Cook Like Chef Nobuo Fukuda
James Beard Award-winning chef Nobuo Fukuda will demonstrate his East meets West approach to cooking at 6:30 p.m., April 6, in the Virginia G. Piper Theater at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
The free event is part of Scottsdale Arts’ annual Discovery Series, which focuses on exploring the artistic culture of a different country each year. This season it is Japan.
Fukuda was born and raised in Tokyo. After starting his career at Benihana in his hometown at the age of 20, he moved to Arizona where he has been working for 30 years.
Currently chef at Nobuo at Teeter House in downtown Phoenix, Fukuda first gained recognition at Restaurant Hapa in Paradise Valley, Ariz., where he partnered with chef-owner James McDevitt, whose take on Asian fusion food inspired Fukuda to conduct similar experiments with sushi.
In 2002, Fukuda opened Sea Saw, a Japanese tapas bar in Scottsdale that earned him a James Beard award, accolades from every local publication and a Chef to Watch nod from John Mariani of Esquire magazine, as well as a spot on the Best New Chefs of 2003 list from Food & Wine magazine.
Known as a self-assured iconoclast who honors Japanese traditions as he breaks them, Fukuda elevates and sometimes re-invents Japanese cuisine, while offering inventive omakase.
The cooking demonstration is part of the Yo! Matsuri Festival that closes this season’s Discovery Series, which began in October.
Other festival highlights include:
- Performances by HopiToWa, a Japanese and Native American fusion band; Surfing Godzillas, a retro Japanese rock ’n’ roll band; and Arizona Ondo Kai, a local Japanese folk dance troupe
- Collaborative Taiko show with local Taiko groups
- Educational events, such as a Japanese tea demonstration, a film screening on Japanese lowriding culture and information on the history of Japanese tattooing
- Sake tastings led by Arizona’s only sake brewer, Atsuo Sakurai of Arizona Sake
East Meets West: Cooking Demonstration with Chef Nobuo
Fri., April 6, 6:30 p.m.
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts (Virginia G. Piper Theater), 7380 E. Second St., Scottsdale
For more information, visit scottsdaleperformingarts.org.
Yo! Matsuri Discovery Japan Festival
Fri., April 6, 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Scottsdale Civic Center Mall, 3939 N. Drinkwater Blvd., Scottsdale
For more information, visit scottsdaleperformingarts.org.
