Anjin

Anjin is a 20-seat izakaya in the Crossroads built around a counter facing the kitchen, and that layout is the whole point. You watch the chefs work the skewers, trade lines with them, eye the plates going out to your neighbors before you've ordered. It's a small room that makes a bad day feel handled.

The menu argues for itself dish by dish. Chicken heart skewers, chewy and well-marinated, sit next to vegetable-forward plates like a puffed rice-dusted beet salad with persimmon and an eggplant and snap pea dish built to convert a barbecue town. The pork collar sandwich, miso egg salad on crisp milk bread, has earned a place among the city's best sandwiches outright. Soft serve in rotating flavors like matcha or ginger pear closes it out. Nothing here is padding — every course is doing work.

The city has already caught on: a James Beard Best New Restaurant semifinalist and finalist nod in 2026. The recognition confirms what the room already tells you. Getting a table before late is the hard part. The food is why people keep trying.