What Is Wafu Spaghetti? Here Are 5 Places to Try It in LA

[Celerity]

The classic Italian dish is reimagined with Japanese preparations and ingredients.

https://www.thrillist.com/eat/los-angeles/best-japanese-spaghetti-los-angeles



When Tadashi Kimura, owner and chef of Akane Chaya, decided to open a restaurant in the United States, he first came with the intention of opening an izakaya. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of bringing Japanese soul food stateside, and in particular, a comfort food he made for nearly 12 years at his coffee shop in Osaka’s Tanimachi neighborhood: wafu spaghetti. “For me, spaghetti is soul food,” Kimura says. "I wanted my diners stateside to experience the kind of comfort food that I served, ate, and loved in Japan.”

Wafu spaghetti was invented at Tokyo-based restaurants Kabe no Ana and Hashiya in the 1950s, with the intention of transforming a dish that had become associated with military rations into something that would be palatable to Japanese customers. It falls under a style of yoshoku, or Western-influenced Japanese cuisine, and is made with ingredients that are commonplace in Japanese kitchens. For example, aglio e olio that’s peppered with finely chopped shiso leaves instead of parsley; spaghetti alla bottarga that’s tossed with bright-pink cod roe, a shoyu-butter sauce, and sprinkled with thinly shredded nori flakes; tagliatelle ai funghi made with dashi-imbued spaghetti noodles and stir-fried with butter, bacon, and shimeji, shiitake, and enoki mushrooms, plus a splash of shoyu. The dish is as expansive as it is inventive—a product of an era of post-war cooking and experimentation that defines Japanese comfort food today.

But wafu spaghetti is much more than a Japanese twist on Italian cuisine—it’s an entire ethos. “For me, wafu spaghetti is the product of a certain Japanese sensibility toward food,” Kimura says. “It’s not just the ingredients—it’s the subtleties in the taste, it’s the way it’s prepared and served, it’s the way it’s consumed. All of these things define wafu spaghetti.” Kimura’s eclectic menu—ranging from classic cod roe spaghetti to hamburger steaks—was a hit with the local Japanese community when he first opened his doors in Gardena’s Pacific Square Plaza in 1991. At the time, he was one of two restaurants (the other being Spoon House Bakery and Restaurant across the street) serving Japanese-style spaghetti in Los Angeles. But, while Kimura developed a loyal base of Japanese regulars, he noticed that wafu spaghetti was still perplexing to some of his American customers.

“My menu is tailored to a Japanese palate,” he notes. “It’s definitely a lighter taste than what is offered in American or Italian restaurants. I was warned by someone at the time, ‘Mr. Kimura, this is Los Angeles. Your food isn’t spicy. It’s not greasy or salty. It’s steaming hot and your portions are small. You won’t get any customers!’ But, I stood my ground and resolved to make my spaghetti my way.” Thirty years later, the times have finally caught up with Kimura: LA’s food scene, propelled by a new generation of chefs from the city’s diverse immigrant communities, has become a scene defined by hyphens—a forever expanding, experimental smorgasbord of colliding cultures, tastes, and histories. And, as the food scene has evolved, Kimura says, so too have the city’s restaurant-goers, who now venture across freeways to get a taste of steaming hot spaghetti noodles sauced with briny shoyu-clam emulsions or sour pickled umeboshi.

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[marble falls]

1. Think Door Dash will deliver that dish to Marble Falls?

[luv2fly]

2. I like saying "Wah-foo"

Thanks for this!

[Celerity]

3. 12 Types of Wafu Pasta (Japanese-Style Pasta)

https://gurunavi.com/en/japanfoodie/2016/10/types-of-wafu-pasta.html?__ngt__=TT12651b482006ac1e4ae3f6g293mimzz0BfOwrfBKEacL











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