NEW SOUTH BEACH SUSHI CHEF IS A RARITY: A WOMAN IN A MAN’S DOMAIN
At her first restaurant apprenticeship, from her post on the hot food line, Ambrely Ouimette gazed across the open kitchen to watch the sushi being prepared. She was mesmerized by the clean and well-organized workspace, the efficiency of the chefs.
When she asked if she could try out there, the executive chef looked at the other chefs, all men, and they burst into laughter.
“Everyone laughed and said, ‘Absolutely not,’ “she says now. “Nope. No women allowed.”
She showed up the next day and told them she wanted to prove herself. She washed rice. She prepared wasabi. She did the hard, unglamorous work, determined to become a force in the sushi world.
Now, after graduating from culinary school at SUNY Delhi, leading teams at such restaurants as Matsuhisa Denver and Ironside Fish & Oyster Bar in San Diego, Chef Ouimette is expanding her concept Sushi Bar ATX to Miami Beach.
The new restaurant will open on the ground floor of the Esmé Miami Beach Hotel on Española Way, in the former space of tapas spot Bar Pintxo. The space has been reconstructed and designed in a speakeasy style, hailing back to Tokyo restaurants in the 1930s. Tuesday through Sunday, it will host 36 guests, 12 per seating, as they make their way through a 17-course meal.
The omakase menu — meaning “chef’s choice — will change almost daily.
Despite her traditional training, Ouimette has a passion for breaking with tradition and altering some classic practices. After 17 years in the sushi industry, thinking out of the box has become her signature move.
“There are a lot of rules like which fish goes with ginger, and this fish has to be cured in a specific way,” she says. “We’ll be curing some with sugar or maple syrup instead of salt. You find things you wouldn’t usually find in a sushi bar.”
Some of the special bites will include aged bluefin akamai (tuna) with dehydrated red miso and
Everything Bagel spice; Hokkaido scallops with white truffle salt, shaved black truffle and truffle caviar; kanpachi (yellowtail) with pineapple, passionfruit, shishito vinaigarette and shaved coconut.
Guava will make an appearance, too: “Guava is super hot in Miami,” Ouimette says. “We’ll be using a little more of the Miami influence here with produce and flavors.”
Standing out in the crowded field of omakase restaurants in Miami is a challenge, but Ouimette says the nontraditional approach will set Sushi Bar apart. In some traditional omakase bars, you are supposed to watch the chefs, not talk to them. Here, the atmosphere is less stuffy — chefs will encourage questions and chatter.
Ouimette attributes omakase’s huge popularity with that very element: the ability to create a bond between chef and customer.
“In the food culture, the idea has been to trust celebrity chefs and want to make a connection with them,” she says. “The excitement is the variety of flavors and not having to make a choice. Just trust your chef. It’s so creative for chefs with beautiful artistic minds.”
She has come a long way from the days when customers would ask not to be seated in front of her (they wanted to be seated in front of the male chefs).
“I think every single restaurant I’ve worked in, there’s been some sort of roadblock because I was a woman,” she says. “Whether it was management or older gentlemen having a hard time listening to or respecting me. Male domination in the sushi industry is a tradition in Japan. . . but blocking out negativity has helped me. Sometimes it’s beneficial. There are not many female sushi chefs, so I get attention focused on me. But I have to continue to build my own personality and style. It’s definitely a double-edged sword.”
SUSHI BAR
Where: Esmé Miami Beach Hotel, 1435 Drexel Ave., Miami Beach
Opening: Sept. 20
Seatings: 5, 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Cost: $175 per person
Reservations: Open on the first of each month; www.sushibarhospitality .com or 305-423-5888
Connie Ogle: 305-376-3649, @OgleConnie