For Master Sake Sommelier Yuji Matsumoto — the first in the U.S. — sake is more than just sushi’s sidekick. Appreciating Japan’s native drink is all about “designing taste.”
ISSUE: Winter 2010-11
DEPT: Entertaining
STORY: Anna M. Park
Master Sake Sommelier Yuji Matsumoto pours the Oyama sake into a white wine glass. Holding the base and stem, he swirls, then sniffs. Fruity. Tart. Perhaps a hint of pear? It’s a familiar scene at any wine tasting, but for sake? Indeed, says Matsumoto, one of only 60 certified master sake sommeliers in the world. In sake, it’s all about taste, he adds, as opposed to varietals or regions.
In fact, Matsumoto gives seminars on “designing taste,” informing the industry on brewing standards, mill percentages and aging. He’s a man who takes his work seriously, so you have to give Kabuki restaurants real cred that it’s got the U.S.’s first (and until recently, only) master sake sommelier on board. Matsumoto oversees all of the 14 Kabuki restaurants’ extensive sake and cocktail menu, making sure to complement Corporate Executive Chef Masa Kurihara’s newly unveiled menu of both traditional and innovative Japanese cuisine. Started in 1991 when owner David Lee opened the first Kabuki in Pasadena, Calif., today the 14 Kabukis in the western U.S. include restaurants in Las Vegas and their newest location in Brea, Calif.
Details Kabukirestaurants.com
Master Sake Sommelier Yuji Matsumoto’s Plum Orange Tokyo Mojito
Ingredients:
7-8 mint leaves
2 oz Jinro Soju 2.5 Takara Plum Wine
1 oz bar syrup
Dash of Yuzu juice (a Japanese citrus)
2 orange wheels
Muddle and mix the first five ingredients. Top off with club soda and garnish with orange wheels.
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As an authentic Angry Asian Girl, I’ma lay it down:
Alcohol is an acquired taste. Try some Faygo, I bet it’ll rock your world. Try chugging water, might save you from bankruptcy. Maybe don’t drink a depressant to make yourself feel better.
To be fair, drinking is as much a cultural and social thing now as it was used to slip you rohypnol. I have no problem with casual drinking amongst friends, to have a nice evening in the atmosphere it can bring. But what I mostly see is people using it as an excuse to look and be the kind of stupid they’ve always wanted to be. With the inhibition taken care of, letting loose isn’t so much an issue anymore. With alcohol as the blame, you can tell everyone it wasn’t really you that night. But you develop this vice that so often spirals down, down, into what is the “snowball effect.” Many of my friends are naturally very shy people and rely on alcohol to calm their nerves (like a makeshift beta blocker). I personally don’t drink because it makes me hot, tired, leaves a nice headache as a parting gift, and tastes awful. Perhaps it’s a warning as to possible angry drunkenness. Perhaps I’d better listen.
All the same, I can’t knock Matsumoto for being an artist, and he is just that. He is someone who looks for taste, flavor, and interest in what normal people find snobbish. However, the latter demographic also thinks it’s cool to buy a 30-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon. lol Ah well. “So it goes.”
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