Western cuisine with Europe
By Keiko Fukuda
The featured restaurant, “Café Hiro” is located in a small shopping mall in the city of Cypress in Orange County, and is a bit away from the freeways. Despite the rather inconvenient location, this restaurant is always our first choice whenever I want to meet up for lunch with a friend who works in a Japanese company in the area. It is also the place to meet with a gourmet friend who lives in Irvine because it is located at the middle point between Irvine and South Bay where I live. The reason for us to choose this restaurant every time is that we know everything is guaranteed to be tasty. Basically, the dishes served there are Japanese-style Western dishes with a hint of European essence as described in the catch phrase of this restaurant: a collaboration of Japanese and French cuisine with a hint of Italian. Another pleasing factor is their reasonable pricing.
The owner/chef, Hiroto Ohiwa has 33-years of cooking experience. He grew up in the United States for a while because his father was assigned to work for the American division within a Japanese company. After going back to Japan, and turning 20 years old, he spent 4 years working in a Japanese restaurant in the Aichi Prefecture. After that, he attended a cooking school in London, England, and then spent the last few months in a school in Paris, France, which gave him a chance to serve his apprenticeship in a restaurant in Paris for the next 2 years.
After coming back to U.S., he worked in a various first-class restaurants including “Matsuhisa” and “Café Del Rey”. He was then assigned to be responsible to kick off a restaurant in West Los Angeles. Then, in 2002, he finally opened “Café Hiro” which holds part of his name.
Hiro’s such unique experiences in Japanese and French cooking show in his free-spirited and creative dishes. He says, “When I cook, I only think about making the customers who taste my dishes smile. Of course, I want to keep creating dishes that I, myself, think are tasty as well.”
So what kinds of dishes does Hiro remember as most delicious from his past? “First that comes to my mind is the sautéed shrimp topped with curry sauce that I had at Robuchon in Paris. Next one is the risotto- stuffed pig ear topped with sautéed halibut that I had also in Paris”, was his answer. He said that there are a lot more than he can remember.
The current richly diverse menu has been created by slowly adding dishes over the years to the original menu they had at the opening. Most of the customers are people who work or live in the area. The risottos with mushrooms and scallops are popular among Caucasian Americans whereas Asian Americans prefer the sea urchin spaghetti, hamburger steak, and pork cutlet. The curry dishes which are cooked with a lot of spices, vegetables, and fruits that taste better than the specialty stores, are paired with various ingredients such as pork or chicken cutlet, wild mushrooms, beef, chicken, or vegetables. The high ceiling provides a casual and open ambience, and you feel very comfortable inside the restaurant.
It has already been 14 years since the opening of Café Hiro. I asked Hiro what the secret of the long running success was. He said there was really nothing.
“When we first opened, we placed some ads in magazines, etc., but what really helped was word of mouth and repeat visits of the customers. Recently, thanks to Yelp, we don’t need to advertise. The customers spread the good word for us.”
In 2012, Café Hiro was ranked second best in OC Weekly’s “10 Great Japanese Restaurants in Orange County”. However, Hiro, being so carefree, did not even know about it until a while later.
I took his photo with the kitchen staff, Louis and Carlos, who both have been with the restaurant for over 12 years. When I asked Hiro the secret of keeping the employees so long, he said that he would never tell lies. That also must be the secret of the popularity of his dishes. Café Hiro’s dishes do not lie.
ヨーロッパが感じられる洋食
オレンジ郡のサイプレス。フリーウェイからは離れたモールの一角に、その店、カフェ・ヒロはある。周辺の日系企業に勤務する友人を訪ねてランチする時は必ずと言っていいほど名前が挙がるレストランだ。また、アーバインに住むグルメの友人と、サウスベイに住む私が中間地点で待ち合わせるのもこの店。その理由は、何を食べても納得、安心の味だから。基本は日本の洋食だが、「イタリアンを加味した、日本料理とフレンチのブレンド」とこの店のキャッチフレーズにもあるように、ヨーロッパのエッセンスが感じられる。しかも値段がリーズナブルなのも嬉しい。
同店のオーナーシェフ、大岩洋人さんの料理人歴は33年。父親の駐在先のアメリカで育った後、日本に帰国、20歳から４年間、愛知県の和食店で働いた。その後、イギリス、ロンドンの料理学校に留学し、最後の数カ月をフランス、パリにあるキャンパスで学んだ。その学校の紹介でパリ市内のレストランで２年間、フレンチの修行を積んだ。その後、アメリカに戻り、松久やカフェデルレイといった一流レストランに勤務した後、ウエストロサンゼルスのレストランの立ち上げに携わり、さらに2002年、自分の名前を冠したカフェ・ヒロをオープンした。
このように和食、フレンチのバックグランドを持つヒロさんの料理は枠に収まらない自由な発想をもとに作られる。「お客様が喜んでくれる、笑顔になる料理ということしか、考えていません。そしてもちろん、自分自身が美味しいと感じられる料理を作り続けたいです」。
それではヒロさんの記憶に残る美味しかった料理とは？「まずはパリのロブションで食べた、カレーソースがかかったエビのソテー。それからこれもパリで食べた、豚の耳に詰めたリゾットの上にヒラメのソテーが載った料理」と答えた。美味なる料理の記憶は数えきれないほどあると言う。
メニューは、開店当初に作り上げたものをベースに、少しずつ増え、現在の豊富な選択肢にまで広がった。訪れるのは周辺の企業に勤める人や近隣の住民が中心。白人系のアメリカ人にはマッシュルームやスキャロップを使ったリゾット、アジア系には雲丹スパゲティ、ハンバーグやポークカツが人気。また、専門店顔負けのスパイス、野菜、フルーツを多用した本格的なカレーも、ポークカツ、チキンカツ、ワイルドマッシュルーム、ビーフ、チキン、野菜と数種揃う。店は天井が高くカジュアルさと開放感に溢れて居心地が良い。
そして、ヒロさんがこの店を開けて14年が経過した。長く続けている秘訣を聞くと、特別なことは何もしていないと答えた。
「オープン当初に営業されて、雑誌に広告を単発で出したりしましたが、結局は
お客さんの口コミとリピートに支えられてきました。それに今はYelpがあるから、こちらが何もしなくてもお客さんの方で噂を広めてくれます」
2012年にはOC Weeklyが選出した「10 Great Japanese Restaurant in Orange County」の２位にランクイン。それについても「実は取り上げられたことを後で知ったんです」とヒロさんはどこまでも自然体だ。
最後にキッチンを任せるスタッフ、ルイスさんとカルロスさんと一緒に写真を撮影した。何と2人とも12年以上も勤続していると言う。「スタッフに長く働いてもらうこつは？」という質問には「嘘をつかないことですね」と答えたヒロさん。その言葉にこそ、彼の料理の人気の秘密がある。カフェ・ヒロの料理は嘘をつかないのだ。
Café Hiro
10509 Valley View St
Cypress, CA 90630
714-527-6090
www.cafehiro.com
Mon. Closed
Tue.-Thu.11:30am-2:00pm,5:30pm-9:15pm
Fri.11:30am-2:00pm,5:30pm-9:45pm
Sat.12:00pm-2:30pm,5:30pm-9:45pm
Sun.12:00pm-2:30pm,5:00pm-9:15pm
