For a lot of Americans, their first experience with sake probably looked something like this: a small ceramic carafe arrives at the table of a neighborhood sushi restaurant, steaming hot, accompanied by tiny cups.
There is nothing wrong with that. But there is a whole lot more out there.
“They’re missing out on sake’s premium category, which, when explored, can really hit notes of the fine wine world,” said Melissa Hoffman, who represents BŌKEN Sake, an award-winning portfolio assembled from historic Japanese breweries.
And Oklahoma City is becoming a pretty good place to explore it.
Restaurants like Awaji Izakaya, Kaizume and AKAI Sushi have developed sake programs that give diners an opportunity to move beyond the familiar hot pour and discover just how varied sake can be.
Jesse Way has watched that evolution firsthand. An OKC native and sales manager for Thirst Wine Merchants, Way works directly with restaurants and their staffs on sake and other beverages.
“We always have our big standbys—Sushi Bar, Sushi Neko, Tokyo—places that have been around forever,” Way said.
But as Oklahoma City’s restaurant scene has expanded, so have its diners’ tastes.
“People are getting a little bit more adventurous with what they’re drinking,” Way said, “not just going straight for hot sake and calling it a day.”
Part of the challenge is simply knowing where to begin.
Wine drinkers recognize terms like Chardonnay, Cabernet and Pinot Noir. Sake comes with its own vocabulary words—junmai, ginjo and daiginjo among them—that can make a menu intimidating to someone encountering it for the first time.
“There’s always some trepidation for people who haven’t really delved into sake before,” Way said. “There’s kind of a barrier of knowledge.”
Good restaurants can break down that barrier.
Way estimates he has conducted more than 20 restaurant staff trainings in the past year, allowing servers and bartenders to taste different styles side by side and learn how to explain them to customers.
“That service aspect is huge,” he said.
Hoffman agrees. She said two of the most important parts of a good sake program are “the education of the person at the helm,” and a selection diverse enough for customers to experience the differences among styles.
She said perhaps the biggest misconception about sake is that “it is restricted to being consumed with Japanese or other Asian cuisine.”
BŌKEN deliberately challenges that assumption. Its bottles suggest pairings including lobster rolls, cheeseburgers and oysters.
“The more consumers can connect one side of the bridge to the other with wine,” Hoffman said, “the more likelihood that they’ll be open to new experiences.”
That philosophy has even put BŌKEN on the beverage list at MAHT, Chef Kevin Lee’s modern American steakhouse on NW 23rd Street. Its Korean-influenced menu demonstrates sake’s ability to travel beyond the cuisine with which many Americans traditionally associate it.
But for diners who do want to explore sake alongside Japanese food, Oklahoma City offers several excellent places to start.
At Awaji Izakaya, 12305 N. Rockwell Ave., Chef Richard Ly pairs an extensive sake selection with sushi, sashimi, yakitori, noodles, tempura and other dishes in the spirit of a Japanese izakaya, where food and drinks are meant to be enjoyed together.
Then there is Kaizume, 1501 NW 23rd St., a modern seafood restaurant inspired by Japanese craft and hospitality. Its seafood-forward menu provides another opportunity to treat sake less like a novelty and more like wine: something selected in part because of what is on the plate.
At AKAI Sushi in the Wheeler District, Way points to a staff capable of helping diners pair sake with their meal, whether they are eating fatty tuna, lighter fish or a heavier cooked dish.
“They do a good job of starting to pair sake with the meals themselves and educating their staff to give people better recommendations,” Way said.
For someone who knows virtually nothing about sake, Way’s advice is simple: Start light and crisp, try it chilled and consider ordering a few glasses rather than committing to a bottle.
“I think that’s one of the best ways to learn about sake,” Way said. “Try two or three different styles right next to each other, so you can really see the nuance and the difference between them.”
Better yet, ask for help. Tell the server what you normally drink and what you are eating, then ask what they recommend.
And if your only experience with sake is that little steaming carafe that arrived next to your sushi years ago, don’t worry. Nobody is taking it away.
There is simply a much bigger world sitting behind it.
As Way put it: “Go try something new. You just might like it.”
James Biscone is a native Oklahoman, attorney and author. He is a contributing writer to the Oklahoma Gazette.
This article appears in Fall Flavors.