CHAYA BRASSERIE - ICONIC L.A. RESTAURANT RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS WITH A NEW MENU AND A NEW COMMITMENT TO CULINARY ARTS EDUCATION

from CHAYA Restaurant Group | Full Press Release here

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- CHAYA Brasserie is celebrating 25 years in Beverly Hills and 390 years of family owned restaurants in Japan and the U.S., and today launched a new menu, a new charity partnership and a month of anniversary festivities.

Centuries before arriving in the U.S., the Tsunoda family began offering tea, sweets, and respite for weary horseback travelers under an enormous shade tree in Hayama, Japan. Over time, the family opened a small inn called Hikage Chaya (the little tea house in the shade) and their tradition of hospitality extended hundreds of years. Hikage Chaya was renovated into a traditional Japanese restaurant which is still open today, along with La Maree de Chaya, which serves French cuisine. In the early 80s, the family brought cuisine with a French-Japanese sensibility to California.

Over the past quarter-century, the family successfully opened restaurants in Los Feliz, Beverly Hills, Venice, San Francisco, and Downtown Los Angeles. This year, the family is celebrating the 1984 opening of CHAYA Brasserie, known for celebrity regulars and awards show parties over the years.Supporting Culinary Arts Education

CHAYA is kicking off a year-long partnership with Careers through Culinary Arts Programs (C-CAP), to help underserved high school students who are interested in pursuing a career in culinary arts get the education they deserve.

To keep the C-CAP program from being cut from the 2009-2010 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) curriculum, CHAYA is adopting Hollywood, West Adams and Westchester high schools, providing financial support and hands-on training for the students. The executive chef of each CHAYA plans to guest teach a class during the school year and arrange for the students to visit the restaurants to job shadow.

CHAYA's Executive Chef, Shigefumi Tachibe, kicked off the program by visiting the culinary arts classroom at Hollywood High school on September 24. He met the students; served his renowned Tuna Tartare, which he invented in 1984; and issued a recipe challenge for the fall semester.