I went to the Seattle Central College Culinary program which has a focus on sustainability, and I specialized in Japanese food throughout my time there because it is a cuisine and food philosophy I have always been passionate about. SCC has a really amazing program. They focus very heavily on the sustainability aspect of cooking and following food from its origins. The program teaches a lot about “taking from the place you are”.
For me, this philosophy aligned really well with Japanese cooking. The Pacific Northwest holds a lot of commonalities with Japan (climate, landscape, etc.), so a lot of our local items work really well with Japanese cuisine. For example, while it might not be sustainable to import fresh yuzu from Japan, I can always find something local that is both true to the origins here, and works well with the ideology of Japanese cooking.
After culinary school, I kind of magically fell into my position with Mashiko. I met the founder, Hajime Sato, when he did a lecture on sustainability at Seattle Central culinary school. Because of his lecture, I was aware of his restaurant Mashiko located in West Seattle, and it stuck with me as a type of “dream job” to one day work at a place like this: somewhere that cared as much about the process of creating food as much as the outcome. I worked my way through college as a short order cook and bartender for diners and bars in the area but never dreamed of applying to Mashiko as my first option.
About a month before I graduated, a lady came in to my bar and casually informed me that she was seeking her replacement at a Japanese restaurant in West Seattle where she worked as a kitchen lead. I mentioned that there was only one Japanese restaurant I have dreamed of working at and it turned out to be the very same. She invited me down to meet with Hajime-san and he hired me on the spot.
I had to work my way through the kitchen doing a variety of jobs while studying every aspect of Japanese cuisine, from kaiseki to comfort food. There was so much to learn and devoted endless hours to learning flavor development and how to custom craft dishes for each customers individual tastes and needs.
At Mashiko we don’t just order in our product...we make it from scratch. And we make don’t just make it from a recipe, we adjust it for every situation, the time of the year, the diners tastes, what is in season. We put our heart and soul into every thing from the simplest sauces to the most intricate dishes.
Mashiko makes everything from the ground and this is something that most other Japanese restaurants don’t do. Our dedication to sustainability and not compromising on flavor or ingredients means we do everything from fermenting our own natto to changing our dashi daily depending on what fish bones we have available. We don’t study prescriptive cooking here, Hajime taught us to explore flavors and learn how they work together and to match that with people based on what they wanted out of a meal. This is part of what I love about Mashiko. I get to be an active part of the sustainability element and live the philosophy while serving this beautiful Japanese cuisine.