Los Angeles was the first city in America to successfully embrace sushi. In 1966, a man named Noritoshi Kanai and his Jewish business partner, Harry Wolff, opened Kawafuku Restaurant in Little Tokyo. Kawafuku was the first to offer traditional nigiri sushi to American patrons. The sushi bar was successful with Japanese businessmen, who then introduced it to their American colleagues.
According to Sasha Issenberg in The Sushi Economy, the menu was based primarily around local seafood such as sea urchin, abalone, mackerel and tuna. Saito supplemented with seafood shipped from Japan’s famed Tsukiji Market, as well, bringing exotic dishes like giant clams to the city. He created meals to order, serving customers over the counter. It was a real sushi bar—a phrase Kanai claimed to have coined.
Kawafuku’s sushi chef had made $30,000 dollars over just four years, allowing him to travel back to Ginza, Japan. The rumor of wealth spread quickly, and many struggling sushi chefs were able to make a living by expanding the sushi craze in America.
In the years following, several other sushi bars began opening along the west coast from L.A. to Santa Monica Beach, an area that became commonly referred to as “Sushi Row.” Its location in the heart of the American entertainment industry quickly made it a trendy and high-class cuisine, an image that has not altogether disappeared. Sushi continues to spread Japanese tradition in the U.S. today, and it’s never too late to give it a try.
According to guide.michelin.com; pbs.org; ilovesushiseattle.com. Source of photos: internet
