week, Granderson said his Yankees locker was near Ichiro’s.

“I would ask him about things in Japan and he was excited that I was interested, especially in the food,” Granderson said in an email. “I would ask him about his favorite places to eat in MLB while on the road and he said Chicago Kalbi was one of his favorites.”

The baseball buzz around Chicago Kalbi started with the early 1990s ChicagoBulls. Perched high on a shelf at the restaurant is a 1996 NBA basketball autographedby Steve Kerr, Jud Buechler and Luc Longley. Japanese reporters came toChicago to cover Michael Jordan and Isao Tozuka would cook for them at2 a.m. after their deadlines. That’s how the robust Japanese baseball media learned about Chicago Kalbi. The players soon followed.

Chicago Kalbi is framed by a fun and tender vibe. The restaurant’s Wi-Fipassword is Love Love. Chiyo Tozuka prefers to stay in the background, although she works the front of the room.

There are seven semi-private booths with tablesalong the east wall. And what’s with the green toy Godzilla at thebottom of one baseball showcase?It’s a nod to former Yankee andYomiuri great Hideki Matsui, who was nicknamed “Godzilla.”Heautographed the foot of the small monster.

Teams generally make reservations for their players. The restaurant knows they are coming so clean baseballs are available forautographs. There are approximately 120 baseballs autographed by Major Leagueplayers in the restaurant, most of them Japanese. According toBaseball Reference, 67 Japanese-born players have appeared in theMajor Leagues.

Isao and Chiyo Tozuka don’t have children.

“The baseball people, they are like my kids,” Isao said, smiling.

Isao, 72, comes from a farm family in Shizuoka, Japan, near Mt. Fuji. They farmed mandarin oranges, green tea, vegetables and rice. He obtained a visa to come toChicago.

“And then I stayed longer,” he said. “I’ve been here 47years. I came here by myself. Opening my place was a dream ofmine. My English is not good. So someone introduced me to Japaneserestaurants. I always liked French because it was more modern.”

Chicago Kalbi, however, is strictly Japanese-Korean cuisine. Isao began his Chicago area culinary journey at Ichiban inNorthbrook. For three years, he operated Isao’s Place, 2854 N.Broadway, a neighborhood strip for Japanese-Americans. He had apartner at a short lived French-Japanese restaurant in Lincoln Park, and in the mid-’80s was a chef at the since-closedItto Sushion North Halsted.

Chiyo was working at the same restaurant. They married in 1988. Chiyo’s mother and brother lived inChicago, and Isao knew her brother. Chiyo’s mother had owned a small Korean barbecue restaurant in Osaka, where Chiyo helped outwhen she was in high school.

“Korean barbecue is very popular inJapan,” Isao Tozuka said. “Here, I make a lighter flavor in a Japanese way.As a French chef, I can see good meat. Chicago has nice beef.That’s why we named it Chicago Kalbi.”

The Wagyu primeribeye at Chicago Kalbi is $115 and a Wagyu short ribeye is $65. Wagyu is a strain of Japanese black cattle.

“American beef tastes good, but it is a littletougher,” Isao Tozuka said. “Wagyu melts more in your mouth.”

Apart from the meat, the pajun(pancakes) are a delightful favorite, pan-grilled with squid, beef and green onions.

Granderson didn’t visit Chicago Kalbi with Ichiro, but he came by in the off-season and name-dropped Ichiro.

“The owners rolled out the red carpet!” Granderson said in an email. “They brought their favorite dishes out. My favorite — and I get it every time I go there — is also Ichiro’s favorite. It’s the Japanese steak tartare with egg yolk. It’s so good, I order my own and let my guests share theirs (ha-ha.) The food was amazing. So much that when I told the owners I was going to Japan that winter, they gave me their card and said they just opened a location in Tokyo and to go. So on that trip I went to their (since-closed) Japan location. This truly is one of my favorite places in Chicago.”

During his early years in Chicago, Isao Tozuka studied theoperations at the South Water Market. He would recall his training in Japan where hemeticulously cut beef into slices and squares, one by one.

Like a hike up Isao’s beloved Mt. Fuji, Chicago Kalbi slowly builtit* following, step by step.

“We are known in the Japanesecommunity,” Chiyo Tozuka said in a modest whisper. “Sometimes the JapaneseConsulate introduces famous people to us when they are in town.We’ve been here a long time. They know my husband is a very honest,sincere person.”

She smiled as the sun set on West Lawrence Avenue, a road of possibility.

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