Have you been to Saketini?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nVRfmhtjLc

Thanks to my friend, Monica, who often leave some comment in my blog, I found this video on YouTube!

I really want to have a lunch or/and dinner at Saketini! He says his mom's secret sauce is used there. I love Korean food~ But he does not call his restaurant as Korean restaurant, but Asian American restaurant. That's kind of interesting because most of the restarants owned by a Korean, as far as I know in East Coast, focus on the market of Koreans from Korea in USA. There are, of course, many customers who are not from Korea also enjoy Korean foods in such Korean restaurants, but more than 70% of the customers there are Korean, I estimate. My husband - who is a Korean - also told me that the difference between Korean restaurants and Japanese restaurant in USA is that Japanese restaurants in USA do not have Japanese customer from Japan as much. It is probably because there are not that much Japanese from Japan living in USA from the first place. But there is also a marketing issue involved.

Well, I have not been to Saketini, so, I am not in the place of making any judgement to Sung's restaurant here. But my guess from www.saketini.com as well as from this video is that Sung wanted to blend different Asian thinngs and transcend it to a new style. I know he is not the inventer of California Rolls and all, but, you can see that he and his co-owner did a very good job making this restaurant attractive to all kinds of people - Asian or non-Asian Americans.

Speaking of California Roll, I often associate it to Japanese American. You know, many of the things that mainstream Americans believe as from Japan is not really from Japan. The biggest example are Hibachi and California Roll. Since I've grown up in Japan, flankly speaking, I did not really appreciate those fake Japanese things when I first came to the states. But after I spent several years in the states, I started loving them - especially California Rolls and all kinds of American style Rolls that we cannot easily find in Japan. I think it is very reasonable idea to substitude raw fish with avocado and it tastes good! I still enjoy authentic Japanese style food as well, but hey, it is not Japan here. I don't have to stick with authenticity all the time. After all, those are not fake. Those are just differnt version -- Asian-like American food. That's how I started seeing Asian American people, too. They are not fake Asians, they are Asian Americans.

Hmm.. I may have sounded like a snobby Japanese here. But as you know, I'm crazy about Sung Kang! So, you can tell that I don't have any intention to make Asian Americans look bad. It's like this -- I did not know anything about Asian American before and when I got a chance to know some of them for the first time, I felt I was not welcomed by them because I did not speak good English back then. I tend to justify myself as authentic Asian than they are -- which was the same mentality I used to had for Calfornia Rolls. But after while, I realized there is no right or wrong there. Just follow my instinct -- Calfornia Rolls taste good! I love Sung Kang!