Photo by Greg Samborski
Shortly after Chef Akira Back opens his namesake restaurant this winter in the swanky new hotel called The Ray in Delray Beach, an elderly Korean couple will enter quietly.
They won’t announce who they are, making little fuss as they, hopefully, enjoy a meal.
Then they will report back with a highly anticipated, thorough review to the chef, who happens to be their son. It has been this way for years, ever since Back became a restaurateur in Las Vegas and then grew a global brand.
“They are my No. 1 critics,” Back says of his parents. “If something is wrong, they tell me, straight up.”
You’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Akira Back, since his presence on the East Coast isn’t as prominent as elsewhere. But Back, 46 now and living outside of Las Vegas, has a restaurant empire that’s undergoing a growth spurt like few in the fine dining world before him.
Back was born in Korea, and his family lived a few years in Japan before moving to Aspen when he was 13. He spent seven years as a pro snowboarder before going to culinary school after realizing he’d rather work in the kitchen than on the slopes. He opened his first place, Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant & Lounge in Vegas in 2008 and now has 19 restaurants, including Dosa in South Korea, which earned him a Michelin star. He’s planning another 16.
Back says he came to South Florida multiple times before deciding on Delray Beach. He likes its chill upscale scene, which reminded him of his adopted home, Aspen, and he quickly became enamored with the feel of life here.
Once his place in Delray is up and running, Back will send in his parents, and they’ll report back on everything, like they always do. Back says he values their input more than anyone — they have a chef-like ability to spot if something isn’t prepared just right, and are keen to small details in service that indicate a bigger problem with the front of the house. A general manager didn’t recognize them one time, even though they had met many times before. He no longer works for the company.
“The only time I get nervous is when I cook for my parents. I worry about what they’re going to think, because if they don’t like something, they’re going to say it.”