Zen years

By Will Ham Just 10 days after opening Now & Zen in 2011, chef/owner Toshi Sato’s hometown on the east coast of Japan was struck by a devastating tsunami. The disaster in Kesennuma was dubbed the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the seismic activity destroyed large parts of the region, spilling fuel from the town’s […]

Sick leave: At least 25 get ill from pop-up dinner

A crucial part of learning to be a sushi chef is food safety. So imagine Now & Zen owner/chef Toshi Sato’s horror when he learned that people who attended a special pop-up ramen dinner February 16 at his restaurant got sick. “All my good customers,” he says. “I was terrorized. I didn’t know what caused it. […]