Chef Shuffles

Former Sashi Sushi Exec Chef Opens Miami’s Makoto

Chef Makoto Okuwa
Chef Makoto Okuwa Photo: Sashi Sushi

A reader writes us today inquiring about the whereabouts of Sashi Sushi chef Makoto Okuwa, who is rumored to have left the restaurant, even though he’s still named exec chef on its website. Seeing as Okuwa is still with Sashi, but is now cooking in Miami, the answer is slightly more complicated.

Okuwa is still a partner in the Manhattan Beach Japanese restaurant, but with the encouragement of his partners at Sashi, could not resist taking an offer to run his own restaurant in Miami under Stephen Starr, who the chef goes back to from his days with Morimoto. At the start of April, Okuwa opened the doors to his own Makoto in Bal Harbour Village, no doubt with some hope that his name will someday reach that great Valhalla of internationally-known, one-named-needed-only sushi chefs. This helps explain exactly why Sashi recently brought L’Ermitage vet chef Troy N. Thompson aboard.

Former Sashi Sushi Exec Chef Opens Miami’s Makoto