Few things in life are more comforting than a delicious, home-cooked meal. But what’s one to do when far from home? Wander down the streets of Manhattan and you might just find your remedy with Bessou, a dining experience capturing the comfort of Japanese cuisine through a modern lens. Though this isn’t your typical Japanese fare. While several Japanese restaurants opt for steaming bowls of ramen or freshly made sushi, these comfort food favorites may not be as familiar to the curious passerby. The origins of these nostalgic dishes are often crafted in our baa-chan’s (grandma’s) kitchens with eyeballed measurements and naturally, each family declaring their recipe to be the best of the best. Japanese comfort food favorites. 

True to its name, Bessou is a “home away from home”-- a cozy space where the shelves are lined with books and spices, and the delicious smells of seasonal dishes like their Smoked Seafood Chowder Nabe float through the air. It was dishes like these that inspired owner Maiko Kyogoku to share her experience growing up with Asian cuisine and open Bessou. 

Having grown up in New York, every time winter rolled around her family would have nabe-- a type of Japanese stew typically shared by multiple people around the table. “You know, a lot of Asian families eat hot pots,” says Maiko. “Like in my family every winter or anytime it gets cold, the donabe-- you know, like the ceramic pot, and portable burner come out and we have dinner at the table”. These family meals have both served as the inspiration behind Bessou’s mouth watering plates, and have allowed Maiko to develop a unique palette to craft these comforting recipes.

With her dad owning a sushi restaurant on the Upper West Side and her mom being a passionate home cook, Maiko certainly is no stranger to Japanese cooking. But her decision to jump into the restaurant world wasn’t necessarily as natural. Maiko took on all kinds of work in art, publishing, and even real estate which can be gleaned from the trendy decor that fills the restaurant space. Eventually, she found her way back home to restaurants, working with Daniel Boulud on running private dining at his establishments, Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud. 

That’s where she met Emily Yuen, executive chef of Bessou. “In the beginning, I would like, you know, go spend a lot of time with Maiko and her father in her house”, Emily reminisces. “I mean, our whole menu is like a collaboration because I don’t have the Japanese background.” Starting right out of high school, Emily traveled the world to learn all she could about cooking-- and that global palette certainly shines through in Bessou’s menu. Items like Japanese Curry Shakshuka and Scallop Gratin are a testament to Maiko and Emily’s unique Asian American upbringings and adventures in New York and beyond. 

“It was kind of this dream of mine to share that with others,” says Maiko. “I would do that at home with friends and you know, host dinners and things like that. But as I started working in restaurants, I started to think that I could run an operation myself. And so Bessou was born.” The pair built the restaurant from the ground up and quickly garnered attention from outlets like Tasty Table and New York Times, despite not having any sort of help with marketing. “Looking back, we were so clueless about so many things,” Maiko says laughing. “But it didn’t matter, because we both had never opened restaurants before. It’s just everything was so new and exciting.” Five years and counting, Maiko and Emily, a dynamic and mighty duo, continue to foster ingenuity and innovation through their community-oriented vision. Bessou’s reach is growing as it serves fast casual bento boxes out of the Timeout Market in Brooklyn.

But Bessou doesn’t stop there, Maiko and Emily have committed their space to creating a place of community for the neighborhood. “I view it as a really important responsibility to give back to the community and support the community that supports us”, Maiko says. Prior to the pandemic, Bessou was an active donor to organizations they aligned with such as Planned Parenthood and ACLU.

Now, despite working tirelessly to keep their restaurant open, they’ve begun partnering with organizations to provide relief meals to food insecure communities and frontline workers with organizations like Heart of Dinner, Off Their Plate, and Project Bento too. “We really could not have survived without the support of organizations like Off Their Plate,” Maiko says. At one point, the two of them were working to deliver up to 700 - 900 meals a week, which, paired with the start of outdoor dining, allowed them to hire back more people.

Even throughout the uncertainty, their small and mighty team continue to show each other compassion and unconditional support. “It’s a small team where everyone wears many different hats,” says Maiko. “It’s kind of part of the ethos of the restaurant where no job is ever too small, and it’s a work culture where we all help one another”. Whether that means Maiko jumping into the kitchen to help cook, or back of house lending a hand with outdoor dining breakdown at the end of the day, the family feel extends out to both the food and staff. “Restaurant workers have to go through this very unique line of navigating safety and health and also working for their livelihood,” Maiko notes, and at Bessou, it’s all about taking care of each other.

Since March, the restaurant has shut down, reopened, and still faces its share of challenges. “A restaurant that doesn’t typically rely on takeout having to pivot to do takeout is really, really difficult and challenging” Maiko explains. But despite the hardship, the team at Bessou tries to remain optimistic about the future. Their collective hope, resilience, and optimism has allowed them to push through the pandemic thus far and so Emily and Maiko are holding true to these values. Maiko says, “It’s a really, really difficult time for restaurants. It’s definitely not easy for us being an independent small business… Right now, I’m just hoping that we will survive. I hope restaurants will go back to normal and I’ll look forward to the days where we can have a packed house and not be so scared.” So while the future is still uncertain, there is no doubt that Emily and Maiko will continue to breed this culture within their business, both to staff and customers alike.