Shiki Beverly Hills Serving Traditional Japanese Food (Washoku)

Amidst the steakhouses and Italian restaurants that line Canon Drive in Beverly Hills is the Japanese restaurant Shiki. Actually it is in the former location of Enoteca Drago, across the street from Wally's and Wolfgang's Steakhouse. Shiki is owned by Zen Noh, Japan's National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, the largest agricultural cooperative in Japan. Zen Noh was started in 1972 to support small farmers. They opened Shiki in Beverly Hills in order to showcase and increase awareness of local specialty products, such as Wagyu beef and Japanese rice, amoung other products. Chef Shigenori (Shige) Fujimoto is from the Gifu Prefecture in Japan. He trained in tradiitonal washoku as well as sushi and worked in Japan before coming to Los Angeles in the early 1990s. He worked at Matsuhisa Restaurant in Beverly Hills from 1993 to 2004 and then at the former Shige in Santa Monica, Irori in Marina del Rey and Asanebo in Studio City, which received a Michelin Star. In 2013, Fujimoto began working at Shiki.