The Macy's Culinary Council: Japanese Home Cooking With Takashi Yagihashi

The Macy's Culinary Council's goal is to inspire Americans to eat, cook, and enjoy food at home—like a chef. Over his twenty five year career, Takashi Yagihashi has been lauded by his peers and fans for his unique way of melding contemporary French, Asian and American cuisine. Sound daunting? It's not. Yagihashi is a self-taught chef. A native of Mito, Japan, he was part of a family that dined out often and he liked what he was tasting and seeing. He started to work in restaurants as a teenager and worked his way up the line eventually landing at Chicago's Les Plumes restaurant. There he hit his stride, mastering the classic techniques and starting to develop a style of his own. Awards and accolades followed. His Detroit restaurant Tribute landed on every "best of" list the year it opened including Gourmet's list of America's Top 50 Restaurants, Wine Spectator's "Best of Award of Excellence" (2004), four stars from the Mobil Travel Guide (2000 – 2004), four diamonds from AAA (1998 – 2004), The New York Times naming Tribute "one of America's top restaurants" in 2002, describing it as perhaps "the finest restaurant between New York and Chicago."

In 2012, Yagihashi competed in the fourth season of Top Chef Masters, participating in seven rounds of competition and ultimately winning the coveted "Fan Favorite" award. His approachable culinary style and innovative cuisine made fans want to cook like Yagihashi.

What's on the Menu

On March 23, he will show foodies just how it's done at the Macy's Culinary Council in downtown Minneapolis. His focus for the event? Japanese home cooking. "It's my soul food," the chef says. The dishes he plans to showcase are featured in his cookbook and at his restaurant Slurping Turtle. "I love street food – American and Japanese. We serve street food at Slurping Turtle with both American and Asian ingredients."

A Distinct Culinary Point of View

The types of dishes Chef Yagihashi serves fall in line with his culinary point of view, which is to focus on "fresh and seasonal" ingredients and dishes that are " easy to execute." His advice for home cooks is to "use common Asian ingredients like soy and miso and combine them with American ingredients (cheese, olive oil, butter)." Focusing on healthy easy to acquire ingredients will motivate home cooks to get into the kitchen more. Must haves, he says, are a clay pot – a deep one for winter dishes with broth and a shallow one for all seasons." So, what is his favorite easy dish to cook, eat, and teach? "Noodles."

Event Details

Date: March 23rd

Time: 12:00PM CST

Address:

Venue: Macy's Downtown Minneapolis

Location: Lower Level Culinary Kitchen

Price per person: Free

Seating: First come first served basis