Izakaya Minato, a new Japanese restaurant owned by Elaine Alden and Thomas Takashi Cooke, opened Tuesday at 54 Washington Ave. in Portland.

“Izakaya is a style of dining and restaurants that are very popular in Japan,” Alden told the Press Herald last year. “They’ve been compared to gastropub or tapas.”

Cooke grew up in Tokyo. He and Alden moved to Portland from San Francisco, where they worked at a sushi restaurant called Tsunami.

Izakaya Minato will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The restaurant will be closed on Sundays.