in downtown l.a sits hayato
a thoughtful kaiseki restaurant serving
some of the most exquisite japanese food
in the city
but with only seven seats reservations
are very hard to come by
and the take out lunch is just as hard
to get
traditional bento is train culture so we
made it for take
out always think about getting on the
train and all my
attention being focused on this box that
i had brought with me
you know it makes me happy after
studying molecular biology in college
chef brandon's parents really wanted him
to become a doctor
but brandon realized that food could be
its own kind of medicine
really close friend had a stroke and i
took him a bento in the hospital he
became very emotional when he was eating
and i started thinking
differently about food that you could
take to somebody some people
consider this bento a work of art i used
to
be an architect and so i think there's
something so powerful about the way
ayato does the bento
everything's so precise and detailed
in a sense it's kind of like the most
luxurious takeout box you can
have well said johnny on top of being an
architect
mit phd candidate illustrator and comedy
writer
johnny has achieved something truly
incredible
he managed to score one of these bento
boxes for lunch
the way i always get them is by signing
up for the alerts
and it'll tell you if a reservation gets
cancelled if you're fast enough you can
jump on it and be like i'll be there in
15 minutes and then you just
jump in the car from wherever you are
and try to make it
[Music]
it's a two-day process a lot of stuff
has to be made multiple days ahead
like the vegetables have to be soaked
overnight in different stocks and so
cooking the vegetables it upsets me you
know we cook carrots the top of the
carrot the bottom of carrot cooks at
different speeds
i mean everything every one of these
beans is different everyone's going to
say oh this is perfect or this is
undercooked but unless i cooked each one
individually none of us are going to be
completely satisfied
but when you're talking about a certain
level of precision
i mean that's the level we're looking
for in the bento box every day
[Music]
wow look at this that's beautiful
everything fits together so perfectly
it's so thoughtful
like a carefully designed mosaic the 17
distinct items of the bento box
carry a diversity of flavors citrusy
chrysanthemum
greens that's delicious wild mexican
shrimp shinjo
that's really good look at that it's a
tender sweet potato
oh wow it's very decadent um
yeah that's great la it rewards
driving around and finding the places
you love for yourself here
and just be present
you