Hirose was born in Kyoto, a mecca for foodies who craze local traditional cuisine, or obanzai, but wanted to expand his knowledge, so he moved to France for chef training and landed in the Parisian kitchen of renowned artisan Jo\u00ebl Robuchon.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Akira-Hirose.jpeg\"\/)
Akira Hirose was a force in the Los Angeles food scene before he passed away in 2024. He was honored this week with a dinner prepared by some of L.A.\u2019s most recognizable chefs. Credit: Courtesy of Hirose Family<\/p>\n
Eight years later, in 1981, he brought his skills to Los Angeles, taking over the kitchens at L\u2019Orangerie and The Belvedere at The Peninsula Beverly Hills before opening his own beloved restaurants, Maison Akira in Pasadena and Azay in Little Tokyo. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis cooking, which he once prepared for the emperor and empress of Japan, reflected a\u00a0deep respect for seasonality, precision, and quiet restraint,\u201d his friends said in memoriam to Hirose as they gathered to honor him with a dinner prepared by some of the best Japanese chefs this week. <\/p>\n
The exquisite meal was prepared by James Beard-award-winning chef Roy Yamaguchi, who flew to Los Angeles for the dinner in the gorgeous banquet hall of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center<\/a>, a hidden gem in Little Tokyo. Over the course of his career, Yamaguchi has become a\u00a0defining figure in modern Pacific Rim cuisine. He has hosted six seasons of\u00a0Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi<\/a>\u00a0on PBS, appeared on Top Chef Masters, and is a founder of the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival.<\/p>\n Yamaguchi was joined by Charles Namba<\/a>,<\/a> the chef and owner of the critically-acclaimed French-Japanese bistro Cam\u00e9lia in Downtown Los Angeles, as well as beloved dining gems Tsubaki and OTOTO in Echo Park. A Los Angeles native, Namba honed his craft in both Japanese and classical French kitchens, beginning in New York as part of the opening team at EN Japanese Brasserie before training in French technique at the acclaimed Chanterelle under chef David Waltuck.<\/p>\n The South Bay\u2019s increasingly kaleidoscopic cuisine scene was represented by Ray Hayashi is the executive chef of RYLA in Hermosa Beach<\/a>. Hayashi spent his early career learning from Hirose at Maison Akira, and says that \u201cmentorship played a formative role in his love for French cooking and forever shaped his approach to discipline, technique, and leadership in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n Other chefs worked with Hirose at his own kitchens, including Chris Ono, <\/a>who honed his craft at Azay and now works with Gary Matsumoto,<\/a> the executive chef at JACCC.<\/p>\n The program ended with a fantastic dessert made by Carmen Arevalo, who worked alongside Hirose as his pastry chef for Chef Akira Hirose for more than 16 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chef Akira Hirose was a Kyoto-born, French-trained chef whose refined Franco-Japanese cooking helped shape Los Angeles\u2019 upscale dining…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":669427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,282704,156,170,64777,2961,17118,224,5337,282705,282706],"class_list":{"0":"post-669426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-charles-namba","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-japan","13":"tag-kyoto","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-little-tokyo","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-maison-akira","19":"tag-the-peninsula-beverly-hills"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116262241969136908","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DJH_RYLA_BlackTruffleFrice_0017_1500x2250px\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/djh_ryla_blacktrufflefrice_0017_1500x2250px-800x1200.jpg\"\/)
RYLA Executive Chef Ray Hayashi and his wife\/partner Chef Cynthia Hetlinger helped celebrate the life of beloved Chef Akira HiroseCredit: Courtesy of RYLA<\/p>\n