Café Rhinebeck: The Hudson Valley in Kyoto
by Mary Leonard

The story of Akiko Hirano’s Café Rhinebeck is one that could easily be lost in translation: a stylish Japanese woman from Kyoto falls in love with both the Hudson Valley and New England desserts and opens up a pancake house in Kyoto. Connecting the dots in this story means following a trail across disparate food and cultural traditions.

Akiko came to the Unites States to study fine arts in 1995 and met Cheryl Jean, the owner of a Connecticut inn and a small cooking school. Over the years since, Cheryl Jean and Akiko Hirano have forged a successful friendship and collaboration. Akiko studied New England baking with Cheryl and the two became friends. Cheryl traveled to Japan for ten years and conducted special classes on American regional cooking and baking and of course Akiko often visited her. About five years ago, when Cheryl and her husband moved to Germantown, Akiko arrived and was enthralled with the area.

Akiko is especially entranced with Rhinebeck: its restaurants, countryside and sweet tooth. “We don’t have desserts in Japan but everyone wants sweets. French pastries are too difficult to make, but not your homey American desserts, which the Japanese can share with friends. And they are healthy.” Akiko laughs.

Akiko Hirano, a name she calls her stage name, returned to Japan after studying art and cooking with Cheryl in 1998 and opened a baking school in Tokyo, Mama Doodle, but that did not work out. “With help from my sensei, teacher Cheryl, I went on to open Café & Pantry Matsunosuke—named after my grandfather, a master weaver for the Noh dramas, ancient plays that use masks and beautiful silk garments. Café Matsunosuke did work out and I also now have a cooking school, Akiko Hirano’s New England Baking Salon in Kyoto and Tokyo. Japanese men and women, everyone wants to learn to bake.”

In February of this year Akiko then also picked Kyoto as the place to open the Café Rhinebeck, a pancake house and art galley named after her favorite Hudson Valley town. She serves traditional American pancakes with five different toppings, including caramel banana, currant jam with sour cream, and of course New England pancakes with sausage and corn. All are accompanied by what Akiko calls Royal Milk Tea: black tea with milk.

Could owning restaurants, cooking schools and publishing cookbooks have happened without Cheryl Jean’s tutelage? Akiko says that she owes her success and fame to her mentor, and her fame is very visible. In the US, I am sure she would be invited on Oprah. Although I can’t read the magazines Akiko hands me, I can recognize her photos featured in two Japanese glossies, Swingoo and You You. Along with Cheryl, she has also published a number of cookbooks like Apple Pie and New York Style Cheese Cakes, Coffee Cakes. All this happened because a student from Japan signed up to make pastries on a whim. However Cheryl believes it might also have been fate. She said that a year before she met Akiko she had gone to a psychic on a whim and the woman insisted she would connect with her Japanese past. Since Cheryl is of Italian heritage and never gave much credibility to psychic readings, she dismissed the prediction until she met Akiko; now she claims they are twins separated at birth.

The story then is one of surprising connections: Rhinebeck and Kyoto, Cheryl and Akiko, and Akiko and her father and grandfather who designed textiles for the traditional Noh dramas. In Café Rhinebeck’s gallery, Akiko displays her collection of ancient textiles and her personal collection of ceramics, kimonos and obi sashes. Akiko is also weaving her own intricate tapestry, one like the Noh dramas of the past, plays that contained complicated connections and allusions. One could finally say this story is not lost in translation but is very believable, a story where the East and West both unexpectedly learn from each other and we as audience learn from them.

Akiko's Fruit Garden Pancakes with Maple Butter Sauce

2 large eggs, room temperature
1 scant cup buttermilk (in Japan I substitute 120 ml of whole
    milk and 100 ml of plain yogurt mixed together)
5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Whisk eggs in a bowl. Add the buttermilk and melted butter to the eggs and beat together. In another bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Next, pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and stir lightly with a fork until just combined. Some lumps are OK.

Heat a non-stick pan or well-seasoned metal pan over medium heat for a few minutes. When hot, wipe generously with vegetable oil and heat the oil a bit. Add the batter to the hot oiled pan. Lower flame to medium low. I use 2 pans simultaneously and make 2 large pancakes (one in each pan), keeping the first 2 pancakes warm in a very low oven while I make the next 2. It's worth the trouble!

NOTE: each stove is different. Adjust the flame so the pancakes brown nicely without cooking too quickly. You don't want the outside to be too brown while the inside is still raw.

Fruit Garden Topping
1 cup blueberries
3 sliced ripe peaches
1 cup of strawberries or raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 strip lemon peel
A few pieces of chopped fresh mint

Combine the fruit and remaining ingredients and spoon over pancakes.

Maple Butter
You can adjust the amount of maple syrup to suit your taste preference.

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup maple syrup
2 Tablespoons heavy cream

In a small saucepan, melt together butter and maple syrup over low heat until melted. Whisk in heavy cream. Serve immediately over pancakes.