CLAWSON, Mich. – Chef Hajime Sato, owner of Sozai in Clawson, has been named a finalist for a James Beard Award, a prestigious honor in the culinary world.
While the building that houses his restaurant may not fit the traditional mold of fine dining, Sozai has earned a spot as one of the 50 best restaurants in the country.
When Sato opened the doors of Sozai in 2019, he wasn’t thinking about winning awards -- he was thinking about his passion for creating really, really good sushi.
This year, he’s being recognized as one of the best chefs in the country. He’s up for the prestigious James Beard Award.
Sato is up against chefs from New York, Los Angeles and D.C. for the honor that some work their entire lives to just be nominated for, but if you ask him about it, you’d never know.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years now, so I just kind of do what I do every day,” Sato said. “It’s kind of weird that, I don’t know, okay that’s nice, but my life goes on.”
The chef moved to Michigan from Seattle in 2019 where he ran a restaurant that focused on serving sustainable seafood, a passion he brought with him to Sozai. His menu invites conversation about where the food comes from, how it was caught, who caught it, and how none of it goes to waste. All part of his subtle plan to turn the tide.
“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, screaming ‘hey the ocean is not doing well, right? And you’ve got to do something about it,’” Sato said. “The food has to be good, and to make sure that that part is really good, then we can have a conversation, not like ‘rawr sustainability,’ but like ‘hmm, since you asked.’”
In addition to promoting sustainability, Sato is exploring traditional Japanese food and encouraging people to question, care, and have a cause.
“People can be more excited about new things. Excited about a touch closer to what you’d get in Japan,” Sato said.
Michigan has four other James Beard Award nominees, including three chefs in Detroit and another in Ann Arbor. The awards ceremony will take place on June 5 in Chicago.
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