Family Recipe Inc.

When dining at an authentic Japanese restaurant, ritual and tradition can often overshadow the main event: the food. That’s not the case at Family Recipe, where owner and chef Akiko Thurnauer skips the formality in favor of hearty, home-style cooking inspired by childhood meals around her family’s table. A native of Tokyo, Akiko’s love of untraditional ingredients stemmed from her father, a world-traveling businessman who introduced his family to the cuisines of Europe and the Middle East, among other places. Today, his influence on Akiko’s cooking style is discernable in dishes such as lamb meatballs with ginger shiso tzatziki or brussels sprouts cooked with miso, pine nuts, and capers.