Guppy’s Good Times has a new sushi chef! Chef Mitsutaka Harada, who hails from sushi restaurants such as Morimoto and Zama in Philadelphia and Sushi Hatsu in Ambler, is now behind the sushi bar at Guppy’s.

Harada landed in Philadelphia through Temple University. He first attended the university’s campus in Tokyo and then transferred to the main campus in Philadephia where he earned a degree in communications.

This was just after September 11th, and remaining in the country proved difficult, however, he was taken under the wing of Chef Masaharu Morimoto, who was able to provide Harada employment as a sushi chef which allowed him to obtain the appropriate visa. While Harada had worked part-time as a sushi chef in Japan, he had just earned a degree in communications and wasn’t sure he wanted to make sushi his career.

After getting his start at Morimoto and discovering he loved the sushi business, Harada become head chef at Zama, a position he held for five years. He found that he especially enjoys introducing newcomers to traditional dishes from his native country and wowing sushi aficionados with Omakase dinners. What is Omakase? According to the Michelin Guide, it is “a form of Japanese dining in which guests leave themselves in the hands of a chef and receive a meal which is seasonal, elegant, artistic and uses the finest ingredients available.”

Harada is introducing a series of special small plates that can be enjoyed while seated at the bar at Guppy’s. Harada believes that these dishes are great introductions to sushi and he hopes they can find a place among wings and other traditional bar food. He will also be updating the current sushi menu in the coming weeks based on the response to the dishes he is offering as specials.

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