Thursday, May 6, 7:00 pm
Members $125, guests $150

Takashi Yagihashi went in with his eyes open. The newly hired executive chef of Tribute was keenly aware that the owners were interested in creating a world-class restaurant in suburban Detroit for one reason only: Automotive executives needed a place to wine and dine their business associates, who were accustomed to restaurants the likes of Daniel and Jean Georges. But in no time, people whose only business was dinner were clamoring to get into Tribute. Everyone wanted a taste of Yagihashi’s cooking—a seamless blend of French techniques, Japanese influences, and American ingredients. And after Yagihashi was named last year’s James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Midwest, Tribute got more crowded than ever.

Twenty years ago Yagihashi, a native of Japan, had no idea he would end up one of America’s most celebrated chefs; he was too busy building his interior design career in Tokyo. The kitchen called and he heeded, but soon he was frustrated by Japan’s rigidly structured restaurant world and set out for the States. He trained in Chicago, under Yoshi Katsumura at Yoshi’s Café, and then with Gambino Sotelino at the city’s four-star Ambria, where he eventually became a partner. In 1996 Yagihashi was invited to open Tribute.

With a guest list that has ranged from Princess Caroline of Monaco to Newt Gingrich, Tribute has far exceeded anyone’s dreams. In 2000 Food & Wine anointed Yagihashi, pronouncing him one of America’s Ten Best New Chefs. Gourmet included the restaurant in its America’s Top 50 restaurants, and The New York Times described it as perhaps “the finest restaurant between New York and Chicago.”

Yagihashi has “created a true gastronomic haven with a lot of soul,” Patricia Wells wrote in the International Herald Tribune. So smitten was Ann Heller of the Dayton Daily News that she asked her readers, “Are you willing to drive four hours for dinner?” For her, the answer was a resounding yes, “if the restaurant is one called Tribute and the chef is Takashi Yagihashi.” John Mariani of the Wine Spectator summed up Yagihashi’s accomplishments thus: “Tribute is...set in a suburb of a city that didn’t know it needed such an extravagant culinary destination until the day this restaurant arrived. And once it did, Detroit and the world beyond paid tribute to Tribute.”