Chef Masa
One bar, one bond.
Tokyo, the Edomae style, ten years at the bar at Taiko, and then a place of his own.
Masaomi "Masa" Yabe
He chased a bar of his own.
Masa was born and raised in Tokyo, home of the Edomae style of sushi. He trained at authentic Japanese cuisine restaurants around the city before moving to chase the dream of opening his own.
After a decade working the sushi bar at Taiko, he opened Kizuna. The name is the Japanese word for a bond, the connection between people, and it is what he is after every time he hands a plate across the counter.
The path
Tokyo to Aliso Viejo.
- 01
Tokyo
Masaomi Yabe was born and raised in Tokyo, the home of Edomae sushi. The style is named for old Edo: simple, exact, the fish and the rice doing the talking.
- 02
The training
He started his career at authentic Japanese cuisine restaurants around Tokyo, learning the bar the long way, before setting his sights on a place of his own.
- 03
Ten years at Taiko
For a decade he worked the sushi bar at Taiko. Regulars who loved that bar followed him here. More than one review names it without being asked.
- 04
Kizuna
He opened his own restaurant in Aliso Viejo and called it Kizuna, a bond. The same hands, a smaller room, and the connection across the counter that gives the place its name.
Kizuna · き ず な
A bond between people.
It is the word for the tie that holds people together. At a thirty-seat bar where the chef can see you, it is also the plan.
“The sushi chefs are actually from the old Taiko that we loved before the pandemic.”
Jenn · Google · 4.7★ on 216 reviews
