Whenever I’m biking through Polk Gulch, on the way home from the gym or Saint Frank Coffee, my favorite place to stop for a quick cheap meal is Common Sage. I walk in telling myself I’m just there for a pair of hearty and filling omusubi, rice pockets packed with spicy tuna or mentaiko for under $5 each, but I always seem to leave with a backpack full of equally affordable Asian groceries — steak wasabi chips, a jar of salmon furikake flakes and packs of red bean pastries.

Located at the corner of Polk and Sacramento since 2015, Common Sage is a corner store stacked with a wide selection of Asian groceries. Brightly packaged snacks fill the shelves, but the star of the show is the counter service restaurant right up front, with a menu on the wall scrawled in colorful chalk calligraphy. Neighborhood regulars flock to the store to score some of the most affordable Japanese and Korean food in the city, most notably the omusubi.

Also called onigiri, but referred to as omusubi in chef Koji Nagao’s native Osaka, the hearty snack of warm rice packed with fillings and wrapped in seaweed is known as an affordable and filling meal.

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An order of freshly made omusubi is ready to go at Common Sage, on Polk Street in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

An interior view of Common Sage on Polk Street in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

Various types of instant ramen are for sale at Common Sage on Polk Street in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

“When the students or workers don’t have money, it is easy to grab it and go. It’s cheap, that’s how we started it,” owner Natasha Hong said. “... When people don’t want to spend a lot of money for lunch, it’s five bucks, and you’re satisfied.”

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The most popular versions of the snacks, which are similar to hand rolls, are packed with fillings like chasu pork or spicy tuna. Other popular versions at Common Sage include ube, shiitake mushrooms and mentaiko (spicy roe, my favorite). They range from $3 to $5 in price, and two could be considered a light meal. 

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Hong, dressed stylishly in flared jeans and black boots, was originally born in South Korea but has lived all over the U.S., from Seattle to Boston. Originally an interior architect, she was pregnant when she moved to San Francisco after her husband found a job here as a physician in 1999. Her daughter,........

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