Tucked away in the Delaware Water Gap, in between the Pocono Mountains and downtown Stroudsburg, lives the only sake brewery in all of Pennsylvania. Sake, which in simplistic terms is fermented rice, is brewed on site by owner Jay Cooper and pairs nicely with the restaurant’s authentic Japanese dishes. More than just sake, Sango Kura has a full food menu that is comprised of Cooper’s favorite meals from the two years he spent living in Japan.
“All these meals spark a memory from Japan,” Cooper says. “If you bite into a ramen and it brings you back to hanging out with your friends, four in the morning, in downtown Kyoto... eating ramen, then that’s when I knew that I had hit the flavor profile.”
The inspiration for Sango Kura came in equal parts from the food and culture of Japan and from Cooper’s daughter Kura, which is Japanese for “coral.” However, it was not until Cooper moved back to the States that he learned how to cook Japanese cuisine and picked up sake brewing. From making the dough for ramen noodles to rolling sushi, the owner gives most of his credit to the internet for these self-taught cooking skills.
“I didn’t learn how to cook [in Japan], but I definitely learned about the food, how to cook for myself and I definitely knew what I wanted to learn from there,” Cooper says with a laugh.
Through a combination of YouTube videos and trial and error, Cooper eventually landed on recipes that brought his taste buds back to Japan, which was his goal all along. From there, he was able to relay what he likes to call “the window of flavor profiles” to head chef Eric Ramos, so that he could spend more time expanding the sake brewing side of his establishment.
“I don’t completely consider myself a chef—more an ambassador of recipes,” Cooper says.
The menu items that are homemade, which include the kimchi and ramen noodles, are worth the trip alone. But, it is all too difficult to resist the urge to indulge in their sushi that comes with eight sizable rolls and uses sustainably caught and farmed fish. Their small and thought-out sushi menu consists of ahi tuna, Ora King salmon, anago eel, shrimp tempura, avocado and cucumber rolls, each with a side of soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. Although filling for sushi rolls, a side of pork or veggie gyoza, or dumplings, makes for a perfectly portioned lunch.
“All of the dishes are to complement the sake we make here,” Cooper explains. “So, my favorite dish is the Kasu Miso ramen because making the noodles is a very beautiful process and making the broth is a very beautiful process, and then making the sake is a whole other world and that’s where the two combine because we’re using the lees from the sake.”
Kasu, or lees, are what is left over from the rice after the sake brewing process. The lees are then added back into the Kasu Miso broth to make for an especially individualized ramen dish. There are four other types of broth for the ramen offered at the restaurant, ranging from the spicy Tan Tan to a soy-sauce-based Shoyu. Slightly different than a ramen soup, the Udon soup is made out of the shoyu broth, but uses a thicker noodle, scallions, shrimp tempura and tofu curd.
However, if you are unfamiliar with ramen and the options seem overwhelming, one can never go wrong with the longtime customer favorite of Yaki Soba mixed with pork, chicken or tofu.
“Once people order that the first time, they usually get it again and again and again,” Cooper says. “’Cause you don’t fix what’s not broken and that’s a wonderful, filling dish.”
The combination of the crunch of cabbage for texture and the occasional taste of pickled ginger for flavor variance is satisfying in itself. But nothing beats the taste of the noodles sautéed with the addictive yaki soba sauce that leaves your mouth watering for more after each bite. Every detail matters in this dish, as the Kewpie mayo and scallions successfully tie everything together. Soba lovers are sure to enjoy the Salmon Soba, a dish where the soba noodles and cooked salmon sit in a savory cream sauce topped with salmon caviar and dried seaweed.
Do not be discouraged if you are more of a fried rice fanatic, because there is something for you, too. The Yaki Meshi is enough to satisfy any rice craving and then some, quite literally. Be prepared to go home with leftovers of the heaping plate of fried rice mixed with cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and wakame. With a choice of pork, chicken or tofu, and topped with scallions, pickled ginger, spicy mayo and a fried egg, this dish does not disappoint. Try the Meshi Special when looking to add an extra spice, with all the same scrumptious ingredients.
