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Serving As Your Voice of the Nikkei Community Since 1902
Vol. 63, Issue 12 / March 12, 2008
Japan Into America 1
Seattle's Japanese Cuisine Moves forward to Next Stage
By Shihou Sasaki
The North American Post
 With fresh and great food cooked by a talented chef in addition to excellent service, how much to pay might come to the customers' mind as a big question.
In the above situation at a local Japanese restaurant, it is hard to guess the cost. As an example, in an osechi (Japanese new year cerebration dish) luncheon event on January 4 organized by Hyogo Business & Cultural Center's (HBCC), $200 was paid by each participant for dishes created by chef Takeyuki Suetsugu of Bistro Satsuma in Gig Harbor.
With an excellent Japanese-style room in north Seattle and the Washington State Academy Chef member's cook, attendees' faces all looked smiling and satisfied. But now, a question popped up, whether it is expensive or not for the general public.
In general, looking at most of Seattle's Japanese restaurants, the price ranges of each dish are tentatively set from $5 to $20 or a little higher. Even dishes in Suetsugu's restaurant are at similar prices. But the Seattle area has talented Japanese chefs, whose serving could cost much higher in Japan than this region, in an opinion of Takanori "Ginn" Kitaoka, the director of HBCC.
"If you go to a fancy French restaurant on a special occasion, you don't think a $100 or $200 dinner is expensive," he said in Japanese. "We have $100 - $200 dinner menus in Japanese restaurants in Japan too. It depends on the business and the market, but I believe Seattle has a market to accept this high-price Japanese cuisine."
 The Japanese cuisine has been popularized in the states the last decade, he also said, but the food culture does not come into the usual American family yet, except for Japanese Americans. He added the time would come when American families start making udon and soba at home instead of boiling spaghetti.
From east to west, the cultural gap cannot be easily filled, but "education" and "understanding" is needed, Kitaoka said. Looking back at the history of the Japanese cuisine, common dishes in the states including sushi, tempura, soba and udon were developed in the Edo era as citizens' family-style dishes. But some other styles and dishes have a longer history.
Honzen-style (Japanese course menu) was established in the Muromachi era around 15th century for the samurai family. This was developed in each situation including chado (Japanese tea ceremony) or banquets to this era. The other style called yusoku-style (Japanese Royal cooking) originally started in the Heian era around 11th century and developed with honzen-style. Shojin-style (Japanese vegetarian cooking) began after the Kamakura era in the 13th century with zen.
"Cheap and tasty, and do you think that's all about the Japanese cuisine?" he continued. "No, you cannot do that way. If you know the $100 or $200 menu and taste, why don't you want to have them here? Why don't you ask our chefs to create the menu and introduce the cuisine to local customers?"
 Last October, Japanese chef Taichi Kitamura opened his new restaurant Kappo Chiso on the second floor of a building, in which his first Japanese restaurant Chiso is located. The new restaurant has only one menu called "Omakase (chef's choice)," which serves seven dishes average in a meal. The price is $100 - not cheap, compared to the other local restaurants.
The restaurant has only about ten seats all facing the chef's kitchen. It also requires customers to have a reservation. But the system would be best for Kitamura.
"With this size, I can communicate with customers," Kitamura said in Japanese. "If they asked me about a dish, I can explain to them directly. It's an easy way to make them understand what the dish is."
Growing up in a Japanese caf? owned by his family in Kyoto and trained under Seattle's sushi chef Shiro Kashiba at Shiro's for several years, Kitamura said the communication between the chef and customers is most important in serving foods.
"If customers are satisfied with the great service and quality of foods," Kitamura said, "they would return to this restaurant. At the time, they know this is more than a $100 value."
 HBCC's Kitaoka plans to organize a group tour to local Japanese restaurants once a month. At the time, he would ask chefs to create a $50 or $100 menu course for the tour group to realize the depth of the Japanese cuisine. The program will benefit both chefs and customers, he said.
In the special luncheon event on Jan. 4, Suetsugu explained each dish to the participants. All dishes have meanings, stories and history background including a tale of the cooked burdock, a black bean produced in Tamba, Hyogo, and a simmered dish originally from Tosa, Kochi prefecture.
"While you enjoy tasting and understanding the Japanese cuisine," Suetsugu remarked in Japanese, "I appreciate that I could also learn it with you."
And it could be a key for west to understand the east.
All photos by Shihou Sasaki/ The North American Post
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