As an Iron Chef, Jose Garces is accustomed to battling secret ingredients, last-minute twists and, of course, the clock to craft delicious, award-winning meals that amaze culinary experts and diners alike.
The newest challenge for the celebrity chef? Help revitalize Allentown‘s growing downtown dining scene.
With more than 30 years of restaurant experience, it’s a challenge Garces is more than up to as he prepares to open his second restaurant, Japanese-themed Okatshe. It will open Oct. 1, according to a news release from his team.
“I just feel like a community like this deserves good food,” Garces said in an interview with СŷƵ. “You deserve great experiences. You deserve to have ethnic and cultural experiences that are meaningful. … If I can lend that expertise and create those environments and spaces for this community, I just felt like it would feel, for me personally, really rewarding and satisfying.”
Okatshe, at 947 W. Hamilton St., will join Garces’ Cuban cafe Rosa Blanca, which opened in March at 950 Hamilton. Jill Wheeler, vice president for City Center Group, said Garces’ restaurants are part of “a continuum of experience” envisioned for downtown.
That means a walkable connection to multiple experiences and cuisines like the Moxy Allentown Downtown hotel, Archer Music Hall, the PPL Center and other new restaurants — developments that Wheeler said have “brought people to downtown Allentown that I know haven’t been here in a while, and they are having a one-of-a-kind experience.”
“For us, … it’s about creating these unique experiences, unique moments that can only be had here in downtown Allentown,” she said. “And that’s one of the reasons that we really believe in Jose Garces and what he’s bringing to downtown Allentown. Again, when else can you get a James Beard Award-winning chef right in your backyard?”
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What to know about Okatshe
Okatshe will connect to the Moxy hotel, seat about 100 people, host a bar and and be a spot for live music and private events. Its menu includes fish imported from Japan, sushi, sashimi, pork bao buns, takoyaki, broiled scallops, dumplings, cocktails and Japanese whiskey.
“The menu is something that I take a lot of pride in,” Garces said, having spent nearly a year working on the Okatshe menu and in collaboration with consultant chef Kaz Iimori and head chef Greg Brandberg.
Iimori, who has more than 30 years in the restaurant industry, said Okatshe would give young chefs a chance to learn by letting them rotate their own specials into the menu.
“Me and Chef Jose believe that there’s no opportunity for younger chefs in so many restaurants,” he said. “You get so much pressure from all the customers and the head chef and all the management. But we wanted to give younger chefs more chance to grow.”
Brandberg, a restaurant veteran of nearly 20 years, explained the “izakaya” concept and how Okatshe would style after it, ordering many smaller plates for yourself or to share rather than a traditional three-course meal.
“I’ve never been one of those guys that want to come in and order like … ‘I want to order my appetizer, I want to order my entrée and then I’m going to get dessert’,” he said. “I want to come in and be like, ‘I’ll take this whole section of the menu and then we’ll get this, this and that, and we’ll see where we’re at. Maybe we’ll put in some more food after that.’ And you order like six or seven things. And then what you’re doing is you’re out, you’re having a good time, you’re having some drinks. And for the next 35 to 45 to 50 minutes, food’s just hitting the table every like six to eight minutes. And you’re not even paying attention. You’re having a good time, you’re just kind of eating.”
General Manager Tyler Chambers described the kind of environment they wanted to create with imported Japanese items like the sake cups and music by the DJ group Nite Liters LLC.
“They spin all kinds of really great vinyl,” he said. “Primarily, it’s kind of like these deeper cuts of older tunes and all kinds of things like funk and soul and rock and all these really great things from the ’60s and ’70s. So yeah, we’re really looking to tie that into that concept. Even when they’re not here and playing, [there will be] thoughtful music that’s going to match the ambiance of the restaurant, which is going to be kind of more of a dimly lit environment with these really beautiful cocktails, which are turning out really great. The garnishes are very aesthetic and the dishes are great.
Bar Manager Emily Lindenmuth said their alcoholic offerings, alongside the Japanese whiskey and beer, will include 12 Japanese-style cocktails that she created such as the “Lychee Lofi” with lychee, Japanese vermouth and sparkling sake.
“I think the main thing we’re looking at from the bar is just trying to be as knowledgeable as possible and trying to educate everybody that comes through the door about what we’re offering: all of the sake, all of the shochu, all of our cocktails,” she said. “We just want everyone to really have a good time and kind of understand and appreciate what we’re doing here.”
Why Garces chose Allentown
Neither Okatshe nor Rosa Blanca are new concepts to Garces. He previously operated Rosa Blanca in Philadelphia, which closed due to a poor location, he said. Okatshe in the Tropicana hotel closed after a change in hotel ownership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, both brands were successful enough to revive with new food and drink menus, Garces added.
“Sadly, that’s the industry we’re in,” he said. “Things do well. Things don’t do well. You have to kind of really weigh those options, weigh the opportunities, and I think I’ve taken the time to weigh them. And I felt like this was a good place to be.”
Garces recalled when he connected with City Center Group, which recognized that Allentown needed a better food and drink scene to compliment developments like Moxy and Archer.
“When I got to understand the development and the community, I said, ‘Sure, that would be great’,” Garces said. “It’s an hour for me from Philadelphia.”
Garces’ Allentown restaurants are already garnering positive reviews.
Having been in Cuba himself in 2000, Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk praised Rosa Blanca for its authenticity and for doing a “phenomenal” job on the dishes he grew up on.
He said he celebrates and supports Garces’ new restaurants, “but we also don’t pretend for a second that a single restaurant is going to be the savior of the downtown.”
“That’s just simply not how it works,” he said. “I think taking that approach to look at the next great restaurant as being the place that’s going to save your downtown — whether you’re in Easton or Bethlehem or in Allentown — it puts too much pressure on one place to be great instead of just giving that place the space to find its footing and then offer something really amazing.”
The city can further help through reasonable expectations for permitting, inspections, cleanliness and safety, Tuerk added.
“I think that you partner with a creative entrepreneur and create an environment that allows them to succeed and then don’t get too much in their business,” he said. “Let them cook.”
Garces already is looking ahead to future restaurants plans, including an Amada location in Chicago and hopefully another Okatshe, but wants to make sure the Allentown location is successful. The industry’s challenges means there’s no relying on certainty or resting on one’s laurels.
For example, the rising cost of food?
“In the restaurant industry, it hits you first,” Garces said. “It hits us first before it hits grocery [stores] and consumers. So as an industry, we’ve been dealing with rising costs of goods for some time … That’s a challenge.”
Still, to feel the passion he does after roughly 30 years of working in the industry, Garces said, makes him an “anomaly.”
“I feel like this industry can burn you out pretty quickly,” he said. “And to be in it and still be passionate about it and still love it as much as I do like 30 years later, I feel super fortunate that that’s where I am. It’s a stage of life where I still, again, appreciate and love this stuff so much. I’m still doing it.”
Okatshe will be open 4 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Sunday, the City Center news release added. The kitchen will serve until 10 p.m.
