I decided to try a new Japanese restaurant for lunch. The place recently had a grand opening and wasn’t too far from work. I walked in and the decor was contemporary and nice, and the sushi bar was near the entrance. The sushi chef greeted me and I was directed to a table by the waitress.
As I sat down, I thought, ‘Man - I know that
sushi chef, but from where?’ I was about to find out he was thinking the same
thing about me as a customer. After looking at the menu, I selected a bento
lunch (of course) and when the meal was brought to me by the waitress, the
sushi chef was not far behind and walking towards my table with a small dish
and smiling. Then it came back to me. It was ‘James,’ the then-new assistant
sushi chef at my favorite Japanese restaurant I used to go to a few years ago
before it closed. He had just come on board before it shut down.
Back then, the owner of that restaurant used to
give regulars a small dish of tako (octopus) salad for free as an appetizer (it
was listed as $5 on the menu), and that’s what James was bringing out to me. He
was keeping an old tradition we had there going at this new restaurant.
We updated each other
on what we’ve been up to since the last restaurant closed and it was good to
hear he’s been staying busy in the business. He couldn’t update on the others
from the old restaurant because he didn’t know where they were these days.
That’s too bad, because if the proprietress opened up another restaurant in the
area, I’d be there.
Anyway, the bento
meal was good. Not as elaborate as at the place I normally go to now, but good. I’d
like to make it there for dinner eventually and sit at the sushi bar with a few
Kirins and talk story with James.
