Hailing from the great big land of Canada, Shota Sushi has now spawned its newest offspring in Bellevue, Washington. With a knack and desire for bringing something new to the table to attract the different United States crowd, Bellevue’s Shota Sushi & Grill is doing its best to go the distance, with fresh ideas that have not been done before.
Enter Shota’s newest Executive Chef, Edward Tang. A Washington State native, Tang has worked at well-reputed restaurants like Nijo and the now-extinct Nikko in the Westin Hotel. He started in the sushi industry by working his way up – from starting with a part-time job in a sushi restaurant to studying culinary at Renton Tech and working as an underling to head chefs. He learned the traditional way, and when he first started out, it was tough.
“[There were the] typical Japanese chefs who make fun of you, [and you were] cutting vegetables, washing rice – stuff that chefs don’t like to do,” explains Tang.
(article is continued below )
But all of Tang's hard work has in fact paid off, and he is now an Executive Chef, which entails much more responsibility than making sushi. To put it simply, the kitchen is his domain. He makes the rules. He trains the staff. He chooses the fish. It may seem like a lot, and it is, but it is all in a day’s work for an executive chef.
To order fish, the chef calls the fishmongers and orders what is fresh for that day. Chefs try to buy from as many fishmongers as possible, because if you buy everything from one fishmonger, prices become marked up. Simple economics.
Sometimes, chefs choose to go with what is called super-frozen fish; it is not vacuum-sealed and is basically frozen right when the fish is caught. In fact, the fish is so frozen that it takes days to defrost. The benefit of this method lies in the convenient side-effect that this technique kills parasites.
Fish which are harder to get a hold of, such as escolar (or superwhite tuna, even though it is technically a mackerel), are super-frozen. Fish that are more readily available, such as salmon, are not super-frozen, but precautions must be taken to ward off bacteria. Chef Tang solves this problem by curing fish with salt, washing it with vinegar, packaging it, then freezing it.
Prior to his current position at Shota, Tang worked for a brief stint at Blue C Sushi, a filler job until he found something better. “They work you like a robot there,” he said, commenting on the lack of creativity for a sushi chef working in the conveyor belt sushi industry.
Seeing Tang's creations are an obvious testament to the fact that invention is his key to success. He has even gone as far as making uni ice cream, which might make some people cringe, but Tang claims it’s good. Shota is the perfect habitat for creative chefs like Tang; it’s evident in the bamboo forest décor of the restaurant, in the restaurant’s inventive promotional offers, and in the thoughtful presentation of their sushi.
Presentation is a big part of eating sushi in America, whereas it is not as important in Japan. In Japan, it’s possible to find “great” sushi that is made so poorly that the rice falls off when you pick it up, but that is unimportant as long as the fish is extremely fresh. In America, the whole package is required, and sushi-eating habits are constantly changing. Salmon used to never be eaten raw, and now, in the United States, it is almost more popular than tuna. According to Tang, sashimi originally consisted generally of octopus, tuna, and whitefish; it has since changed to include things like salmon, squid, and much more.
Tang says that the perks of working as a chef are many. The role is challenging, allows him to try something new, and allows him to simply do what he loves to do – making nice food. Go visit him at Shota, tell him we sent you, and be prepared to eat a tasty and well-crafted meal.
ENJOYING A STANLEY PARK ROLL INSIDE THE RESTAURANT:
LOOKING CLOSER AT A SASHIMI PLATTER FROM SHOTA:
TOP LEFT:
a chili "pepper"
fashioned from tomato
and grated daikon.
TOP RIGHT:
spanish mackerel (aji),
fresh, on a bed of pickled
daikon net. can be deep-
friend upon request.
BOTTOM LEFT:
carrot butterfly on a
bed of daikon, with
various sashimi around
it (click for details).
Hailing from the great big land of Canada, Shota Sushi has now spawned its newest offspring in Bellevue, Washington. With a knack and desire for bringing something new to the table to attract the different United States crowd, Bellevue’s Shota Sushi & Grill is doing its best to go the distance, with fresh ideas that have not been done before.
