Roadtrip U.S.A. 2010

Did you think I had disappeared for good?  Think again.  I've just been traveling up and down the coast of beautiful California, meeting new people and searching for more inspiration.  Please bear with me through the silence because I do not want to fill it with glib drivel.

As a master of sushi... and apparently of life as well, said, "The true art of conversation isn't being able to fill the silence, it's actually listening."  Thank you Philip, I will take that to heart.

For those of you who follow the Sabi Sushi blog, you'd know that Shaan Puri is currently in Los Angeles working under Philip Yi at Sushi Central so that he can take the standard of excellence that Philip sets for his own restaurant, and apply it to SABI.  What you don't know, is that I am here too, behind the scenes.  Watching and learning.

I arrived in Los Angeles after a long 6 hour drive, one spent multitasking between making my poor carsick dog less terrified of being in the car and trying not to fall asleep at the wheel.  Despite being exhausted and cranky, I decided to make my way to Sushi Central to pick Shaan up and reconnect after almost a month of communicating through only computers and phones.  As I pulled into a parking spot - actually diagonally into two parking spots - I saw Shaan conversing with a very serious looking man.  I honked to get their attention.  Shaan looks up confused, and the man glares at me.  Slowly I realize that I recognize him - it's Phil, and I've already made a bad impression.  Crap.

When Shaan finally gets into the car, I try to hightail it out of there, and got pulled over the first time ever.  I put my head in my hands (after I pull over.  Safely, of course.) when I saw the flashing red and blue, and hear the angry shriek of the siren.  I realized that Philip must've seen my crazy asian woman driving.  Confound it.  Strike two.  This guy will never like me.  And I'm about to get a ticket.  And it dawns on me, that I had left my driver's license at home.  Ever been at rock bottom?  That's where I was my first night in L.A.

But by some stroke of crazy luck, the police officer doesn't nail me to the wall for the billion traffic violations I committed by simply pulling out of the Sushi Central lot.  And just rolls his eyes at the fact that I zero documentation on me whatsoever.

If I didn't know it before, I know it now.  I am one lucky MFer.

But more importantly, I learned a few things.

1.  Driving really is both physically and mentally exhausting.  And after a long drive, when you reach your destination, don't try to venture out again.

2.  No matter how fastidiously you try to take precautions and avoid mishaps, sometimes the bad will find you.  Life is about turning the bad into lessons, and moving on.  And you can always move on.  Even from rock bottom.

3.  Impressions are just that, impressions.  It's important to give second chances, to look deeper.  I am not just a crazy asian woman driver.

4.  But at the end of the day, Phil's opinion of me is, as he says, none of my business.  I'll live even if he hates me.  (Which he doesnt... I don't think.  Hopefully, I've redeemed myself after that first night's mishap.) 

And the same can be applied to SABI.  No matter how many people we encounter on the way that scoff at our idea, or who express skepticism at our abilities, we will simply shrug it off, because their opinions are none of our business, unless they want to be part of our business.

More on Phil, and Steve Ells part 2, to come.

Part I of Learning from Ells: Simplicity is beautiful

Back in January this year, Oprah met with Steve Ells (founder of Chipotle) who not only paved the way as one of the first fast casual restaurant chains, but through their contribution to the growing conversation on naturally-sourced food.  Moreover, his restaurant chain made the breakthrough discovery that fast food does not have to be thought of as, "cheap, highly processed, not good for you... not good quality".

Thank you Steve Ells, that's rightfully forward thinking of you.

For Chipotle's monumental success (more than 1000 restaurants today since their first Denver location in 1993), for their commitment to using "everything fresh" to "serve food with a conscience", and for generally thinking out of the box and revolutionizing food culture, Oprah invited Ells to be featured in her "Food 101" episode.  And even though Oprah clearly isn't a fast food type of gal, she exclaimed that she might just have to stop in to try Chipotle's brand of "fast food".

I hope you did Oprah, because Chipotle is really on to something.

It's true.  Not all fast food should be associated with "fast food".  SABI Sushi takes what Chipotle made famous and raises the bar.  Afterall, what's more fresh than fresh fish?  For some time now, sushi has been growing in recognition for its role as a lighter, healthier alternative to some of the greasier, heavier fare on the market.  Naturally low in fat, nutritiously balanced, and flavorful, sushi has the means to provide a delicious path to smarter eating.

But limitations imposed by slow service and expense stood in the way of sushi reaching its full potential.  The vast majority of traditional Japanese restaurants can wrack up huge expenses in order to provide the kaleidoscope of types of fish available on their menus.  Expenses that trickle down to the customer.  And the time-consuming process of preparing the fish for sashimi, or sushi, or nigiri, or hand rolls... they're time-consuming on the customer end as well.

There had to be a better way.  So SABI looked to the strengths demonstrated by the Chipotle model to step outside of these limitations and think outside the box.  Ells had a valuable lesson: while options are the key to broad appeal, simplicity is the key to broad satisfaction.  Applying it to the sushi tradition, already notable for being clean in product, preparation, and presentation was naturally... simple.  In the chaos of the technology age where we are bombarded with information to process and difficult decisions to make, we could use a little structure.  Keep the menu simple, so we can maintain a high standard of quality, so we can stay fresh and delicious, so that we can save you money, and so we can save you time.  It's just the cherry on top that sabi itself means elegant simplicity.

And here's something else: simplifying our inventories simplifies bookkeeping, which allows SABI to direct attentions to more important issues, such as doing that little something extra (both in our restaurants and our local communities) to make the SABI experience mean something more.

"Service with a smile"?  Of course, but let's not forget it's your smiles that really count.