On Dinner Parties

Hosting dinner parties are a unique experience for me. It's a way for me to put together meals for friends, and showcase guest talent. It also allows me to practice techniques from work, that I might not get around to doing, depending on the orders that night.

For example, we prepare steamed ankimo (monkfish liver) on Friday at Okoze. Problem is, I don't work Fridays. Therefore, I'll practice this at home, and it's become a regular appearance at the dinner parties. It's not something a casual sushi eater would order, yet it hasn't been turned down at a dinner party before. That being said, the dinner party venue is a great way to introduce new foods...as long as your execution is good. Fortunately, the guests provide good, crisp feedback and I'll take it seriously.

I can also work on various speed techniques in preparation for my work shift on Sunday. For example, thin slicing Japanese cucumbers. Each sliver should be between 1 to 2mm at least for our restaurant spec. We don't use a mandoline for that, nor do we have all day to serve one dish. I'll talk more about the planning behind dinner parties and the synergies between them and work.

I don't really call it work though. It's a privilege to serve our customers and I get to work with seafood at the highest quality levels.