Izakaya Kazama Is Bringing Japanese Tavern Culture to South Minneapolis
There's a corner in South Minneapolis that Matthew Kazama has been transforming for years.
At 34th Street and Nicollet Avenue, his ramen shop has fed the neighborhood since 2015, drawing regulars, touring musicians, and professional athletes through its doors. Now, one door down, Izakaya Kazama has opened, and with it, Kazama's longer-held vision of a Japanese dining destination on this stretch of Nicollet is starting to take shape.
"My dream is to make this corner like little Japan," Kazama says, "and have lots of events and produce good times for people."
From Matsue to Minneapolis
Kazama was born in Hawaii and raised in Matsue, Japan, arriving in the US at 18 with two parallel ambitions: to play drums and, somewhere in the back of his mind, to open a restaurant.
He pursued both. As a founding member of Minneapolis punk duo the Birthday Suits and a member of Sweet J.A.P., he built a reputation on the local music scene before turning that same intensity toward food.
Ramen Kazama launched in 2015 and became a fixture on Nicollet, earning a devoted following that eventually stretched from neighborhood regulars to visiting Japanese punk bands like Otoboke Beaver and Guitar Wolf. "I got to meet my heroes many times," Kazama said when speaking to MSPMag. "It really is a dream come true."
Kazama previously ran a Japanese-influenced burger concept called TokiDoki Burger out of 3406 Nicollet, before closing it at the end of 2025 to make way for Izakaya Kazama. The izakaya format was always what he'd had in mind.
“I always wanted to do izakaya. I used my last name to fully commit.”
What Is an Izakaya?
An izakaya sits somewhere between a pub and a tapas bar: a Japanese drinking spot built for lingering, sharing, and ordering in rounds. The word itself translates roughly to "stay-drink-place," and the format has been a cornerstone of Japanese social life for centuries.
Food arrives in small plates designed to be passed around the table, with drinks ordered alongside and conversation doing the rest of the work. There's no fixed pace, no pressure to turn the table. You order, you eat, you order again.
It's a format built around the idea that a meal should also be an evening. At Izakaya Kazama, that spirit carries through in everything from the counter-service ordering to the shareable small plates and the unhurried atmosphere Kazama has set out to create.
“If you’ve been to Japan before, or you’re interested in it - or not - you might like it here. Come check it out.”
The Menu
Counter service, the same as at Ramen Kazama next door, keeps things approachable. The food spans grilled yakitori skewers including yakitori momo (chicken thigh) and butabara (pork belly), alongside plates like Spanish mackerel with housemade tartar sauce, beef tongue, daikon salad, and tofu with negi miso sauce. Small plates are priced between $3 and $5, with heartier options like a Wagyu hambagu and tonkatsu ramen rounding things out.
The Japanese beef curry (which Kazama says is the dish he craves most from his own menu) is built to order: a rice base topped with your choice of protein (tonkatsu pork cutlet, beef, and more), finished with a rich curry sauce. Vegetable and cheese options are available too, making it one of the most customizable dishes on the menu.
To drink, expect Japanese beers, sakes, shochus, and a selection of nonalcoholic imports. And for something sweet at the end: taiyaki, a Japanese fried fish-shaped cake filled with red bean paste, served with vanilla ice cream. A version of the dish also appears at Target Field this season, where Kazama has a vendor stall, a small marker of how far his profile has grown since that first bowl of ramen in 2015.
Good Food, Reasonable Prices
Kazama is straightforward about what he's trying to do.
“I don’t think it’s too different, but we want to serve good food and drinks with reasonable prices. I want customers to have good experiences here and keep on coming back.”
Running a small business in Minneapolis has not been without its challenges. "It's been up and down, and sometimes it gets really, really difficult," he says.
What keeps him going is the work itself and the longer vision of what that corner of Nicollet could become, with Ramen Kazama and Izakaya Kazama now side by side, and room, perhaps, for more.
Pull up a stool, order a round of drinks, and let the small plates stack up - Izakaya Kazama feels like a tucked-away bar in Tokyo, transplanted to South Minneapolis. For anyone who hasn't been to Izakaya Kazama yet, it's well worth the visit.
Plan Your Visit
Izakaya Kazama is located at 3406 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408, open Tuesday through Sunday from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
You can reach them at (612) 315-1228.
Order at the counter and find a seat - street parking is available on Nicollet Avenue, though it can fill up on busier evenings, so arriving a few minutes early or parking a block or two away is a safe bet. Find them on Instagram at @izakayakazama.
If Izakaya Kazama is your kind of place, there's plenty more where that came from. Explore the Pao App to find the best small businesses in your city!
