A city sushi pioneer closing his restaurant

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This article was published 24/02/2012 (4954 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Japanese-born chef regarded as “the father of sushi in Winnipeg” is packing up his set of knives for good.

Edohei, a downtown sushi parlour regarded as the city’s most influential purveyor of Japanese cuisine, plans to close its doors Saturday night, marking the end of a 24-year run of slicing and dicing by chef and owner Sadao Ohno.

Although it doesn’t own the bragging rights of being Winnipeg’s first Japanese restaurant, Edohei was the first to focus on sushi and sashimi when Ohno opened the doors on Ellice Avenue in 1988.

At the time, the North American palate had yet to develop a taste for raw-fish-topped seasoned-rice concoctions now commonly found in most suburban strip malls.

“People said ‘you’re crazy’ and told me maybe it wouldn’t be a success,” Ohno, 61, said Wednesday, recalling the nervousness he felt when he opened Edohei with his wife and partner, Sachiko.

Born in 1950 in the Japanese prefecture of Ibaraki-Ken, northeast of Tokyo, Ohno underwent formal training as a sushi chef in Japan at a time sushi apprenticeships could take as long as a decade to complete.

In 1972, he moved to Vancouver to broaden his horizons and continued on to Winnipeg three years later. After more than a decade working as a chef in Winnipeg restaurants such as Ichiban, he took up what he described as a personal mission to introduce Winnipeggers to traditional Japanese cuisine.

“I would start them out with maki (seasoned rice rolls) and then introduce them to other things,” he said earlier this week, standing behind the sushi bar he will soon wipe down for the last time. “When people tasted the traditional food, they liked it.”

Along with being credited for introducing sushi to Winnipeg, Ohno trained a generation of sushi chefs who went on to open their own restaurants, including Wasabi, Meiji and Masa. Ohno also trained his son, Makoto Ono, who was 12 when Edohei opened and is now a well-regarded chef in his own right.

“Because of my father, Winnipeg’s sushi standards are quite high. I can tell from going to other cities in Canada,” said the younger Ono, who co-owns one restaurant in China and plans to open another in Vancouver.

A Winnipeg culinary scene without Ohno behind a sushi bar will be unusual, said former Edohei employee Cho Venevongsa, who went on to co-found three Wasabi restaurants.

“It’s going to be a big loss, that’s for sure. He’s the father of sushi in Winnipeg,” Venevongsa said Thursday. “I’m pretty sad, but I’m also happy for him. He’s been working hard for many years.”

Although Ohno plans to retire from restaurant work, he will continue teaching cooking classes at venues such as The Food Studio in Charleswood. The Ellice Avenue building that houses Edohei, however, is slated to be demolished to make room for a new structure that will contain a pharmacy and medical offices, he said.

Throughout this past week, Ohno has been receiving visits from customers craving one last piece of his hamachi (yellowtail, a Pacific fish), toro (tuna belly) or uni (sea urchin roe).

“Mr. Ohno developed an intensely loyal following,” said longtime patron Valerie McPherson. “This place has been an integral part of the Winnipeg community and particularly the downtown.”

As for the current ubiquity of sushi, a once-exotic foodstuff now served in shopping-mall food courts, Ohno simply smiles.

“In 1988, there was lots of risk, but still I opened,” he said. “I am very grateful to all the customers who supported me and my family.”

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca