Dan, you have been very active on this site and I am very surprised
that you have never encountered a non Asian sushi chef. I just spent
the last several years living in NYC where there are many Latin people
behind the counters also.

I also spent way too much money at a week-long course at the California
Sushi Academy a couple of years ago and they claimed that they
"educate" many non Asian chefs, including Caucasians. In my
experience the majority of Asian sushi chefs in America are not
Japanese. I believe that there are more Chinese, Koreans and
Indonesians making sushi than Japanese people. We will be seeing many
more Latin people behind the counter in the future as sushi grows in
popularity. Sushi is a world-wide food and this diversity will be and
should be reflected behind the counters.

:-)
Paul



Dan Logcher wrote:
> Well, I met my first non Asian sushi chef last Saturday. We had a
gift
> certificate for a Thai place for almost a year and a half and decided
> to use it. The restaurant has a small, but functional sushi bar.
>
> After we seated, I approached the bar and asked the chef what was
good
> today. He said the maguro, hamachi, and shiromi. I also asked if
the
> uni was good, and he responded yes. So I retreated to our table to
look
> over the menu.
>
> We decided to get a mix of things, Thai and sushi. We had the unagi
maki,
> and a sushi moriawase with the Thai dishes. The unagi maki arrived
first
> with the Thai appetizers. It was more for my wife, she really likes
eel.
>
> The sushi arrived a little later, and the waiter mentioned that the
chef
> had put an extra uni on there for me to try. I guess it pays to ask.
> And since we had ordered the unagi maki, he gave me anago on the
assortment
> instead. I split this with my son, since my wife isn't eating much
sushi
> lately.
>
> The sushi was very good, the tekka maki that came with the moriawase
had
> thick pieces of maguro, and the uni was excellent. So I ordered uni
for
> dessert. They arrived with a tiny bit of wasabi on top and a lump on
the
> side. I thought this odd when I put some wasabi in the soy and it
seemed
> a little chunky. So I tasted some straight up, real wasabi.
>
> So after our meal I decided to go and talk with the sushi chef. He
was
> extremely friendly, and glad to talk about sushi. Turns out he lives
in
> the same town as us, about 5 minutes away. He moved here two years
ago
> from Miami, and is originally from Honduras. He has been working as
a
> sushi chef for 10 years now and tried many of the local sushi bars in
the
> area to compare quality and skill. We talked for about 20 minutes
and I
> was impressed with his knowledge for someone with no formal training
(as
> far as I could tell).
>
> So I think we will be going back again to try more sushi.
> Lemon Tree Cafe
> 168 Great Rd.
> Bedford, MA 01730
>
> --
> Dan