Six things we learned from chef Akira Back

“I never wanted to be a chef,” Back explains. “In Korea, I wanted to be a baseball player, then our family moved to Aspen, Colorado, when I was 14. The easiest way to learn English and make friends was through skateboarding and snowboarding, which I picked up really quickly.” He became a pro snowboarder, before deciding it was time for something new: “Snowboarding was changing and my passion for it was dimming. There was a Japanese restaurant, Kenichi, that I used to go to, where the chef was amazing – he really seemed to enjoy life. I asked him, ‘How can I be like you?’, and that’s how my journey started, washing rice, cleaning vegetables and doing the most basic kitchen tasks.”

“I didn’t cook when I was younger and didn’t know much about food,” says Back. “I’d never even washed dishes – my mom spoiled me! My interest in food only started at Kenichi. Even then, I wasn’t really that interested in Japanese cuisine. It was more that I really admired the chef. You’d be surprised that when I was working in that kitchen, mainly washing dishes, I mostly ate tempura. I didn’t even eat raw fish until I was 20!”

“At Akira Back, we’re known for our 48-hour short rib,” Back continues. “When I was growing up, my mom used to make this local stew that she braised for a long time. Back then, Korea wasn’t as wealthy as it is now: beef was expensive, and the cuts we could afford were quite tough. At Akira Back we use the best quality meat, but I was inspired by the technique my mom used when cooking for my family. My food is a reflection of who I am: I was born and raised in Korea, lived in the US, then learned all about Japanese cuisine. It’s a melting pot of cultures.”

For Back, food is medicine. “We always try to create a healthy balance,” he explains. “If a dish has a lot of fat in it, we’ll often use daikon and root vegetables, which produce amino acids that help counteract and digest the fat. I don’t want my customers to feel heavy when they leave. I want them to feel light and say, ‘I didn’t expect that!’. Sustainability is also incredibly important to us. I’ve been working with our fish company for more than 20 years now, and as much as possible we source fish locally. If it’s not sustainably sourced, we can’t put it on the menu.”

“My palate has changed in recent years, and I prefer dishes that contain more vegetables,” Back enthuses. “We have some interesting options for people who want the flavour of meat – like the eryngii mushroom pizza at Akira Back, which tastes like steak. We can also make vegan sashimi using red pepper. The way we treat and grill the pepper gives a similar texture to raw tuna, and when the pepper loses its moisture, the taste is similar, too.”