About Us

Our story starts way, way back in the far-off times of 2018, when husband and wife team Christopher and Tawanrat Mohr started a small stall in a newly opened food hall in Chicago. Setting up shop in Forum55, the two sold ramen, sushi, and poke bowls to hungry office workers and students every weekday for upwards of several hours a day. Needless to say, due to…issues that occurred in 2020, the food hall shut down and the two were left without a business.

One can only mope around for so long before boredom wins out, so flash forward to 2022 and a brand new Tomo has been born in Evanston, just steps from Northwestern University. This time, the Mohrs decided to ditch the sushi and poke bowls (which they were never that good at making anyway) and focus on their strengths, delicious comfort food at great prices. Ramen, udon, takoyaki, house-made pork belly, and chicken kara-age; in other words, food that will make you feel like you are sitting in a dining room in Osaka eating with some strange, but seemingly welcoming family that you just met this very moment, when I typed it.

Couple our great food with our relaxed, casual atmosphere, with anime and random Japanese television shows/movies playing all day and 80’s city pop on the speakers, and Tomo Japanese Street Food is less of a restaurant and more of a…well, still a restaurant, I guess, but, like, a cool one. Like that Aunt that lets you drink a wine cooler at the family reunion. You know the one. She has a tattoo, but won’t show it to you, and is really, REALLY into Stevie Nicks, but not into Fleetwood Mac for some reason. Yeah, that’s who we are: the cool aunt. But also a restaurant.