Chef Kaoru Azeuchi has spent his career in pursuit of one thing: kaiseki done right. After culinary school, he devoted sixteen years to studying and practicing the art of kaiseki cuisine in Japan. rising to sous-chef at Hotel Nogamiya by twenty-seven, and earning first prize at the Tokushima Culinary Contest along the way.

 

By thirty-five, he was head chef of Tofu Kaiseki Restaurant in Tokushima, having also spent three years immersed in French technique under a chef trained in the country's finest kitchens. It was during this period that Chef Azeuchi received one of the defining honors of his career: preparing a meal for then-Crown Prince Naruhito — now His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan — during a royal visit to Kagawa Prefecture.

 

Chef Azeuchi eventually set his sights on Las Vegas, launching KAISEKI YUZU to bring a return to the discipline that shaped him. Just three years later, he was nominated for Best Chef by the James Beard Foundation.