Although it's technically open now, this Saturday is the official grand opening of Mitsuwa's Irvine store, the ninth outlet of the chain in the country, the second in O.C. And it wouldn't be a grand opening without fanfare and a celebrity.
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Fellow forker Michelle clued me in that at 8:30 a.m. on December 17th, the festitivies will begin with a taiko drum performance. If you're a sucker for free swag, the first 500 customers on Saturday and Sunday will receive a Mitsuwa “Eco Bag.” And the celebrity? One Katsuya Uechi, the man behind the Katsu-Ya restaurants, who will do a cooking demo at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
On the menu: crisp mizuna and daikon radish salad with wild yam; kimpira (sauteed, simmered lotus root); and namasu (marinated radish and carrot). And I'm pretty sure there will be samples…and a crowd.
14230 Culver Dr., Irvine, CA 92604, (949) 559-6633
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.