Kihachi Japanese Restaurant: Try to get one of the 10 or so counter seats so you can watch chef Ryuji "Mike" Kimura and sous chef Tsukasa Endo prepare the meal. Here are three ways to savor a little taste of Japan in Columbus. Consider a recent dinner enjoyed by Woolf, which included both deep-fried Atlantic pike skeleton and braised sea bream cheek during a meal at Kihachi. Japanese people, generally, are looking for Japanese food."Ĭolumbus offers an opportunity to be adventurous, to move away from the usual spicy tuna rolls, battered shrimp and sukiyaki. "As in any city where there's a sizable Japanese population, the food follows fairly fast. "But some of the others are definitely good," Woolf said. Not all of these reach the high level set by Kihachi, cautions Bethia Woolf, owner of Columbus Food Adventures, a food tour company, and an influential Columbus food blogger with four sites to her credit ( /blog). The number of Japanese restaurants in and around Columbus ranges from 19 to at least 40, depending on who's counting, and there are dozens more if you tally restaurants under a generic "Asian" theme. Kihachi, a 19-year-old eatery tucked into a strip mall in Columbus' Northwest neighborhood, is so highly regarded that Anthony Bourdain, accompanied by food writer and author Michael Ruhlman no less, visited the restaurant for his "No Reservations" television show. It's why she'll continue hosting cultural events and trying to get the word out.And the good restaurants do indeed get better. The Japan-America Society's Fukuzawa says despite the businesses, stores and restaurants, Japanese culture is still a little under the radar in central Ohio. "Our students can see if they study Japanese really hard, it's really going to be good on their resume." "It's been changing, but here in central Ohio it's different, thanks to a lot of Japanese companies. "Back in 1970, when the economy in Japan was really good, Japanese programs were really strong all over the United States," says Kiyosue. He's president of the Ohio Association of Teachers of Japanese. Some public schools offer Japanese language, and students look to Japanese firms for job prospects, according to Teppei Kiyosue. The Japanese influence in central Ohio extends beyond commerce. Shops carrying a certain kind of sake, or restaurants offering authentic dishes help them do that. So to support that lifestyle, a lot of grocery stores here and Japanese restaurants."įukuzawa says Japanese expatriates seek out reminders of home. "Because of this big Japanese corporation being here such a long time," she says, "Japanese executives and their families are here. The Honda plant in Marysville has a lot to do with it, according to Akisa Fukuzawa, executive director of the Japan-America Society of Central Ohio. And in fact it's big time."Ĭentral Ohio businesses with a Japanese link include everything from hair salons, to ramen noodle shops, to restaurants praised over the years by the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Ohio-based food writer Michael Ruhlman. "And you come to Ohio and you think, 'Oh, it's gonna be small time,' " says Millen. I have cousins who are half-Japanese, and I grew up with sushi and everything else." "One of my most significant fears was that I wouldn't find the food that I had in California. "We moved here 20 years ago," Millen says. From snacks, to fish, to produce, the Tensuke Market in Columbus, Ohio, provides comforts of Japan to ex-pats and casual shoppers.
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