Toshihiro Kasahara works the grill at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Toshihiro Kasahara works the grill at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Teriyaki trailblazer: Mill Creek’s Toshi created our regional dish

His humble takeout on Bothell Everett Highway is a throwback to the 1976 Seattle store that made the fast food famous here.

MILL CREEK — Smooth jazz plays in the background. Blue flames leap under a red skillet.

In the narrow galley kitchen, a wiry man with muscular forearms moves swiftly between a hot grill, cutting board and giant rice cooker.

Armed with tongs, basting brush and a very sharp knife, Toshihiro Kasahara dishes up teriyaki as if he’s back in 1976, when he opened his first shop.

What’s up with that?

Kasahara, 73, is the guy often credited for making teriyaki the iconic fast food of Seattle, as cheesesteaks are in Philadelphia.

Media outlets have dubbed him the godfather of Seattle-style teriyaki, the titan. He prefers to be called Toshi, the name of the first place he started 46 years ago in Seattle.

Since 2013, he has carried on his char-grilled legacy in a tiny takeout in Mill Creek at 16212 Bothell Everett Highway.

Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill is tucked behind an unpretentious doorway in a strip plaza with fro-yo, gyro and Thai eateries, across the parking lot from Safeway.

Many people don’t know it’s there. Those who do keep coming back.

Toshihiro Kasahara prepares a meal for a customer at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Toshihiro Kasahara prepares a meal for a customer at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

It took six months of prodding for Kasahara to agree to a Daily Herald story about him. That’s why I’m writing this instead of the new food writer, Taylor Goebel, who comes from Delaware, where people eat scrapple, a mush of cornmeal, spices and pig scraps, everything but the oink. (No wonder Taylor moved here.)

Kasahara doesn’t advertise.

“We’re not really looking for new customers,” he said.

Wait, what?

“I don’t sound like a business owner,” he said. “I just want to do a good job for the regular customers.”

Kasahara speaks softly, smiles demurely and moves with a blurry whirl of precision. While juggling multiple orders, he instinctively knows without looking when it’s time to stir, flip, chop or box up.

Everything is cooked to order.

“When people call and we have to let them know it takes 45 minutes or an hour, if they say, ‘Forget it,’ in a way I’m kind of relieved,” he said. “I don’t want to get rushed. I want to do a good job.”

His friendly longtime assistant, Susie, greets customers, rings up orders, answers the phone and lends a hand in the kitchen.

A customer holds the door for Rick Cote as he leaves with food for himself and his family at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

A customer holds the door for Rick Cote as he leaves with food for himself and his family at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

On the waiting area wall are photos of his first teriyaki shop in Seattle and the red, modified “Toshi’s” Datsun 280Z he raced for three seasons a long time ago.

Teriyaki is an alternative to meat-and-potatoes that is affordable, filling and basic. It’s a go-to comfort food, and I go to it a lot. There are dozens of teriyaki joints in the county. No two are alike.

Brad Hoaré, a regular customer from Lynnwood, drives five miles for Toshi’s spicy chicken.

“I was in the area one time and I decided to try it and haven’t stopped. It’s so good,” Hoaré said. “They’re on speed dial. … Once I tell them it’s me, they know exactly what the usual is.”

Toshi’s has five main menu items, served with rice and cabbage slaw: Chicken, $10.50. Red-hot spicy chicken, $11. Beef, $11.50. Chicken and beef combo, for those having trouble deciding, $11.25. Chicken katsu (deep-fried), $11.25. Other items are smaller bites in a bowl, egg rolls and gyoza.

A bottle of Toshi’s signature teriyaki sauce is for sale at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

A bottle of Toshi’s signature teriyaki sauce is for sale at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Bottles of Toshi’s signature teriyaki sauce are sold at the store ($4) and online so you can DIY at home.

I tried. He does it way better.

Is it the love he puts into it?

“If I tell you the secret then the secret is not secret anymore,” he said.

The only hint was something about “temperature control.”

The sauce recipe also is a secret.

Growing up on a farm in Japan, Kasahara spent a lot of time as a kid in the kitchen with his grandmother. He came to Portland State University to wrestle and as a student competed nationally. He moved to Seattle to work in a Japanese restaurant with a big menu that included teriyaki and other items.

He wanted to be his own boss and keep it simple and economical. He opened Toshi’s Teriyaki on March 2, 1976, near Seattle Center with a menu of five items. A plate of chicken teriyaki was $1.85 and the chicken-beef combo, $2.10.

“I was the first one to specialize in teriyaki,” he said.

And?

“It started slow,” he said.

A meal is ready to go after being prepared at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

A meal is ready to go after being prepared at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

A review from a Seattle Times restaurant critic sent business soaring.

