MKA

Mike Minoru Yakura has been an MKA partner since 2005. He manages our culinary development and operational consulting practices and overseas services for our restaurant, managed services, entertainment and hotel chain clients.

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Mike's career began at Lulu's on Folsom in San Francisco with Jody Denton. His next stop was the vaunted Jianna, doing haute San Francisco fusion with super chef Marc Valiani. Jianna was followed by Le Colonial where he came in as Executive Chef and created his modern version of classical Vietnamese cuisine. This was followed by Ozumo, where he mastered the discipline and precision of traditional and contemporary Japanese Cuisine and learned how to run multiple units at the highest levels. Under Mike, Ozumo redefined Asian cuisine in California. 

 

Even with the accolades coming in - two seasons as a judge on Top Chef, rave reviews at Ozumo and multiple stars from critic Michael Bauer - he stopped the train to open a neighborhood eatery, Dobb's Ferry.

 

Dobb's was about Mike and his inner drive to share, converse, experiment and refine.  His next venture, the multi unit Noodle Me, is designed to bring Asian street food inside to serve a cool pop-culture audience seeking an interactive and approachable flavor experience.

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His latest concept, Spinning Bones, opened in  in Alameda in the summer of 2019 and has proved to be very successful.