WONDER WOMAN BREAKS CULINARY GLASS CEILING TO CREATE WONDROUS EDIBLE ART

NIKI NAKAYAMA - N/NAKA

Wonder Women are powerful in their own right. But they are often particularly notable when they are compared to men -- a fact that is a double edged sword. Chef Niki Nakayama is a fine example.

Nakayama ranks as a Wonder Woman for her wildly creative, masterfully conceived and executed Japanese cuisine. She serves her edible art to those lucky enough to reserve a table at her LA restaurant n/naka, considered one of the top restaurants in the world.

But Nakayama is particularly distinguished because she is the only female kaiseki chef in the world -- a fact she proud while at the same time she wishes that the “female” label could be dropped.

Kaiseki is an ancient Japanese culinary tradition that draws from 4 historic periods: imperial court cuisine (有職料理 yūsoku ryōri), from the 9th century; Buddhist cuisine of temples (精進料理 shōjin ryōri), from the 12th century; samurai cuisine of warrior households (本膳料理 honzen ryōri), from the 14th century; and tea ceremony cuisine (茶懐石 cha kaiseki), from the 15th century.

Kaiseki, at its heart, is an edible art form that balances and choreographs the tastes, textures, appearances, and colors of food, using only fresh seasonal ingredients.

Nakayama’s kaiseki is a modern 13 course culinary adventure that most recently focuses primarily on locally sourced ingredients. It wows the senses! It stirs the soul! She even offers a vegetarian kaiseki option, sourced from n/naka’s own vegetable and herb garden and local foraging.

Nakayama was inspired to locally source her kaiseki after a visit to Japan in January 2015. While the farm-to-table movement has been built on the principle that the key to freshness is sourcing as close as you can to your dining experience, it’s especially valued in Japan, as people there feel very connected to their native turfs.

Working with local people and resources such as the Dock to Dish program, that finds sustainable fish in local waters, and master forager Pascal Baudar, Nakayama works her magic with a wide range of tastes and textures harvested from land and sea close to home base. 

Rather than importing traditional ingredients from Japan, as most US-based Japanese chefs do, Nakama keeps it local. She makes her own dashi from locally sourced personally smoked bonito. She produces her own miso. She adapts her approach to local fish such as Santa Barbara sea urchin, abalone, shrimp, and crab, all of which are somewhat different from Japanese varieties.

Unique items, such as endemic keyhole limpet, turban sea snail, tobacco weed, and wild black mustard, offer Nakayama the chance to innovate even more. 

Chef Nakayama, together with her wife and sous chef Carole Iida-Nakayama, have created signature dishes, such as spaghettini with abalone, truffles and ponzu; caviar on dashi foam, which takes 8 months to prepare; and other equally eclectic taste experiences that are beyond stellar. Many are artfully arranged, with delicate flowers and microgreens from the couple’s home garden.

It’s not easy to get a reservation at n/naka. Nakayama makes sure each meal is worth the wait.

Watch Nakama’s The Mind of a Chef episode on Netflix's Chef's Table and watch this culinary Wonder Woman in action.