Masaharu Morimoto
by Kailyn Meister
Bio
Before becoming a world-renowned chef, Masaharu Morimoto was on his way to being drafted into the baseball major leagues of his country, however due to a shoulder injury he was unable to continue this career. He soon began to learn the traditional style of kaiseki and sushi, two styles he is well known in, under many of Japan’s master chefs. He soon started his own restaurant and went on a show called Iron Chef. After five years he sold his restaurant and traveled to New York to study the Western style of cooking, where he started a new restaurant. Soon after he starred in a cooking show adapted from Iron Chef called Iron Chef America, which started his rise to fame in the U.S. Today he runs his ten restaurants world-wide, and one of his well-know dishes is omakase.