Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Mark Elkholy sits at the sushi boat bar in his new Saratoga restaurant, Masu.

Japanese, Italian flavors mix at Masu Sushi Bistro

By Suzanne Cristallo

Diners venturing into the new Japanese bistro Masu, in Saratoga's Village Square, might salute the sushi chef with a "Buona sera, Yamasan." It would not be a matter of language inconsistency to do so--it would be a recognition that Masu is a Japanese restaurant with Italian roots.

"We want to appeal to both sushi and pasta lovers," says Mark Elkholy, managing partner and amateur chef, who loves to whip up dishes at home that reflect both cultures. At Masu, the cultures are represented by two chefs.

Chef Robert Pancoast adds his many years of expertise as a creator of Italian cuisine in San Francisco in preparing dishes such as pasta with prawns, scallops and soy ginger sauce.

Sushi chef Kayoshi Yokoyama, also known as "Yamasan," offers a full array of specialty rolls, sushi and sashimi at a bar designed to allow customers a full view of his practice of the sushi art. He learned his art in Japan and refined it during eight years as chef of Yoshi, the San Francisco jazz bar and restaurant.

The choices he offers vary from the popular California roll for $4 to the soft crab spider roll for $6. Sushi, from tamago (egg) to black caviar, is priced at $2 to $9.

The influence of the two chefs results in dishes that have a marked visual emphasis, such as the heart of romaine appetizer. The romaine is placed on end, wrapped with cucumber, sprinkled with caesar dressing and topped with a colorful confetti of fresh flowers for $5.

The gyoza appetizer consists of three large ravioli, hand-filled with rock shrimp and covered in a chili soy vinegar sauce for $6.50. Char-grilled entrées such as beef New York strip teriyaki, seared ahi tuna and Chilean sea bass wrapped in parchment run less than $15.

While Portola Valley resident Elkholy refers to himself and spouse Marianne, vice president of marketing for a Cupertino start-up company, as "the new kids on the block" in the restaurant business, they share ownership with two others: Michael Deeb of San Francisco, who has owned Pasha, a Moroccan restaurant, for 25 years and helps design the menu, and his brother-in-law Paul Maroon, also of Portola Valley. Along with Masu, the four partners own the Italian restaurants Nob Hill Cafe and Venticello, both on Taylor Street in San Francisco.

Elkholy, 42, came to the United States from Alexandria, Egypt, to go to school in Illinois in 1970. "Years of eating corn-capital food made me want to enjoy more exotic food," he recalls. After his time in the U.S. Army and some travel, Elkholy settled on the Bay Area as the place to indulge those tastes.

Saratoga became the choice for Masu after 10 years of visiting. "We loved the charm, the shops and the restaurants but found every time we wanted Japanese food, we had to go elsewhere."

Although he says he has worked in restaurants all of his life, Elkholy spent the last 10 years in real estate and as a building contractor. Most of the ideas for the design of Masu and its contract work came from him.

Masu Sushi Japanese Bistro, 14510 Big Basin Way, Saratoga. Dinner from 5-10 p.m., Tues.-Sun. 868-0600.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]