Shibumi's David Schlosser: threat or menace?

Tristan Harris … dismissed the testimony by the [Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter] executives, saying “it’s almost like having the heads of Exxon, BP and Shell asking about what are you doing to responsibly stop climate change.” Harris, a former design ethicist at Google, said “their business model is to create a society that is addicted, outraged, polarized, performative and disinformed. That’s just the fundamentals of how it works.”

Okay, so you understand that part.

The thing is apparently one of the posters here actually tried to inform Schlosser of his misunderstanding, and he deleted that post. So Schlosser isn’t just “missing” this info. He is actively erasing it. Did he do that to protect his ego? Perhaps. But he also eliminates a chance on that post (which presumably gets more views than the IG posts from the poor plebs who “only” have 500 followers) for additional cultural understanding and learning. That’s a BIG problem.

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I really do think Eaterla was very fair to him, they gave him plenty of space to give his pov and he mostly used it to try and rationalize his behavior.

That line about the 500 followers was perfect, just says it all.

Chef David might want to take some some lessons in how to ask for forgiveness from John Cleese

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fwiw, at kitcho arashiyama (one of the kaiseki restaurants schosser trained at in kyoto) i was served sakura mochi for dessert in april.

also plenty of pictures of sakura mochi at the other restaurant he trained at, kikunoi honten:

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Correct me if I’m wrong but These Kyoto kaiseki dinners appear to be truly the exception rather than the norm in the rest of Japan outside Kyoto . Not an experience the average Japanese will enjoy…

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Kaiseki and chaji are special occasion meals with different sets of rules.
Particularly in Kyoto, there is a massive difference between the everyday meal versus a celebratory meal. Hare no hi versus ke no hi (ハレの日、ケの日)
With Shibumi and Chef Schlosser constantly saying they are not kaiseki, it’s a bit odd. In the context of kaiseki, with kaiseki being an evolution of tea ceremony, having a sweet confection makes sense as it is required prior to drinking matcha.

To keep it simple, Kyoto is Japanese but not all Japanese things are from Kyoto.
Kaiseki is Japanese food but not all Japanese food is derivative of Kaiseki.

I also found it amusing that upon looking at Shibumi’s non alcoholic drinks offering, the only matcha offered is a shaken matcha cold brew. That to me is far more sacrilegious than the lack of sakura mochi at Japanese restaurants in America.

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agreed, just wanted to give some perspective on his possible reasoning for serving it as his restaurant. i think it’s more his kaiseki training and less him trying to cater to american’s expectations.

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If he had said it that way, we wouldn’t be having this discussion on FTC and there would not be an EaterLA exposé.
It still comes down to the fact that you need not tear others down to bring yourself up.
If you’re going to use your social media platform to promote your business, then promote yourself, your food, and your passion. No need to bring anyone/anything else into the fray.

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I think he probably believes the word should be reserved for meals that closely follow the traditional sequence of courses. And if he doesn’t use the word, nobody can complain that he’s not doing it correctly.

To me it was much closer to an izakaya experience.

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:laughing: I thought izakaya too. With nicer antiques.
And for what it’s worth, the house made dorayaki I had in the before times probably had the best anko in town. I wouldn’t be surprised if their sakura mochi is equally delicious.

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at first they claimed to be kappo

sakura mochi was delicious

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guy’s a moron

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https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/So-you-re-white-and-own-an-Asian-restaurant-16244853.php

https://www.la.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/2021_GASchlosser.html

https://medium.com/@trent_86143/notes-from-dave-changs-episode-w-david-schlosser-f2893905c1f5

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Jesus. Will this never die? :roll_eyes:

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I personally think he should be ridiculed for quite some time.

For me it goes something like this, he appropriates a culture albeit respectfully. Becomes famous and probably wealthyish as the gaijin doing Japanese food. Then turns around and ridicules hard working LA Japanese restaurant owners for not doing his narrow interpretation of what is “respectful” to the culture that he appropriated. While also simultaneously misinterpreting/not understanding the cultural nuances of the practice he is criticizing. Further, when given the chance to apologize he doesn’t. When given the opportunity he gladly showed his whole ass.

That to me is one tone deaf idiot at best or an egocentric intolerant asshole at worst. So yeah I think he should be ridiculed and I’m not gonna go to his restaurants.

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I hope it never dies. The absurdity of his IG post amuses me. Putting aside the idea of a white guy criticizing Japanese people for not appreciating Japanese food, his post was simply untrue. Fugestu-Do sells sakura mochi. I wonder where it is that he was expecting to get sakura mochi but didn’t find it?

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So…you aren’t boycotting him, then?

are you asking me? i didn’t say i was boycotting.

No. You didn’t. But there are a number of people on the board who feel like the proper response to Schlosser’s cultural tone-deafness or outright assholishness is to boycott the restaurant. And the fact that you posted the latest menu while simultaneously poking at this issue the way you did makes me wonder if you were one of them. You know, putting money where your mouth is.

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