Laurent Gras' Japanese fish

Learn about the fascinating French chef Laurent Gras, the chef of L2O restaurant in Chicago, who incorporates Japanese ingredients and techniques into his modern take on fine seafood cuisine. Explore his cooking blog for insightful posts about Japanese sea bream, yellowtail, Spanish mackerel, and sea bass. L20 was voted Esquire's restaurant of the year in 2008.

I first spoke to Laurent Gras, the chef of L2O in Chicago, for a story about dashi I wrote a few months ago. He was a fascinating guy to talk to, a highly accomplished French chef utterly curious about Japanese cuisine, one who incorporates many Japanese ingredients and techniques into his modern take on fine seafood cuisine. Laurent also writes a terrific blog about his cooking. Check out his posts on Japanese [sea bream](http://l2o.typepad.com/l2o_blog/2008/12/tai-tennen-ikejime-hirame-tennen.html sea bream), [yellowtail](http://l2o.typepad.com/l2o_blog/2008/12/homburi.html yellowtail), [Spanish mackerel](http://l2o.typepad.com/l2o_blog/2008/10/sagoshi.html young spanish mackerel) and sea bass, which are all very instructive. (L20, by the way, was voted Esquire's restaurant of the year last year. I can't wait to try it.)