Tokiko Sawada

Visit Sacramento Tower Bridge Dinner Appetizer Chef

Tokiko Sawada is one of the owner of Binchoyaki and has 17 years experience in the food and service industries.

Her passion for food started at a young age spending all of her summers in Japan surrounded by inspirational food. Foods from street foods, comfort foods, kaiseki, to idealogical foods, many in different forms.

Tokiko studied at le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, California and has worked as a Sous Chef and Pastry Chef in many kitchens in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas.  She then decided to move to the front of the business as a manager to better learn the other side of the business and what makes a restaurant run.  Tokiko has successfully opened and managed an upscale bakery restaurant “le Pain Quotidien.’  She then moved on to managing a popular coffee shop “Starbucks” and has done so in Los Angeles and the Sacramento areas. 

Her and her husband, Craig Takehara opened Binchoyaki in 2016 to introduce Sacramento to their style of izakaya dining that serves Japanese barbeque and soul foods.

Tokiko’s knowledge, experience and management style she has accumulated throughougt her life has proven to be a huge asset to the success of Binchoyaki.