Our guests are Rahul Saito and Mitsu Nagae. Rahul is the owner and Mitsu is the co-owner and executive chef at l’abeille https://www.labeille.nyc and l’abeille à côté https://www.labeilleacote.nyc/ in Tribeca, New York.

The duo opened l’abeille in March 2022 and shortly after, they won a Michelin star, thanks to Mitsu’s unique and outstanding culinary background as a Japanese chef classically trained in Paris, Tokyo and New York as well as Rahul’s sound management despite being new to the industry.

Mitsu’s menus are characterized by a seamless merge of French and Japanese cuisines, which seems to have become a relevant genre in places like Paris and Japan as well.

In this episode, we will discuss how Mitsu got into French cuisine from a young age in Japan and eventually trained under top chefs like the late Joel Robuchon, why the seemingly opposite French and Japanese cuisines can go so well together as you can see in Mitsu’s menus, the keys to run successful restaurants in New York and much, much more!!!

Our guest is Takatoshi Kadowaki who is the chef-owner of Sushi Kadowaki https://sushi-kadowaki.jp/eng/ in Tokyo. He started his sushi-chef training at 17 and after his master retired, he moved to the U.S. and developed a global mindset. Now he serves authentic Edomae-style sushi in the Ginza area of Tokyo, where every sushi chef dreams about opening a sushi bar.

Chef Kadowaki is known for his meticulous sourcing of his fish and his skills in maximizing umami through careful aging, which is a part of the Edomae-sushi traditions.

In this episode, we will discuss what Edomae-sushi is compared to other styles of sushi, the key to maximizing umami in fish through aging, his unique beverage pairing philosophy, including red wine and sushi and much, much more!!!

Our guest is Daniel Bennett who is the sake sommelier at Sushi-san www.sushisanrestaurant.com and The Omakase Room at Sushi-san www.theomakaseroom.com in Chicago. Both are a part of Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants, which is an independent, family-owned restaurant group that owns, manages and licenses more than 110 restaurants nationwide with over 60 concepts ranging from fast casual to fine dining.

Daniel is a certified sake sommelier and has approximately 15 years of deep experience working in Japanese food and sake.

In this episode, we will discuss how he built his career in sake, what types of sake people are drinking in America now, his collaboration with a 200-year-old sake brewery to make a private label for his guests, how he trains his staff to get certified as sake sommeliers and much, much more!!!