Chef Demi Ebara opened Demi, a sit-down Japanese comfort food restaurant, at 407 Lytton Ave. in downtown Palo Alto.

The 25-seat restaurant occupies the former Poke One space and specializes in yoshoku, a category of Japanese home cooking that adapts Western dishes with Japanese techniques and flavors. The menu includes omurice ($28), Japanese hamburger steak ($39), Osaka-style takoyaki ($12) and Japanese curry empanadas ($9).

Ebara, a Cupertino resident who moved to the U.S. from Kyoto around 2011, already runs Demiya, a five-location fast-casual chain focused on Japanese curry with restaurants in San Jose, Cupertino, Dublin, Fremont and Emeryville. She opened the first Demiya in San Jose in 2016 after studying food science at San Jose State University.

"I want to challenge myself," Ebara told the Mercury News in July when describing her motivation for the new venture.

Demi is a step up from the fast-casual Demiya format. The dining room features curved-back butterscotch chairs, a modern chandelier and geometric artwork, food blogger Carolyn Jung wrote in an Aug. 24 review. The space is tiny. The host stand and a single waiting bench sit outside.

The menu includes breakfast-inspired dishes alongside lunch and dinner options. Morning options include avocado toast with white miso avocado ($22) and chicken and waffles made with Japanese karaage and dashi maple syrup ($24). Dinner entrees include yakiniku steak ($42), Japanese carbonara ($30) and salmon with spinach miso cream ($32). Desserts run $12 each for miso caramel, monaka matcha ice cream or yuzu sorbet.

A backyard Japanese garden with about 12 additional outdoor seats is under development. Ebara has also applied for a license to serve Japanese craft beer and sake, but no alcohol is available yet.

Ebara told the Almanac News in April that she noticed Americans often associated Japanese food with sushi and ramen and wanted to showcase home-style cooking, particularly curry rice. She said she hopes to eventually take Demiya public and turn it into a franchise.

Demi is open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Reservations are available through Yelp.