Shota Nakajima is a Japanese-American chef best known for competing on the eighteenth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

'' in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Oregon.

Early life and education

Nakajima was born in Japan, and raised in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington. At 18, he moved to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

to attend the . There, he apprenticed with chef Yasuhiko Sakamoto. He later returned to Seattle and worked for chef Taichi Kitamura at Sushi Kappo Tamura from 2011–2012.

Television appearances

Nakajima appeared on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

's ''

Iron Chef Gauntlet ''Iron Chef Gauntlet'' is a television series on Food Network that began airing on April 16, 2017. The series is a reboot of the ''Iron Chef'' and ''Iron Chef America'' series that gained popularity on Food Network and is hosted by Alton Brown, w ...

'' in 2017, where he was the fourth chef eliminated. In 2018, he appeared on Season 16, Episode 4 of ''

Beat Bobby Flay ''Beat Bobby Flay'' is an American cooking competition show on the Food Network. It features various chefs competing against Bobby Flay. The show is taped in front of a live audience. Format In the first round, two guests, often a celebrity che ...

''. Nakajima won with his signature dish,

tempura is a typical Japanese dish usually consisting of seafood, meat and vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. The dish was introduced by the Portuguese in Nagasaki through fritter-cooking techniques in the 16th century. The word '' ...

. In 2020, Nakajima competed on '' Top Chef: Portland'', where he was one of three finalists. He was also voted Fan Favorite of the show. In Season 4 of '' Tournament of Champions'', Nakajima reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual winner Mei Lin.

Chef and restaurateur

In 2014, Nakajima opened a catering business, Kappo Kitchen and later Naka, a

kaiseki or is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals and is analogous to Western haute cuisine. There are two kinds of traditional Japanes ...

restaurant, in June 2015. In February 2017, Naka Kaiseki rebranded as Adana. In March 2020, Nakajima opened his restaurant

Taku Taku may refer to: Places North America * the Taku River, in Alaska and British Columbia ** Fort Taku, also known as Fort Durham and as Taku, a former fort of the Hudson's Bay Company near the mouth of the Taku River ** the Taku Glacier, in A ...

, an Osakan

kushikatsu , also known as , is a Japanese dish of deep-fried skewered meat and vegetables. In Japanese, refers to the skewers used while ''katsu'' means a deep-fried cutlet of meat. Ingredients Kushikatsu can be made with chicken, pork, seafood, and s ...

concept, in the

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

neighborhood of Seattle. Adana and Taku closed during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, but Taku reopened in May 2021 as a

karaage is a Japanese cooking technique in which various foods—most often chicken, but also other meat and fish—are deep fried in oil. The process involves lightly coating small pieces of the meat or fish with flour, or potato or corn starch, and f ...

restaurant. In late 2021, Nakajima began bottling his own teriyaki sauce, known as ''Make Umami'', and selling it at Taku,

Uwajimaya Uwajimaya, Inc., doing business as , is a family-owned supermarket chain with its corporate headquarters in the International District, Seattle, Washington, and with locations in Greater Seattle and Oregon. Uwajimaya sells mainly Asian food—w ...

grocery stores, and on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

. In February 2022, Nakajima announced he was opening a

teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and ...

restaurant, ''Banzai Teriyaki'', in

Cle Elum, Washington Cle Elum ( ) is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,872 at the 2010 census. About by car from Seattle, Cle Elum is a popular area for camping and outdoor activities. History Native history Cle Elum wa ...

. On June 23, 2022 Nakajima said he was no longer part of the Cle Elum project.

Awards and accolades

*James Beard Foundation, Semifinalist, Rising Star Chef of the Year (2018) *

Eater Eater may refer to: * Eater (band), an English punk rock group * "Eater" (''Fear Itself''), a 2008 episode of the NBC television horror anthology ''Fear Itself'' * ''Eater'' (novel), a 2000 science fiction novel by Gregory Benford * ''Eater'' ( ...

, Young Guns Winner (2018) *James Beard Foundation, Semifinalist, Rising Star Chef of the Year (2019) *James Beard Foundation, Semifinalist, Rising Star Chef of the Year (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakajima, Shota Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American male chefs American people of Japanese descent American chefs of Asian descent Chefs from Seattle Iron Chef contestants Japanese emigrants to the United States People from Tokyo Top Chef contestants