How do you sharpen your knife? A lot of past sushi class participants asked me. I am trained to use traditional whetstones. I use both medium grade and finishing stones like these. ​ King Deluxe 2000 (medium grade) Just like most of the Sushi techniques, knife sharpening technique is very simple to demonstrate, but it's very difficult to master (or, takes some practice). It's just like learning how to play guitar. So, my advice to you is to get an automatic knife shar

Many of our clients asked us for our sake recommendations for their party. Here is a list of what we recommended them to purchase. 1. Born Gold We discovered "Born Gold" at a restaurant show in San Francisco. "Born Gold is a draft and non-carbon filtered sake aged at 14 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 year. It has a robust body with a complex flavor and a pure, uplifting sweet ," from D Way Beverage inc. At $38 retail, this pure Junmai Daiginjyo (the highest grade) sake is a d

If you love sushi and Japanese food, you probably heard of, or like Mochi Ice cream. In case you ate unfamiliar with Mochi Ice, it's gooey outside and ice cream inside, kinda like a marshmallow . Mochi Ice comes in a variety of flavors: green tea, strawberry, mango, chocolate, red bean, and even black sesame. But there was no Pumpkin flavor until now. Yes, Trader Joe's have done it again - creating their own brand of Mochi Ice. It's very close to the ones by Mikawaya,

The story of sushi is a combination of real stories at Sushi school in Los Angles packed with some great information about history and science behind sushi. The main focus of the book is the owner of the sushi school, the instructor, and the class students, most of who never made sushi before. At the same time, the Author Trevor Carson provides solid information on the science behind the sushi like what happens to fish when it's cured in salt and vinegar like Shime techni

We mentioned about eatsa in Berkeley and YAYOI in Palo Alto offers same ordering system using iPad type interface. It's "Teishoku" style restaurant, which means "a set-meal" in Japanese. Similar to many Kaiten Sushi restaurant chains in Japan, customers can order their food through the small pad interface located at each table. When you walk in first, you may feel "strange" because no one will come to your table to take your orders. Instead, you need to look at their printe

Participants made Dungeness Crab California Roll, Spicy Tuna and as an added bonus, made Kampachi, and Tombo/Hawaiian Albacore Tuna Sashimi. #SushiClasses #SaturdayBrunch #Seafood #Recommendations #Fun

I had a pleasure of working Dan and his company, Domestic | Match for the past several years. Domestic | Match is the Bay Area’s most exclusive domestic staffing agency. Thanks to Dan , I was able to fulfill my goal of becoming a private sushi chef, serving various prestigious private clients in San Francisco Bay Area. Though I never met Dan in person, and we only communicated via emails and phone calls, I immediately liked his style and felt that I would like to work with hi

These photos are from our monthly Sushi Making Class "SELECT." Thank you everyone for attending the class - all of your rolled looked great! #SushiClasses #2017 #Events #Services #Recommendations #Homemade

Sushi: Food for the eye, the body & the soul, by Ole G. Mouritsen Probably, you've never heard of Ole G. Mouritsen. I certainly never have, until I stumbled upon his book, at a local library, when I was casually browsing through cookbooks. Mouritsen is not a sushi chef. He is not even a professional chef. He is a professor of biophysics in Denmark, specializing in "statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, computer simulation techniques, phase transitions and critical phe

"Taste" is an annual event at Robert Mondavi Institute for Food and Science at UC Davis. It's a great opportunity to sample regional wines and food from local vendors. The event is on Saturday, October 1 For more info and tickets, click here. #Recommendations

New Comtemporary restaurant is scheduled to open this fall in New York by an acclaimed chef, Hiroki Yoshitake, who is an executive chef at Sola in Paris. His beautiful, yet elegant dishes have earned Sola one Michelin star, only after two years of its opening. Mr. Yoshitake is from Saga, Japan and worked at restaurants as Fogon, Ze Kitchen Galerie, les Magnolias, Astrance under Pascal Barbot. Here are some photos from MIFUNE, New York. #Restaurants #Recommendations #Art #Mode

Similar to Izayaka, Robata restaurant serves small plates along with a variety of sake and Shochu (Japanese potato liquor). The main difference is Robata's main focus is a grill. At Iroriya in Los Altos, a charcoal grill is their star. Their house dried fish grilled on their Robata is fantastic. Many of their fish come from Japan and sashimi is excellent as well. Summer menu dish: Salt Marinated Tomato w/ Shiso Granite Sake Cup Grilled "Dried" Fish Flying Fish Sashimi R

Awamori is an alcoholic beverage from Okinawa in Japan. It's made from rice and unlike sake, it's distilled spirit. The flavor is similar to Shochu, Soju(Korean Shochu) or Vodka. "Aspergillus awamori" is the fungi responsible for the unique flavor of Awamori. Awamori is exceptional tasty when mixed with fruit juices as pineapple, orange, and grapefruit. They are available at some of the Japanese grocery stores - Nijiya, Marukai, and Mitsuwa in California. #Recommendatio

We just purchased this beautiful plate by McKeachie Johnston. McKeachie Johnston Studio is located in Wisconsin. Randy studied in Japan at the pottery of Shimaoka Tatsuzo, who became the National Living Treasure of Japan. We can hardly wait to plate some Sashimi and Nigiri on this plate. #Recommendations

We heard about this small Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn that serves Ramen, so we decided to make our visit. The most notable thing about their Ramen is that they use fish broth from a variety of (local) fish and the parts not normally used or thrown away. In Japan and many other Asian countries like China, the idea of using the "whole foods" is a cultural concept when it comes to cooking. As such, every part of meat and fish is used including bones, internal organs, hea

Located just around the corner from Monterey Bay Aquarim, we found this fish market and restaurant using local fish. They sell variety of fish and shell fish and some are caught locally like Monterey Bay Squid. Fish and Chips we tried was very tasty :) Sea Harvest Fish Market & Restaurant 598 Foam St, Monterey CA 93940 #Recommendations #Restaurants #Seafood

Fort Point Beer at Ferry Building, San Francsco. When you are at Ferry Building, try locally bread Beer at their Kiosk Stand. They have hot dogs as well. #Recommendations

Lunch Menu consists of First Course, Second Course and Dessert. Buttercup Lettuce Salad with Grilled Chicken. Asparagus Salad. #Recommendations

( Kampachi Sashimi with Hokkaido Uni) If you go to Oya and order Omakase 18 course dinner, expecting sushi and, then you may be surprised. (Toro Nigiri) You can review most of the dishes on yelp ( and certainly from this blog post as well.) (Egg Nigiri with Beef Powder) In a nutshell, 18 course Omakase was not sushi at all, or more than sushi. Sashimi was more like Italian Carpusshio with different types of oil and flavors. Most Nigiri were seared with the variety of toppin

Recognized as one of the top wineries American, Ridge Vineyards has been producing the best Cabernet since founded in 1959, I visited Ridge Vineyards at Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains for weekday (appointment necessary) semi-private “ Historic Vineyard Tasting” and tour. The tour started with our guide greeting us, starting with the brief history of Monte Bello Ridge at their tasting room. Aaron, our guide explained to us that the owners had no intention of growing g