Asian cuisine abounds in Sierra and foothills

THE ASIAN CULTURE AND HERITAGE was a rich part of the Sierra foothill’s past. In the 1800s, the area received a flurry of the Gold Rush and later during the building of the Central Pacific Railroad.

Chinese cooked as domestics but restaurants did not become popular in the area until the 1920s and ’30s, according to Nevada City historian Wallace Hagaman.

Asian-inspired cooking has been gaining in popularity ever since. It runs the gamut—from Chinese to Thai and Japanese to Vietnamese.

Nevada City alone, with a population of only 3,000 people, has a Thai restaurant (Sopa), Chinese cuisine (Fred’s) and two Japanese restaurants (Sushi in the Raw and Sushi Q).

Bobo Cafe in Roseville offers traditional Vietnamese cuisine, and Auburn, Truckee and Grass Valley all offer myriad Asian restaurants. Dragonfly in Truckee is an eclectic blend of Thai, Japanese, Indian and Malaysian influences.

“This is an area where people like to eat healthy food,” says Hagaman. “The emphasis on fresh ingredients and rapid cooking methods preserves the healthy qualities of the vegetables. Also, there are many vegetarians in this area, and Asian menus offer them a variety of options.”

In addition, he adds: “People have moved here from metropolitan areas and miss ethnic foods, so a good Chinese, Indian, Japanese or Thai restaurant is bound to be popular.”

The Twin Dragon in Auburn is one of the area’s oldest Chinese food establishments, having been in business for nearly 25 years.

“We have watched our customer’s families grow up,” says co-owner Ling
Liu. She says her customer’s tastes have grown more sophisticated over the years—a far cry from the days of chow mein and fried rice.

Sushi restaurants are extremely popular. “People are looking for healthy food,” says Kaoru Suzuki, owner of Sushi in the Raw in Nevada City. Kaoru, known to his customers as “Ru,” serves up popular dishes including an octopus salad.

Kaido restaurant in Grass Valley, which opened five years ago, offers sushi
and tempura. The restaurant has an extensive website at kaidosushi.com where you can see color photos of each sushi masterpiece.

For do-it-yourselfers, Nevada City Seafood sells fresh, sushi-grade fish and also offers sushi classes. The owner, Eric Juell, makes regular trips to Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco to buy fresh salmon, albacore and shellfish. The Grass Valley-based seafood store soon will open a fish market and oyster bar in down- town Nevada City.

Want to serve sake, known as rice wine, with your home-made sushi? Gekkeikan Sake has a state-of-the-art sake brewing facility in Folsom, continuing a tradition that began more than 360 years ago in Japan. Read a profile of Gekkeikan U.S.A. on page 19.

For teetotalers, a Japanese tea ceremony, taught by Tea Master Soju Ward,
is offered in a Kyoto-styled teahouse in Penryn.

Asian cooking classes also abound in the foothills. In August, Chinese celebrity chef Martin Yan of the popular Yan Can Cook! television series held a cooking demonstration in Grass Valley, hosted by the Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra, or CATS.

“The Chinese made undeniable contributions to the economy of the frontier west,” which included offering “garden fresh vegetables,” according to a walking guide of the Chinese Quarter in Nevada City.

This is just as true now as before—not just for Chinese but for Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and other Asian chefs and restaurateurs. It is an influence worth celebrating.

Where To Go
For Asian
Ingredients

ASIAN COOKING
Back Porch Market
135 Colfax Ave.
Grass Valley
(530) 271-7111

Ikedas
13500 Lincoln Way
Auburn
(530) 885-4243

Newcastle Produce
9230 Cypress St.
Newcastle
(916) 663-2016

FRESH SUSHI-GRADE FISH
Nevada City Seafood
1020 Whispering Pines Ln.
Grass Valley
(530) 274-2919

SAKE
Gekkeikan USA
1136 Sibley St., Folsom
(916) 985-3111

THAI COOKING
Sopa Thai
312-316 Commercial St.
Nevada City
(530) 470-0101

Sushi is defined as vinegared rice with a topping or filling. Contrary to popular belief, sushi doesn’t have to contain fish. There also are vege- tarian varieties.

Source: imakesushi.com