Deeply personal, carefully crafted, and beautifully produced, Rintaro is destined to become the new definitive Japanese cookbook.  

WINNER OF BEST JAPANESE CUISINE BOOK, GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 ANDRE SIMON AWARD

‘I think this might be the most beautiful cookbook I have ever seen! Sylvan is not only an artist in the kitchen, he is also an artist on the page. He understands that delicious food and beauty are inextricably bound together—and that beauty originates in the soil, in the hands of the local, organic farmers, ranchers, and fishers. Readers will find this book irresistible.’ – Alice Waters, Founder of Chez Panisse & the Edible Schoolyard Project

‘Rintaro is vibrant, generous, and the most exciting book on Japanese izakaya food to come out in over a decade. Sylvan Mishima Brackett embodies a deeply ingrained aesthetic sense, thoughtful attention to detail, and a desire to create pure deliciousness. These qualities are infused on each page of this remarkable book, reflecting a total dedication to excellence and community. Rintaro needs to be on the shelves of every cook interested in truly authentic Japanese food.’ – Nancy Singleton Hachisu, author of Japan: The Cookbook and Japanese Farm Food
RINTARO, the debut cookbook from one of San Francisco’s most acclaimed restaurants, translates the experience of a Tokyo izakaya to the home kitchen.
Crowd-pleasing foods like curry rice, tonkatsu, and yakitori, eaten most often at lunch counters and in home kitchens, live alongside sashimi, fresh bamboo shoots, and other dishes that are usually considered part of a more elevated Japanese cooking tradition.
Through clear instruction, abundant photography, and utterly delicious recipes, RINTAROdemystifies Japanese food for home cooks with over 70 recipes for rice, simmered dishes, homemade udon, and grilled foods.
RINTARO shows a cross section of Japanese food that isn’t usually shown in American cookbooks. The book showcases exciting but simple food that tastes both like Japan and California – not fusion food – but the food that you’d expect if the Bay Area were a region of Japan. With gorgeous photography and special design and production touches, this is a book that will live in the kitchen as well as on the coffee table. 

70+ recipes: From everyday izakaya classics to elevated Japanese cooking, all made achievable for the home cook 

Unique culinary vision: The food of Tokyo filtered through a California lens — vibrant, exciting, and entirely its own 

Stunning photography: Gorgeous images and special design touches make this as beautiful to browse as it is to cook from 

Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, and was a 2024 James Beard Award Nominee for Restaurant and Professional Book. It was also a Bon Appétit Best Cookbook, a Washington Post Best Cookbook, and one of NPR's Books We Loved in 2024