グラッサ

アメリカ・ポートランドで地元の人々に愛されるハンドクラフトパスタ店「GRASSA」。その記念すべき日本第1号店が、前橋・中央通り商店街に店を構えている。人気メニューは、酸味の効いたトマトとホロホロとろける豚肉が相性抜群な「PORK RAGU」に、白身はカリカリ黄身はトロトロの目玉焼きを崩して頂く「CARBONARA」。そして旬の食材と、前橋の農家から直接仕入れた野菜を皿から溢れんばかりに使用した、日替わりの「TODAY’S SPECIAL」など、どれを選んでも間違いはない。お店を経営するのは屈託の無い笑顔 が印象的な店主、澤井雷作さん。雷作さんは幼少期から両親の転勤のため海外に接することが多く、特に印象に残っているのがアメリカで訪れたレストランでの体験だ。ただ食事をするだけでなく、料理の味やスタッフの接客、店内の雰囲気まで含めて「楽しい」と感じたことが今でも心に残っているという。大学卒業後は東京の洋食店で働きながら調理師免許を取得し、ナポリでの修業を経て帰国。その頃には都内のイタリアンレストランで総料理長を務めるまでに。それでも新たな挑戦への思いは変わらず、地域再生プロジェクトが進む前橋との出会いをきっかけとして米国本店のスタッフと意気投合。前橋店のオーナーとして家族との移住を決めた。「自分が体験したアメリカのレストランのように、また行きたいと思える『まちの食堂』みたいな空間にして行きたい」との言葉の通り、オープンから9年を迎えた今も、GRASSAの挑戦はまだまだ続いている。

GRASSA is a handcrafted pasta restaurant from Portland, Oregon, whose first location in Japan opened on Chuo-dori Shopping Street in Maebashi. Beloved by local diners in Portland, the restaurant has now brought its handcrafted pasta to the heart of Maebashi as its first Japanese outpost. Its most popular dishes include Pork Ragu, featuring tangy tomato sauce paired with tender, slow-cooked pork, and Carbonara, served with a fried egg whose crispy whites and rich, runny yolk are mixed into the pasta just before eating. The daily Today’s Special is another favorite, prepared with seasonal ingredients and piled generously with vegetables sourced directly from farmers in Maebashi. Whichever dish you choose, it is hard to go wrong. The restaurant is run by owner Raisaku Sawai, whose open, cheerful smile makes an immediate impression. Because his parents’ work often took the family abroad, he was exposed to different countries and cultures from an early age. Among the experiences that stayed with him most strongly were visits to restaurants in the United States. He remembers feeling that the experience was fun not only because of the food, but also because of the service and the atmosphere of the restaurant as a whole. After graduating from university, he worked at a Western-style restaurant in Tokyo while earning his chef’s license. He then trained in Naples before returning to Japan, and eventually became executive chef at an Italian restaurant in Tokyo. Even after reaching that position, however, his desire to take on a new challenge remained unchanged. His encounter with Maebashi, where a community revitalization project was underway, became the turning point. He connected immediately with the staff of GRASSA’s Portland flagship, and their shared outlook led him to decide to move to Maebashi with his family and become the owner of the Maebashi location. “I want to create a place like the restaurants I experienced in the US, a neighborhood eatery that people will want to visit again,” says Sawai. True to those words, GRASSA continues to take on new challenges even nine years after opening.