For the past 10 years, Ayaka Ito has been strategically fostering interest in sake through her different hospitality ventures in San Diego: BeShock Ramen, Asa Bakery, Sushi Gaga, and Bar Kamon. While each one focuses on different aspect of Japanese food and drink culture (ramen; a kissaten-style cafe with coffee, tea, and pastries; a 10-seat omakase concept; and a 1920s-inspired Taisho Roman cocktail lounge), sake remained a crucial element, but never a feature. Now, after a decade of efforts, Ito believes sake’s time to bloom has finally come to San Diego.
Her first space wholly dedicated to sake, Sake Bar Gaga, opens on Friday, June 5. Sake Bar Gaga will replace Sushi Gaga, which closed in September last year. With BeShock’s 10th anniversary coming up this fall, Ito says both big changes forced her to think about what she wanted sake’s next chapter in San Diego to look like.
“I originally moved to the US to open BeShock, to spread sake culture here in San Diego,” she says. And as a certified master kikizakeshi (essentially a sake sommelier), host of the San Diego Sake Club, and the area’s leading authority on the beverage, she’s brought sake from extremely rare to still fairly niche, but more visible by bringing guests in for the food and having them stay for the sake experience and education. “Now, I think it’s really maybe time to [make a] more intimate and more elevated experience. I realized that we don’t really have that kind of place—a small hub for the sake industry,” she explains. “That’s why we decided to make the Gaga space into a sake bar.”
The 10-seat space will still take reservations and walk-ins, offering a curated selection of 20 or so sakes selected by Ito that will rotate depending on season and availability. Chef Ryan Miller, who oversees the menus at both BeShock locations and Bar Kamon, put together a menu of small dishes specifically designed to highlight characteristics of each sake—allowing the beverage to remain the focal point rather than the food.
Both Ito and Miller recently visited Tokyo to train under Marie Chiba, a food and sake pairing pioneer; the owner of renowned sake bar Eureka; and a Sake Samurai, an honor bestowed upon individuals who demonstrate an extraordinary contribution to the understanding, appreciation, or promotion of sake and preservation of its culture. (Only around 100 people in the world have earned the title—it’s no joke, and no, they don’t give you a katana.) Chiba will provide five or six featured dishes to the menu per season, and Ito is also collaborating with Kimoto Glass, a Japanese-based artisanal glass company credited with inventing the concept of “tripling.”
“[Tripling is using] Japanese traditional glassware and then food and the sake,” Ito explains. The glassware used is just as integral a part of the experience as the sake and the food, as opposed to the more common pairing experience, where the only beverage (like wine or beer) and food combine. “It’s a really eye-opening experience—it’s also a really fun [one],” she promises.
While Sushi Bar Gaga will offer guests an opportunity to really dive into the history, culture, and variety of sake, Ito says it will also be a fun, casual place to simply discover something new about a beverage that many people still don’t know much about or have misconceptions about. “Give sake a chance and experience it in a way you never imagined,” she says. “You might change [your] perspective.”
Sake Bar Gaga opens at 634 14th Street on Friday, June 5, 2026. Hours will be Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. (closed Mondays and Tuesdays).
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- Once upon a time, I had aspirations of starting my own salsa company. While that’s (probably) not still in the cards for me, I can still get my salsa on every year at the North Park Salsa Fest, which takes place on Saturday, May 2 at the North Park Mini Park behind The Observatory from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Snag a Salsa Sampler Pass for eight tastings, or go for the gusto with the Ultimate Salsa Lover’s Pass to get up to 17 tastings from competitors like Fairplay, Bivouac Ciderworks, Bacari, Mama’s Kitchen, North Park Beer Co., Una Más, and the 2025 People’s Choice and Judges’ Choice Winner Tribute Pizza. All proceeds go to benefit Jefferson Elementary School, and if you just want to wander around enjoying the live music or art vendors, general admission is free (food trucks and local beverages will also be available for purchase).
- If you prefer swishing wines over salsa tasting, then save your palate for the Coronado Art & Wine Festival on Saturday, May 9. The fun runs from noon to 5 p.m. at 10th & Orange Avenues with over 100 artists, more than 35 food and drink vendors, kid’s areas, live music, and all the bougie island vibes one could possibly imagine. Everything (except the wine) is free, but the bubbles you do pay for goes to the Coronado Schools Foundation for K-12 STEM classes. So feel free to get sloshed for STEM. (Or get sipping for STEM? It’s a work in progress.)
- If Superman’s weakness is kryptonite, mine is Italian sandwiches—I just can’t say no. I’ll have to add another stop to my never-ending list of sando shops, when Lucca opens a second location at 905 J Street in East Village in the former Copa Vida space, bringing its menu of fresh focaccia sandwiches next to Petco Park this summer. Now I’ll just have to see how many I can fit in my Petco Park-approved clear backpack to bring to Padres games.
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