http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2005/06/01/
first_sushi_then_the_world/

First sushi, then the world

Raw fish and olive oil? Eel layered with Caribbean flavors?
Absolutely, say a new wave of Japanese restaurateurs who
are taking their traditional cuisine global.

By Alison Arnett, Globe Staff, June 1, 2005

NATICK -- Toru Oga is working at warp speed. He piles
greens on top of a pool of miso sauce on a curved,
segmented plate, then picks up a long knife to cut
gleaming cubes of tuna to place atop the greens.
Instructing his cooks in Japanese, the chef and
owner of Oga's Japanese Cuisine here reaches for a
shot glass of pale green okra soup and places it in
the other side of the plate. Bits of dark tuna marinated
in soy peek from the bottom of the glass. Oga carefully
garnishes the soup with salmon roe and sea urchin, then
sprinkles the tuna cubes with pine nuts and thread-thin
strings of red pepper.

Oga is an illustration in motion of a new wave of Japanese
restaurateurs who use flavors and ingredients from South
America, the Mediterranean, and beyond. For the Natick chef,
this means serving dishes with foie gras and duck; sprinkling
bits of tomato and Parmesan on soba noodles; and declaring
boldly that olive oil goes especially well with raw fish.
With the popularity of sushi so widespread that nutritionists
are beginning to cite it as a way to get teens to eat better
and supermarkets are proudly trumpeting their California
and spicy tuna rolls, we're well acquainted with the little
nibbles of raw fish and rice, as well as a few traditional
dishes such as tempura and sukiyaki. Now Japanese chefs
are beginning to spread their wings, led by celebrity chef
Nobu Matsuhisa, who has startled the New York sushi crowd with
the far-reaching creations at his namesake restaurant. Japan's
world-inspired cuisine is popping up in new places all over
New York. And some of its biggest fans are European-trained
chefs eating out on their nights off.

Trim in chef's whites, with a deep voice and a stylish haircut,
Oga, at 49, is the master of Boston sushi chefs; he is also
part owner of the Ginza restaurants in Chinatown and Brookline.
His sushi bar and restaurant here draw the local Japanese
community and aficionados from all over. His favorite customers,
he says, ask for omakase (''whatever the chef makes"), giving
him latitude for improvisation. For Oga, and for other
Japanese chefs, in order for the cuisine to stay vibrant,
it must keep evolving. Americans tend to order the same
caterpillar rolls and sliced hamachi when they go out for
Japanese food, he says through his manager, Toshi Fujine,
who is acting as translator. When the same order comes in
again and again, using the same ingredients, he says,
''I get bored."

That explains Oga's use of olive oil, Parmesan, and foie gras.

The influence goes the other way, too. Frank McClelland,
chef and owner of L'Espalier in Back Bay and Sel de la Terre
on the waterfront, says the simplicity and purity of Japanese
food have inspired his cuisine. His former sous chef Ryan
Becze, who is now at Masa in New York's Time Warner Center,
helped to distill McClelland's interest in Japanese food.
Kenneth Oringer, chef at Clio in Back Bay, is so enamored
of Japanese cuisine that it not only colors his dishes in
the restaurant but he also opened Uni, a sashimi bar. Oringer
calls his creations sushi but the style is highly inventive
and he uses ingredients such as caviar, beets, and foie gras.

Other local sushi chefs also push the boundaries. Ting San
at Oishii in Chestnut Hill and Kenichi Iwaoka at Osushi stick
more closely to the standard sushi model but add unusual
ingredients and shapes to their dishes.

In New York, chef Siggy Nakanishi at Aki pours the influence
of years working for a Japanese ambassador in Jamaica into
artful and delicious appetizers. In this tiny sliver of a
place in the West Village, eel is layered with fried tofu,
mashed pumpkin, and a crispy wafer of wonton. Jerk chicken
is rolled with shrimp paste and gets a Caribbean-inspired
sauce of mango teriyaki and embellishments of tempura-battered
banana slivers. A spicy tartare boasts jewel-like nuggets
of tuna with raisins, pine nuts, and coconut flakes, along
with a spicy mayonnaise sauce. It's not that Nakanishi
neglects sushi and sashimi -- that might put off his customers.
But he is a chef, he says, not just a sushi chef, and he
finds pleasure in creating ''my foods, my tastes."

EN Japanese Brasserie, another West Village restaurant, is
a soaring space, dramatic and stylish, with big windows,
a long communal bar, an open kitchen, and a hip clientele
who crowd in for izakaya food, the Japanese version of tapas.
EN, the first US restaurant of a sister and brother team who
own more than 20 restaurants in Japan, shows another trend:
modeling the menu on what's popular in Toyko right now
and banishing forever the slightly dim spot filled with
dowdy decor and straw mats. Although some sushi is offered,
the point here is casual, home-style food, freshly made tofu,
and reasonable prices.

Oga's, with its blond wood, sleekly designed sushi bar, and
unusual plates, also doesn't follow the old style of ethnic
dining. The chef enjoys improvising for the customers who
want something different, and his real passion is to cook
beyond anything expected. Oga, who came to New York almost
20 years ago as a sushi chef and later moved to Sakurabana
in Boston's Financial District, helped open the first
Ginza in 1993. Now that he knows his customers are willing
diners, he's drawing on all kinds of cuisines for special
menus. At a sake dinner recently at Oga's, he served shrimp
wrapped in vermicelli with a gazpacho sauce, paired Kobe
beef with foie gras, and ended with a delicate wasabi and
mustard ice cream that lilted sweet and then pricked hot
on the tongue.

Conventional notions about Western and Eastern ingredients
don't stop Oga, who not only sprinkles raw fish with olive
oil, but adds a flourish of Parmesan to a salad of soba
noodles flanked by fresh octopus with smoked salt. When a
visitor mentions that the starting point for the chef's omakase
at Masa in New York is $350, Oga just laughs. He talks about
friends of friends who reportedly spent $7,000 there for a
dinner for three. That sounds excessive to him; he wants
his food to be accessible. To that end, he and manager Fujine
have been looking for a location in Boston to showcase Oga's
creativity.

Because to this Japanese chef, the sky's the limit. Breaking
though the boundaries of sushi and all the other rules of
his native cuisine means reaching for ingredients you never
imagined you'd see beside a glass of sake.

Siegfried Kemper wrote:

> http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articl...hen_the_world/

Thanks for pointing that out. I've been interested in trying Oga's. I'm not
sure it will be a favorite, but it's probably worth a try. I'm looking forward
to his new location in Nashua, a more traditional style sushi.

--
Dan

Interesting - feel the same as Dan - like to try it, doubt it will be
my favorite. olive oil and raw fish..hmm. Don't know.


ww

Well olive oil, capers, and raw meat/fish is carpaccio ya? With rice
maybe that's kinda sorta new, but not terribly original.

My local itamae has done more interesting things....recently a white
board specials had a seared black cod nigiri (gindara), normally served
with a sweet miso sauce, but last time I went he didn't do that and put
small slices of kiwi on top. The effect was somewhat similar, and
really nice.

Nothing beats good value old school sushi with a light twist. Once too
much fusion happens the guts of it is gone, just like those who want to
use brown rice for sushi at this restaurant in Berkeley CA.....

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> Interesting - feel the same as Dan - like to try it, doubt it will be
> my favorite. olive oil and raw fish..hmm. Don't know.
>
>
> ww

Italian style tataki....chopped fresh hikarimono, olive oil, drop of vinegar
or lemon, salt & pepper.
Will work well with Aji. At least one top restaurant in NY does this with
fresh bluefish.
M