Place a glass of wine and a glass of sake in front of Stuart Morris, sous chef of Go Fish restaurant in St.Helena, and there’s no question which beverage he’d reach for.
Sake.
Without a doubt.
The Japanese wine that’s brewed from finely milled rice has long captured the imagination of this 36-year-old Boston native who attended Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, and Le Cordon Bleu in London.
So much so that the former cook at Postrio in San Francisco and La Toque in the Napa Valley, put put himself through the arduous task of earning the title of KikiSakeShi. What “Master Sommelier” is to wine, KikiSakeShi is to sake.
Although the Sake Service Institute in Japan, which administers the rigorous exam, doesn’t keep records by nationality, Morris is believed to be only the sixth American to garner this distinction.
To showcase his talents with sake, Go Fish is now featuring a $55 three-course sake pairing dinner on Tuesday nights. Morris, who has been with Go Fish since the restaurant opened three years ago, designs the dishes and picks the sakes each week. The restaurant boasts an impressive 27 different sakes by the bottle, and eight by the glass, including a few that aren’t normally found at restaurants in the United States.
Recently, I had a chance to chat with him about why he loves sake, and just how incredibly involved the process was to get this rare certification.
Q: So how does one go about getting a KikiSakeShi title?
A: You apply and get sent materials. You have to prep for it. I got four really thick books in Japanese and one very thin book in English.
Q: Oh my. Do you even read Japanese?
A: No. (laughs)
I worked with some of my Japanese friends to help translate the materials. I also went online and got as much information as I could. It took a year for me to go to Tokyo to take the test after I first got all the books.
Q: When did you take the test?
A: I was in Tokyo at the end of March for 10 days. The test takes place on one day for eight hours. I arrived on a Friday night, and Saturday, I had to actually go to the place to take the test.
I walked down a street and kind of got lost. Since there is usually a police station near the train station, I stopped a policeman to ask for directions. I had the address written on a piece of paper. He started pointing and writing more directions on the paper. I got a few more blocks before I had to ask someone else for more directions, who also wrote more instructions on the paper. All in all, I had to ask 10 people for directions until I got to where I was supposed to be.
Q: Were you the only Caucasian taking the test?
A: There were 15 people taking it, and yes, I was the only non-Japanese person.
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