Rocky Aoki, founder of Benihana, dies

Rocky Aoki, founder of Benihana, died yesterday in New York City, surrounded by his wife, Keiko and six children. Rocky and Keiko were great supporters of this magazine and Japanese culture. Rocky brought the traditional Japanese “teppan-yaki” food preparation style to America cuisine and had a tremendous love for Sake. We JUST interviewed his son Steve, who described his dad in 3 words: Determined, Successful, Inspirational. Our condolences go out to the Aoki family.