As if all of these options don’t already make it difficult enough to land on a decisive order, the additional taco truck menu on Saturdays and Sundays is sure to make ordering that much harder. Tsunami Taco’s menu consists of a chicken or pork taco box, with three soft-shell flour tortillas, refried beans and rice, a crispy quesadilla and a massive burrito. Before he was a sake brewer or ramen cook, Cooper traveled around Portland, Oregon, with this very same food truck that he keeps on site for the additional weekend menu.
“That taco truck is purely to show that sake pairs with every kind of food, unlike wine where the window is super small,” Cooper says.
With Sango Kura being the only sake brewery in the state, Cooper anticipates that not all customers have happened upon this type of alcohol before. Therefore, he welcomes sampling of the clear sake along with any and all questions that patrons may have. He explains that sake sips like a wine, and also has around the same alcohol content as wine, but is brewed more like a beer. The clear sake is Junmai Ginjo, which is the style of sake that Cooper brews on site. It is also the base sake that all of the other flavors are derived from.
On its own, Junmai Ginjo has subtle floral flavors and is the base for most of the sake mixed drinks, with the exception of the Citra Spritzer and the sake Bloody Mary. Cooper currently makes four other sake flavors. Nama sake is unfiltered Junmai Ginjo and is only sold by the bottle. Citra dry hops are added to the Citra sake, making it taste almost like a beer, whereas cedar wood is added to the Taru sake to give it a more earthy flavor. The Nigori sake is cloudy from the rice sediment added back into it, which also happens to make it the sweetest sake offered at the brewery. They hope to see full tastings in the future, once COVID-19 restrictions cease and it is safe to do so. In addition to bottles of sake that are sold in quantities of 750 milliliters or 375 milliliters, four-ounce glasses and mixed drinks are also available.
Every cocktail on the menu is a homemade creation of manager Melissa Hirschhorn’s.
“Sake lends itself to lots of different flavors and pairings, so it’s pretty easy to use in any drink where you would use a clear spirit,” Hirschhorn says. “Really, it’s having a premium quality product that lends itself to so many different uses: behind the bar, in cooking and just even pairing a straight glass with many of our dishes.”
Beyond sake, there is an extensive drink list for virtually every customer who may wander in. All of their alcoholic beverages are local to Pennsylvania, as Cooper is ardent about giving back to the community and local business. Their cocktails feature spirits from Silverback Distillery located in East Stroudsburg and their extensive beer list features brews as close as Shawnee Mountain to Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown. There is also a variety of nonalcoholic favorites such as the Japanese soda Ramune and Boylan sodas.
Food and drinks from all menus can be ordered, paid for and picked up at the front counter, making for a safe and comfortable dining environment. Sango Kura has always operated this way and will continue to do so, although counter service is becoming more normalized. The seat-yourself and get-up-at-your-own-convenience atmosphere is still intact, but face masks are required whenever not seated due to current regulations. Alternatively, customers can place and pay for their order online, making for an almost contactless transaction.
Not only is Sango Kura one of the lucky eateries that is able to maintain a full menu and persevere during this pandemic, but Cooper has big plans in store for its future. He hopes to implement a micro-greenery and start in-house tofu making soon.
Sango Kura Sake Brewery & Japanese Eatery
39 Broad St., Delaware Water Gap | 570.476.0132 | Facebook | Instagram
*Please check their website and/or social media for current operating hours and procedures.
Hours
Wed. & Thurs.: 3–8 p.m., Fri.: 2–9 p.m., Sat. & Sun.: noon–9 p.m.
Parking
Lot on premise
Reservations
Reservations not taken, but “heads up” calls for large parties are encouraged
What to Order
Pairing one of their homemade dishes with a sake-tail or glass of clear sake is a must when dining at Sango Kura. It is then a matter of choosing between one of their homemade ramens and handcrafted sushi rolls. Saturdays and Sundays are great days to swing in at lunchtime for a build-your-own-style Taco Box at Tsunami Taco.
Specials/Events
The Tsunami Taco food truck is open every Saturday and Sunday and a live music schedule can be found on their Facebook page.
