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Eastern Feasts — Page 3
What does a traditional Japanese chef think about this
culinary amalgam? Tojo’s on Broadway has influenced
a generation of Vancouver chefs since it opened in 1988.
Chef Hidekazu Tojo, diminutive in stature yet somehow
larger than life, doesn’t so much speak as erupt
into enthusiastic outbursts. “Understanding our
food is a good way to understand our culture, so it’s
a good thing,” he says. “Great chefs crave
variety, and using different techniques makes you better.
It makes you sharp.” He cautions that chefs must
first master their own cuisine before they begin experimenting
with others’. “I’ve seen chefs boil
miso—no flavour. You must study. Otherwise, taste
bad.”
Tojo lets me sample an inky-black dressing. “I
use this for my octopus and geoduck. Do you know why
it tastes so good?” He leans in close and stage-whispers, “I
add balsamic vinegar to the dressing!”
At this, he throws back his head to laugh and claps
his hands in delight. “I learned that one from
Pino-san!”
Pino-san—better known as Pino Posteraro, chef
and proprietor of Cioppino’s, and our Chef of
the Year—when asked about Asian influences at
his Yaletown room, says: “I want to show you something.
Follow me into the kitchen.”
He walks past noodles boiling in large pots and cooks
slicing perfect filets of tuna, into his dry-storage
room. Shelves are lined with bonito flakes, rice wine,
wasabi, soy sauce, and fermented shrimp paste. The droning
hum from the walk-in cooler all but silences the bustle
of staff scurrying to prepare for a busy night. A young
man in kitchen whites and sporting a serious expression
hurries past, carrying yuzu and sprigs of lemongrass.
My host leans down to open a five-gallon pail, exposing
a murky liquid with a pungent aroma. “I make my
own ponzu vinegar,” he tells me, savouring my
surprise.
Italian-born Posteraro is so drawn to Asian cuisine
that he passed on the opportunity to open the Four Seasons
in Milan to accept a two-year tenure in Singapore. “I
would wake up first thing in the morning to visit the
huge outdoor wet markets [so named because the ice preserving
all the fresh produce would melt in the heat] and was
inspired by the bounty of different fish and herbs and
fruits and spice. I was amazed by their ability to bring
levels of flavour and acidity to a dish. Harnessing
these ingredients in a discerning way gives my native
Mediterranean dishes a different dimension.”
Posteraro marinates his sablefish in fermented miso
and marsala wine, and finishes it with a soy sabayon;
his wild sockeye salmon is dressed with a soy ponzu
tomato vinaigrette. “The soy adds layers to a
dish constructed in the classical way, bringing an element
that traditional western ingredients can’t provide.”
He keeps a squeeze bottle of his homemade ponzu vinegar
right between his olive oil and aged balsamic as part
of his mise-en-place. You’ll find soy sauce in
the beurre noisette he uses for his ravioli. (“It
cuts through the butter.”) While preparing his
famous grilled Caesar salad, he shares a secret: he
adds soy, sweet mirin, and ponzu to the dressing. His
crab salad is dressed with a ponzu mayonnaise that contains
balsamic, wasabi, wakame, and pickled Japanese cucumber.
Even his crème brûlée is made with
lemongrass and ginger instead of the traditional vanilla
bean and lemon zest. “Taking those extra steps
makes food much more interesting.”
A peek into Posteraro’s pantry proves that defining
West Coast cooking is not as easy as it seems. Sure,
words like “regional” and “seasonal” go some way toward describing
our cuisine, and the increased use of organic and sustainable
ingredients is undeniable. Yet if you ask chefs of any
background about their favourite restaurants in Vancouver,
they’ll mention places like Tojo’s, Kirin,
Sun Sui Wah, and Kintaro. And they take lessons learned
in those rooms back to their own kitchens. Without the
profound but overlooked influence of Asian traditions,
ingredients, and techniques there would still be an
indigenous style of regional cooksing. But it wouldn’t
be West Coast cuisine as we know it.
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