Sushi prodigy

Born into a family of sushi chefs, Tsuyoshi Kamogawa is no stranger to the trade. After working at different sushi restaurants throughout California, 22-year-old Kamogawa is now the proprietor of the sushi bar inside Katsu’s Japanese Restaurant in Chico. There, everyone calls him Andrew (his middle name).

How did this partnership with Katsu’s come about?

I worked at Gen Kai for two years. And since Katsu’s was technically a business rival, I decided to take a look, and the first thing I noticed was the empty sushi bar inside Katsu’s. The first thing that came to my mind was, “I could do something with this.” The bar hadn’t been used in 10 years, so I started going to Katsu’s karaoke night while trying to convince Katsu to let me run the sushi bar. I finally got the OK last December, and I opened up Feb. 1.

You provide music for your customers. What kind of music is it?

I play mostly Japanese music and then mostly recent music from Japan. I get ahold of the top 10 or top 30 for ever month. Most people, when they think of Japanese music, they think of traditional Japanese music. Nobody plays modern Japanese music, so I figured I would, and since there are a lot of students in this area, I though it would be a good idea. It’s R&B and pop but in a different language.

Did you create the sushi-roll specials?

Some of the specials are specials I created or created with other chefs in the Bay Area. But the majority of them are pretty much my originals. Since summer is here, I’m trying to work on some vegetarian rolls, since I noticed most sushi restaurants have a limited amount of vegetarian rolls.

Do you think you’ll ever open up your own restaurant?

My parents own a restaurant in the Bay Area, and I will most likely inherit it. But you never know. I’m still pretty young and I’ve seen how tough owning your own restaurant can be, so I just want to enjoy my life, but I still enjoy cooking.