What is World Famous Sonoko Sukai’s Soba Noodle Class Like?

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(Gerry Furth-Sides)  We first took Sonoko Sakai of Common Grains at The StandardLA, DTLA,  where the class took over the main lobby and then the restaurant to honor her extraordinary Soba Noodles.   The workshop focused on ancient techniques in the art of creating the perfect buckwheat soba and its deliciously rich umami dashi broth.  For current information please see (//sonokosakai.com/)

We students were all promised to learn to make and shape these buckwheat noodles from scratch and make the sauces and hot broths using the essential ingredients in the Japanese pantry.  And we would be taking home three servings in order to recreate our “own soba masterpiece.”  And so we did.

Sonoko Sakai prepares the buckwheat soba dough with a student

Sonoko Sakai shows a student how to prepare the dough.

“You will learn how to use dried bonito flakes, konbu seaweed, dried shitake mushrooms, and koji fermented seasonings like miso. The soba noodles will be made with a blend of Japanese milled soba grade buckwheat flour and 20% wheat flour.”

We had no idea the world-renowned authority our teacher was, but one look at her deft handling of the dough, and how she worked the roller convinced us instantly of her expertise.

There is an “art” to every step of noodle making, especially rolling the dough evenly

Sonoko brings her special Japanese cutting tool

Cutting the dough evenly is just as important and takes years of practice

Out “take-home” box

Menu for Our Meal

  • Soba chips with sea salt
  • Hand made fresh soba noodles
  • Farmers Market Soba Salad
  • Hot soba with chicken, shitake mushrooms, scallions, ginger, citrus rind
  • Quick koji turnip and apricot pickles with konbu seaweed and lemon
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Soba chips with sea salt

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Quick koji turnip and apricot pickles with konbu seaweed and lemon

We had no idea what a celebrity chef Sonoko Sakai turned out to be in the culinary world (see below).

The cosmopolitan lady was born in New York, and raised in many places – Tokyo, Kamakura, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Mexico City. Sonoko is a food writer, author, Japanese cooking teacher, and noodle maker based in Los Angeles. She has also been working on a project to revive heirloom grains in the Southern California region with a seed grant from Anson Mills. All these activities fall under her project – Common Grains, which aims to develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for food and culture. Within this mission, Sonoko advocates a sustainable and healthy lifestyle with grains and vegetables at the heart of a meal.

Sonoko’s first cookbook, The Poetical Pursuit of Food: Japanese Recipes for American Cooks was published by Clarkson Potter (1986).  Her newest cookbook RICECRAFT (2016) was published by Chronicle Books.

Sonoko has contributed articles to the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Saveur, and Zester Daily. She has made appearances on both local and national television cooking programs. She has taught cooking classes all over the world.


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