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BOKA steps up to the plate

"Boldly Original Kitchen Artistry" joins the Seattle line-up

Seattle DINING! loves to get the detailed scoop on new places and we’re happy to share the news about BOKA opening in June (June 26, 2006, at 8:45 a.m. to be precise). It will be located in the Madison Tower which will include Hotel 1000, operated by MTM Luxury Lodging, and private residences. Seis Kamimura has been tapped for the executive chef position at BOKA and Kamyar Khoshdel (most recently the owner of Vivanda at Pike Place Market, now closed) will fill the general manager role. We asked Seis to fill us in on all the details, but first we’ll fill you in on Seis.

As a chef, he’s not a household name in Seattle. If you know him, it’s probably as owner of Les Cadeaux Gourmets, a food-related gourmet gift store on Queen Anne that he and his wife, Pia, opened two years ago. Or you might have been lucky enough to meet him as one of the chefs at Cooking with Class, a fundraiser he was part of in September 2004. Let’s go back much further to get an idea how long he’s been cooking.

Right out of high school, he attended the French Culinary Institute, graduating in 1992. Fast forward to 2002 and you’d find him acting as the executive sous chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Beverly Hills. He and Pia met during this time and when an offer came to open Bada Lounge in Seattle’s Belltown, they agreed to move up, Pia as GM and Seis as executive chef. He then got an offer to create a concept for the West Hollywood Hyatt, so back they went. Their daughter was two weeks old when they moved back to Los Angeles. Ultimately, because they have family in Seattle, they decided it was best to return and Les Cadeaux Gourmets opened its doors in March 2004.

For a guy who’s just 32, Seis has a lot of chefing experience under his belt. BOKA should help him become a household name in Seattle (in foodie households at least). "There was a reunion of French Culinary Institute graduates in Seattle the summer of 2005 and I was the same age or younger than most people there, but had graduated years before any of them," laughs Seis. "I started early. I always knew I would go back to cooking at some point, but was waiting for the right opportunity. We knew we wanted to stay in Seattle in terms of a family decision. When I received a call about BOKA, I knew it was the right opportunity for me."

Although the restaurant will be in the same building as a hotel and private residences and will supply food to them through room service and a few common areas (The Library and The Studio, banquets, events), the restaurant is a separate entity and won’t be a "three-meal-a-day hotel restaurant." BOKA will offer lunch, cocktail hour, dinner, late night dining and weekend brunch. An outdoor patio along First Avenue will provide a spot to enjoy those warm, dry days we all crave.

Photo: Architectural drawing of BOKA on street level of Madison Tower.

Seis helped conceive the concept of BOKA and the "urban American menu" is all his. "Management has been great to work with," he says. "They have a grand vision, but want me to be myself and be creative. They’ve been really supportive through all our tasting sessions and have allowed me to put my spin on the concept. The idea is to reinvent American classics (Editor’s Note: don’t groan yet, there really is a different spin coming).

"The original idea was to offer share plates, but I have some trouble with that because as a plate is passed around, the idea of it can be lost as everyone takes food from the plate," explains Seis. "What I’ve done is create amusé plates. These can be shared, but there are individual items on the plate. For example, we’re doing a crab cupcake plate. Each plate will have four or five cupcakes on it and even as each person takes one, the next person still gets the full effect. We’re also doing a duck and waffle dish—duck confit and cherries on pecan waffles. One starter will be a BLT soup and sandwich—Bibb lettuce soup, tomato flan with bacon foam and small-bite heirloom tomato sandwich."

The idea is to take recognizable names and twist them to something surprising (e.g., liver and onions becomes foie gras torchon with sweet onion marmalade). "We want to keep the menu fun and whimsical with an emphasis on fresh products," says Seis. "Of course we’ll have seasonal menu changes. Once the kitchen is up and running smoothly, we’ll add specials and have more frequent menu changes."

Décor-wise, BOKA will be modern with earthy elements—wood floor, zinc bar, glass bamboo by Canlis Glass, black granite tabletops. "It will be cool looking, but natural," says Seis. "Leather and metal, but warmth from the wood and earthy colors. There has been a lot of attention paid to the detail here. We want every table to be part of the action. Booths need to be cozy, but not restrictively small. The restaurant will seat somewhere between 80 and 100, including the patio."

Seis has an interesting view of the Seattle restaurant scene having been part of it as well as having worked in larger cities. "It seems to me that Seattle has been different than other cities in terms of how people view restaurants. Places here tend to be restaurants or bars or clubs with pretty distinct lines drawn. Some places have started out as food-forward restaurants, but their business has come from the bar and eventually they’re known as a bar and the food takes second place. That’s different from other cities, but I think Seattle is seeing a softening of those lines lately. We want BOKA to be a place where you can have it all—a fine dining experience, a fun cocktail hour, whatever. We don’t want any one experience to overtake another. We’ll have great, inventive food but also an extensive cocktail bar."

Seis is passionate about this restaurant and ready for the challenge. "I feel like all my skills and experience will be used, plus I’ll be learning from others around me. I have opening experience and hotel experience and, of course, chef experience. Having had my own business for the past two years and becoming a father has really rounded me as well. I’m excited about being part of this team effort and appreciative of the way the management team communicates and the degree of latitude we all have to do our jobs.

Being on the floor every day at Les Cadeaux Gourmets has me ready to be on the floor of the restaurant talking to customers and ensuring they feel part of the experience." (Les Cadeaux has actually closed its physical doors, a plan that was in the making before Seis joined the BOKA team. The store will be online only now and includes a gift registry.)

With Seis’s enthusiasm and skill in the kitchen, a great team coming together (including sous chef Brian Erskine whose background includes work at San Francisco’s Farrallon, Joe’s in Venice Beach and the Hyatt in West Hollywood) and a fabulous environment, Seattle should get ready for a little boldly original kitchen artistry!

Connie Adams/April 2006

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