Common Sage Cafe & Market Brings Euro-Japanese Fare To Polk Street

Common Sage Cafe & Market Brings Euro-Japanese Fare To Polk StreetPhotos: Brittany Hopkins/Hoodline
Brittany Hopkins
Published on November 12, 2015

Polk Street's newest eatery, Common Sage, is anything but common. Rather, the storefront at 1552 Polk St. is one part European cafe, one part ramen shop and another part Japanese convenience store.

The shop's manager, Cory Nelund, describes it as a Japanese deli, and tells us that it's owned by Natasha Hong (who also owns the Union Square sushi restaurant Mikaku), is named after Hong's first granddaughter Sage, and gets its Euro-Japanese flair from its head chef, Koji Nagao.

Chef Koji Nagao & manager Cory Nelund.

Originally from Japan, Chef Nagao opened multiple restaurants in his home country and worked in a Michelin-rated restaurant in Europe before moving to San Francisco to study at the Academy of Art University. From the menu to the logo (which Nagao drew himself), all of these influences are apparent at Common Sage.


For starters, the cafe's specialty is omusubi  (also called onigiri)— rice balls stuffed with Japanese veggies, pork or seafood, and wrapped in seaweed. Each omusubi is made to order and wrapped in plastic film, which Nagao said isn't standard Japanese packaging but does an excellent job of keeping the palm-sized meals crisp for one to two hours. Nelund also noted that the intricate packaging has proven difficult for patrons (and at first, even himself) to remove, so they'll likely create a how-to diagram or video to post in the shop and on their social channels.

While Chef Nagao said the smell of ramen alone brings back memories of working in a cheap ramen shop as a teenager, he's well aware that ramen is increasingly popular here in San Francisco. He spent three whole days perfecting his own ramen recipe — which incorporates a special garlic oil he created from scratch.

Pork ramen and Omusubi rice balls.

On the European side, Nagao has been baking fresh bread for a selection of deli sandwiches, which changes daily and is posted on Facebook every morning. The most popular sandwich so far has been the Asian pork, Nelund said. And while breads baked in-house may not be offered indefinitely, you will find fresh selections from Pinkie's Bakery in SoMa, too.


Beyond the cafe, Common Sage offers a vast selection of sake, including high-end varieties and mini pop-cap bottles for instant enjoyment elsewhere, due to the shop's retail-only liquor license.


But all of that just the beginning, Nelund said, noting that they've done very little marketing since their debut on Oct. 8th and have received positive feedback from neighbors so far. With the cafe running smoothly, his next priority is adding even more specialty items to the market — which currently offers every ingredient used in the kitchen.

Common Sage is open at 1552 Polk St. from 7am-9pm Monday-Friday, 8am-10pm Saturday and Sunday.