“People checked me out,” Kasahara said.

That inspired others to open mom-and-pop shops.

“When people see somebody doing a good business, they want to start the same thing, right? That’s what happened,” he said.

Over the years, he’d sell a shop and reopen another, mainly in King County. He also sold about a dozen franchises. They bore his name but were independently operated, so owners could craft their own menus. A Toshi’s at 3101 Hoyt Ave. in Everett that was one of the first franchises recently closed. A sign on the door says a Mediterranean restaurant will be opening soon.

The Mill Creek Toshi’s is the only one with his formula, unless you want to travel to San Francisco, where his son, Taichi, runs a Seattle’s Original Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill stand at farmers markets in the Bay area. His son came up with the slaw recipe, another family secret.

Toshihiro Kasahara smiles while preparing a meal for a customer at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. Kasahara has been preparing teriyaki in the Seattle area since the 1970s. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Toshihiro Kasahara smiles while preparing a meal for a customer at Toshi’s Teriyaki Grill in Mill Creek. Kasahara has been preparing teriyaki in the Seattle area since the 1970s. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Kasahara took a short break before opening the Mill Creek site nine years ago.

“They were asking a reasonable price. I said, ‘Well, OK, I’ll take it.’ I had nothing else to do, so why not?” he said.

He commutes from Bellevue to serve food four days a week, Tuesday through Friday.

“I usually stay until 11 o’clock. That’s why I wanted to close for three days,” he said. “By 11, I get a little tired. But that’s my duty. I want to do this for many more years.”

Is Kasahara happy to see all the teriyaki places that he helped put on the food map?

“Yes. My fault,” he said. “If they can make a living, that’s good for them.”

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

More in Local News

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. In a race against the clock on the high seas, an expanding international armada of ships and airplanes searched Tuesday, June 20, 2023, for the submersible that vanished in the North Atlantic while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP)
A new movie based on OceanGate’s Titan submersible tragedy is in the works: ‘Salvaged’

MindRiot announced the film, a fictional project titled “Salvaged,” on Friday.

Craig Hess (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Sultan’s new police chief has 22 years in law enforcement

Craig Hess was sworn in Sep. 14. The Long Island-born cop was a first-responder on 9/11. He also served as Gold Bar police chief.

Cars move across Edgewater Bridge toward Everett on Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023, in Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Edgewater Bridge redo linking Everett, Mukilteo delayed until mid-2024

The project, now with an estimated cost of $27 million, will detour West Mukilteo Boulevard foot and car traffic for a year.

Lynn Deeken, the Dean of Arts, Learning Resources & Pathways at EvCC, addresses a large gathering during the ribbon cutting ceremony of the new Cascade Learning Center on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, at Everett Community College in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
New EvCC learning resource center opens to students, public

Planners of the Everett Community College building hope it will encourage students to use on-campus tutoring resources.

Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman announces his retirement after 31 years of service at the Everett City Council meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett police chief to retire at the end of October

Chief Dan Templeman announced his retirement at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. He has been chief for nine years.

Boeing employees watch the KC-46 Pegasus delivery event  from the air stairs at Boeing on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 in Everett, Wa. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Boeing’s iconic Everett factory tour to resume in October

After a three-year hiatus, tours of the Boeing Company’s enormous jet assembly plant are back at Paine Field.

A memorial for a 15-year-old shot and killed last week is set up at a bus stop along Harrison Road on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Teen boy identified in fatal shooting at Everett bus stop

Bryan Tamayo-Franco, 15, was shot at a Hardeson Road bus stop earlier this month. Police arrested two suspects.

A suspected hit and run crash Wednesday morning left a pedestrian dead on I-5 north near Marysville. (Washington State Patrol)
Suspected hit and run crash on I-5 near Marysville leaves 1 dead

State patrol responded to reports of a body on the right shoulder of I-5. Two lanes were closed while troopers investigated.

Representative Rick Larsen speaks at the March For Our Lives rally on Saturday, June 11, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Larsen: ‘Fractured caucus’ of House Republicans is ‘unable to lead’

Following removal of the House speaker, a shutdown still looms. Congress has until Nov. 17 to devise a spending plan.

Spada Lake is seen from Culmback Dam on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, near Sultan, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Helicopter crash in Copper Lake sparks environmental, health concerns

Rangers hadn’t heard of fly-in tourism in the area — which can harm the wilderness and people downstream, advocates say.

Arlington
Man charged with dealing fentanyl pills that led to Arlington overdose

Prosecutors charged Robin Clariday with controlled substance homicide. He allegedly handed Bradley Herron the pills outside a hotel.

Lynnwood
Seattle woman identified in fatal Highway 99 crash

Elena Mroczek, 74, was killed Sunday in a crash involving a 19-year-old.