Chef’s cutting board

Chinese restaurateurs will be enticed to open Sushi bar at Lunar Calendar New Year’s event

Cultural News, February 2006

By Andy Matsuda

    February, as you probably know, marks the start of the Lunar New Year that the Chinese calendar is linked to, February 18 to be exact.  As a result, we will be catering a very special event organized by The Taiwan Times and China Daily News in Los Angeles.

   Dubbed as Lunar Calendar New Year’s Celebration with Japanese Sake Tasting, the event will be held on Friday, Feb. 23 at 6 – 9 p.m. at New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo. Organizers are expecting a turnout of over 300 major Asian restaurant owners.

   The purpose of the event is not only to celebrate the Year of the Wild Boar, but also to introduce many Chinese restaurant owners to Japanese sake and sushi.  This is an opportunity to build more bridges for fusion cuisine and to entice owners into considering opening up a sushi bar in their restaurants, a growing trend throughout the country.

    Next month we have two events coming up, one at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on March 23 and then the 6th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival of Southern California (formerly Pasadena Cherry Blossom Festival) on March 31 and April 1 at the JACCC Plaza and the adjacent street in the Little Tokyo district.

     The Asian Art Museum event is centered around the opening of the Masters of Bamboo: Japanese Baskets and Sculpture from the Cotsen Collection exhibition.  I will be working with former students Tomas and Mikiko, both currently working at Yuzu in San Francisco.

     Andy Matsuda is founder and Chief Instructor of the Sushi Chef Institute located in Little Tokyo. For information about the school, visit www.sushischool.net.
    (This text is completed by Gavin Kelley)