Grand Opening - Ten Modern Japanese

TEN Modern Japanese Restaurant Announces Grand Opening

New Japanese restaurant sets the standard for updated authenticity

(Charlottesville, VA - January 2007) TEN (120B East Main St.,Charlottesville,VA ph:434-295-6691) restaurant is proud to announce its grand opening, providing Charlottesville and the mid-Atlantic region with a new experience in Modern Japanese dining.

Executive Chef Bryan S. Emperor brings his mastery of the cuisine to the TEN kitchen along with Executive Sous Chef Yoshihiro Tauchi. Emperor attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and then honed his skills as an apprentice in Japan. He later returned to New York to work at Nobu and Megu, and then later trained under four-star chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Gray Kuntz. Before opening Ten, Emperor opened a similar modern Japanese restaurant in Beijing, China.

Emperor approaches traditional Japanese dishes as if they were works of modern art. The superior ingredients are the building blocks of inspiration and the plates are crafted to please both the palate and the eye. Only high quality products are used and the seafood items are shipped in daily from fishing auctions in Japan and Hawaii. In his determination to revise the stereotype of Japanese food as being limited to Sushi, Emperor creates a varied menu of upscale, authentic ala carte items. Emperor's talents are evident in dishes such as:

Premium Wagyu Beef - Served in three distinct ways
Varied Kushiyaki Skewers - Grilled over special charcoal with Mongolian Mountain Salt
Blue Fin Tuna Otoro
Vegetable Tempura - Kakiage Style
Ika Tempura - With Kochujian cream reduction
North American Lobster with miso butter and sautied greens
Pork Bara simmered in special soy sauce and five spices with daikon and sharp mustard
Chicken Tatsuta - Japanese style fried chicken with daikon oroshi

The bar menu features an extensive list of proprietary Sake, carefully selected by Emperor in conjunction with specialty importers, and a prominent Sake sommelier. Ten also features an extensive wine list, and specialty cocktails using unique ingredients such as the "Ten" which is comprised of sake, vodka, aloe juice, and sweet Japanese plums called momokochan.

Located on Charlottesville's popular downtown pedestrian mall, TEN occupies a 5,000 square foot second-story space in a handsome brick building typical of the city's historic commercial district. The restaurant's dining room was designed by Formwork of Charlottesville and is divided according to two distinct experiences:

DARK - The gently lit front room celebrates a twenty foot high ceiling and grand windows to create a space inspired by the night sky. Muted colors diminish perception and create a "boundless" spatial sense. The subtly reflective ceiling panels pick up a shimmering starlight effect from the dimmed "candle" sconces. The "night" space also includes the beverage bar, which is accented with luminous glass tube "bouquets" and other shimmering light effects. Intimate, high backed booth seating adds to the nocturnal mood of this space.

LIGHT - The brighter "day" seating area is inspired by air travel, clouds. The sushi bar is rendered as a crisp white box, softened with a warm olive wood. Bright iridescent fabrics highlight the banquette seating and the relatively low ceiling is punctuated by twelve-foot high coffers at varying the "day sky" feeling of the space.

TEN is located at 120B East Main Street, Charlottesville VA 22902. Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday. Contact by phone at 434-295-6691 and online at www.ten-sushi.com.