Kampai sushi chef for a day!

    Today, I had the awesome privilage of working with sushi bar chefs Andrew and Michael Matsushima at Kampai Japanese Steakhouse. First of all, I can't thank Mrs. Krieger enough for contacting Andrew (the Matsushimas and Kriegers are family friends) and setting the stage for this amazing opportunity. Second, I would like to recognize and thank the chefs, and chef in training, for generously taking time out of their busy work hours to work with me attentively and answer my many questions regarding their craft. 

Now for the details! 

I began by adorning myself with the proper attire for the job and taking a sneaky kitchen selfie.

Next, Andrew showed me the process of preparing the cooked rice. This involves a specific technique of a "slicing" motion with the giant rice paddle, which goes with the giant wooden bowl. The size of the bowl allows the rice to cool faster. 

    After preparing the rice, Andrew invited me to the serving area (sushi bar) where I watched him fill a couple orders, then he walked me through the process of making a california roll and I got to try my hand at it! Hardest part? Spreading the rice onto the nori (seaweed). As Andrew put it, "once rice starts sticking to your hands, it just goes downhill from there," which is why you have to wet them to prevent this.

Please feel free to expand this picture to figure out which is mine and which is Andrew's...lol. I also got to get rid of the evidence. Yum.

    The next project was a cucumber inside-out roll, which involves a slightly different technique and looks like this: 

Cutting the pieces evenly is also a skill that takes quite a few tries to perfect, hence my roll's resemblance to a city skyline. 

    I unfortunately can't upload the video from my phone, but I also got the official "cucumber slicing 101" course from the chef-in-training whose name I really don't want to butcher, but was pronounced "Long." He has been training at Kampai for about three weeks now and already cranks out some awesome Kampai-quality sushi.

    Michael said, and I quote, "yeah we would probably serve this" regarding my second try at the california roll, and Andrew agreed. Regardless of whether they were just being nice, I was PUMPED.

    While Andrew took care of some inventory, Michael coached me through a delicious tuna roll, which was probably my favorite thing to create and eat.

Please ignore the pesky avocado slice trying to escape from the corner piece.

    In short, I can honestly say that this was one of the coolest things I have done in my entire life. From the plethora of tips and tricks that Andrew and the others taught me, I think I'll be able to improve my sushi a lot and I can't wait to go out and get more ingredients. Again, thank you Mrs. Krieger and thank you Kampai staff for giving me this kickass opportunity. 

    I was also fortunate enough to meet the man who started it all, Richard Matsushima. He is pleasant, welcoming, and was happy to have me at his restaurant. He also went out of his way to have this picture taken!

From left: "Long," Michael Matsushima, some wierd kid, and Andrew Matsushima. All three chefs were incredibly helpful and accomodating toward me and made it an experience I'll never forget. 

    I wish I could have fit every little detail into this blog post, but I hope you guys enjoyed it and that you'll go to Kampai soon and try some of their amazing food! 

Some additional pics: 

Myself and Andrew, also note the chalkboard behind me that I leaned up against and imprinted today's specials on my back.

"Yeah, we'd probably serve that." 

The staff was kind enough to send me home with two of my creations (left, top left), and a beautiful off-menu roll prepared by Michael. (right)

Some lovely "angel" rolls prepared by Andrew. Drool.