[VIDEO] Tono Chefs at Hotel Aeria

This week Michael's Cafe American partnered with Italian Bar Ittemicca, On-Cafe, NoTo General Store, and other Tono restaurants to serve dishes featuring our finest local ingredients to attendees of a JCI event, July 7th at Aeria Hotel. Also in attendance were dancers, lions, drummers, and other assorted traditional Japanese performers. What did we serve? Chicken …

Buen Viaje to the Coolest Kids in Town!

Tonight we're honoring the coolest kids in town, Didac, Delia, and Gaia Piazza. Didac is moving to attend a school in Nagano, and his sisters are returning to Sicily, we're celebrating their awesomeness at a farewell party later tonight. レナータの子供達の送別会. Tono won't be the same without them! 

The Week That Was Golden

Golden Week brought many new faces, and lots of good food and celebration. We're still new (only about ten weeks!) so this was our first test serving Tono during a busy holiday. Cold beer and iced coffee, now available, and free WiFi, too. There's lots more pictures from last week in the Cafe Gallery. We survived, …

Golden Week is Here!

Happy Constitution Memorial Day! Many Japanese workers get about a week off around the end of April and beginning of May. This is because there is cluster of national holidays during this time. The week starts on April 29, a national holiday that used to be celebrated as the birthday of Emperor Showa ...

How To Eat a Really Large Hamburger

How to eat a large -- make that really large -- hamburger? Easy! Share it with friends. Our upcoming Kikori Burger is big enough to feed a woodsman, logger, farmer, sumo wrestler, or hungry teenage track & field competitor.

Outdoor Seating Begins!

The weather is warm, Golden Week is almost here, and the beer is cold! We also have cold beverages like iced tea, ginger ale, Kappa Cola, iced lattes, and more. Invite some friends, and pull up a chair!

Mid-April at the Cafe: Photos from Last Week

Charolette is from Dallas, Texas, now an English teacher in nearby Kamaishi. She came to confirm that it really is an American Cafe.  It really is!  Quesadillas AND pancakes! Always bring an appetite to Michael's Cafe. Chizuko's kitchen, where the magic happens, with fresh baked treats every day. More hometown boys! We had some guests …

How To Order a Vanilla Creme Soda

It's easy, just point to it on the menu! Hmmm. There's two children here, but one is hidden. Where did she go? She must be somewhere.  I saw her just a moment ago. Is she hiding? Oh, there she is.

Chizuko’s Kitchen: Banana-Pecan Bread with an Orange-Zest Twist

Chizuko's banana bread just got better. Today's fresh-baked treat is banana bread with candied spiced pecans, and orange zest, made with oranges grown right here in Tono!* It's moist and delicious. Get some while it lasts! *disclaimer: oranges don't grow in Tono. That was a joke. 🙂

It Gets Even Better: Mini Apple Pie 2.0

This time Chizuko added a home-made caramel sauce finish to the baked apples, cranberries, and walnuts, and instead of won ton wrappers, we're using puff pastry. It's delicious.   

Mapping Michael’s Cafe: Early Reviews

Michael's Cafe American is so new (less than two months) it might not be easy to find on the map, but thanks to local guides Christine Takasawa and Hiroyuki Takisawa, that may be changing. Can you find Michael's Cafe on Google, Yahoo, or any of the other search engines? Have you seen any news items, …

Four Sisters from Hanamaki

These girls came from Hanamaki to visit the cafe. Turns out, they're sisters! Four sisters, and there's two more, not seen here! They each ordered an espresso. ... and tried some of Chizuko's quesadillas. We got to use our new espresso cups, the first time we've had four matching cups. Just in time for four sisters. …

[PHOTOS] A Hitchcock Moment

The opening sequence of Hitchcock's 1958 film classic "Vertigo", viewed by Alfred Hitchcock's Japanese doppelgänger.