FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Chef credits family, 'Boys' for sushi success

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

How many celebrity chef books begin their book with three pages of thanks?

How many chefs make their grandma's recipe for Pork and Beans the very first one in the book? But obaachan Tsuwa Kodama lived with her son's family for years, and D.K. was her favorite.

Also included are recipes from his mother, Sandy, an excellent home cook known to Sansei staff and customers as "Mama" Kodama. She and her husband, Tamateru ("Tama"), help out in the Honolulu restaurant daily.

D.K. Kodama recalls that, when he was young, Sandy Kodama was an adventurous cook, who was as likely to present an Indian meal as a Japanese one. "She opened our eyes to different types of cuisine. It made me appreciate everything. ... I'm biased, but if she wasn't my mom I'd still look at her and be awed. She gives her heart and she doesn't want anything in return," said Kodama in an interview last week.

In his cookbook, Kodama also honors "The Boys in the Kitchens" — senior executive chef on Maui Ivan Pahk, Honolulu executive chef Keith Endo, corporate chef Tom Selman and pastry chef Rodney Weddle — with short biographies. He also credits his co-author, Maui publicist Bonnie Friedman.

"It's not about me at all," he said. "I'm part of it, but I'm part of a whole family, everyone has a little piece of making this work."

Kodama worked in more than 20 restaurants here and on the Mainland, learning sushi-making as well as "big plate" cooking, before he opened Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar in Kapalua, Maui, in 1996. He's done it all, from busboy up. But he never thought of writing a cookbook until his customers began asking for one.

"Everyone kept asking for recipes, recipes, recipes," he said. So here they are, customer favorites including my personal ones: calamari salad and foie gras nigiri sushi.

Selman tested most of the recipes, every one of which had to be scaled down from the restaurant version and streamlined with the home cook in mind, Kodama said.

The book begins with "D.K.'s Sushi Classes" — 101 (ingredient and equipment guide and how to throw a hand-roll party) and 201 (making makizushi, rolled sushi) plus a chapter on nigiri sushi and sashimi, then moves on to salads, "small plates," "big plates" and "sweet plates" (including Sandy Kodama's killer pound cake).

Kodama acknowledged that the average home cook isn't going to make the perfect makizushi the first time out. "Sushi is all about repetition. You just have to do it over and over," he said. The book covers solid basics; the rest is up to you. However, he said, "That's why we added the section on roll-your-own. If I were giving a sushi party at home, that's what I would do."

Reach Wanda Adams at wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2412.