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New branches of KATSU-YA keep opening at an impressive rate. And it does not take long for each new branch of the eatery to become a very popular and highly successful restaurant in its own right. (KATSU-YA in Brentwood, for instance, is so popular that it is totally booked three months in advance.) Chef Katsuya was inspired to expand his business after reading a book written by Rocky Aoki, owner of famous “Benihana” chain. Since then, chef Katsuya’s objective is to expand his restaurant business all over the United States, then the world. At the rate things are going, that day may not be too far away.
After chef Katsuya realized his long held ambition and opened his first restaurant, KATSU-YA #1, in Studio City, business remained stagnant for year or so. Those days of trial and error, wondering what he should do to attract more customers, went on until one Friday. That weekend, the business suddenly caught fire. “All of a sudden, customers started pouring in like you wouldn’t believe,” chef Katsuya recalls the eventful day. From that day on, the restaurant has always been crowded and business has boomed. As for why things changed suddenly on that Friday, chef Katsuya has no clue. All he can say, looking back, is that “I have continued to focus on cooking great food ever since I opened my first restaurant. I always wanted to make the customers happy. And I never made anything that I was not totally satisfied with.” In Studio City, where people from the movie industry abound, chef Katsuya’s commitment to excellence must have finally been recognized and appreciated on that fateful Friday.
Listed above are the planned openings of KATSU-YA restaurants in the near future. Five new branches in only three years! Starting so many new branches one after another, I wonder if chef Katsuya will be so busy that he will struggle keeping the quality of the food high at each and every branch. But “I will open them,” he says calmly yet firmly. “It is scary. Every time I open a new branch, I do worry about how things are going to go. ... But I can not help taking on difficult challenges,” says chef Katsuya. His gentle but strong will to actualize his dream of opening restaurants throughout the United States and the world underlies his statement. Chef Katsuya goes on saying “(when I was going through my culinary training,) I made a lot of mistakes. But I never think of that time as painful. ... I love cooking. I love seeing customers happy. |
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That must be the main reason why customers keep coming to my restaurants. I just try to create something I like, and have a great time seeing the customers enjoy my cooking ...
Chef Katsuya has proven to be a very successful restaurateur with each new enterprise. He is a very skilled professional chef whose restaurants are constantly rated high in Zagat survey. I felt quite nervous before meeting him for this interview, because I thought chef Katsuya would be an extremely strict and demanding person. To the contrary, he is a calm and mild-mannered man who is polite to everyone. According to him, one of his favorite TV shows triggered his culinary journey: An anecdote I found sort of cute for a man of his caliber and achievements. He is also a graduate of the Tsuji Culinary Institute, a famous school for chefs in Japan. But “I haven’t made any use of those years at Tsuji because I didn’t like studying and wasn’t a very diligent student,” chef Katsuya says smiling. When you are face to face with chef Katsuya, you find him surprisingly approachable. Since I was afraid that he might be an intimidating sort of person, this realization was a great relief. Encouraged by his natural humility, I was able to talk more freely. I would like to share one of his responses to my question regarding his dreams for the future.
Q: You have established so many
successful restaurants. But if you could have just one
dream restaurant, what would it be like?
A: A small restaurant with a capacity of
just about 24 people where I can handle everything by myself
would be my dream.
As things are now, even regular customers have to wait for a long time to be seated at KATSU-YA restaurants. Despite the wait, regular customers keep coming back to order the chef’s choice. The chef’s choice is made from the freshest meats, seafood, and vegetables found that day, and is prepared according to the intuitive inspiration of chef Katsuya.
In order to offer such unique items exclusively, the dream restaurant would have to be relatively small. Maybe a counter space plus one table would be the maximum limit. “What I have in mind is a place without even a sign. There I would like to serve food to those people who happened to discover my place.”
Although it sounds like a very unlikely dream for someone who has created so many prosperous restaurants, I think his ideal restaurant sounds wonderful. Chef Katsuya is quiet yet energetic and determined. He is full of creative ideas about cuisine, too. I believe that he will open up the restaurant of his dreams one day. If I pass by a restaurant with no sign, I will definitely check it out. If I am lucky, a pleasant meal full of chef Katsuya’s unique inspirations may be waiting to be discovered. |
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