Zen Kitchen has generated a lot of positive buzz in Ottawa. It’s the newest addition to the resurgent Chinatown area of Ottawa. In this interview, Dave and Caroline talk about how building a community for their food was crucial to success. They used community dinners – large group, small fee parties – where Chef Ishii cooked up a storm and developed a following.

This dynamic team also asked their supporters to make their restaurant a “Community Supported Restaurant”; selling certificates for future dinners – or “steaks” in advance of opening allowed them to raise the cash-flow required to open a restaurant. The chef and her partner also talk about the communications tools they are using to promote the vegan gourmet restaurant – not the least of which is an upcoming TV show.

MediaStyle.ca interviews Zen Kitchen from Ian Capstick on Vimeo.