Chicago chef specializing in Japanese-style pancakes

CHICAGO (CBS) — Check out the only place in Chicago specializing in serving up authentic, savory Japanese pancakes. 

These savory pancakes are called okonomiyaki, which means "okonomi"  "as you like it" and "yaki" means "grilled"

In Japan, there are over 25,000 places to grab an okonomiyaki, in Chicago, there's only one. 

Chef Paul Virant is the first and only restaurant to bring the traditional savory Japanese pancake to Chicago. An outsider to Japanese culture himself, Virant named the restaurant, "Gaijin," meaning outsider to match.

When Chef Virant first learned about okonomiyaki in the late '90s, he'd had no first-hand experience in making okonomiyaki and nowhere to get it.

"The first, you know, couple of rounds was, was me just kind of, you know, using my, my chef sense," He said. 

He tried to do his research, but that proved to be trickier than one might think. 

"I was sort of internet-challenged," He said. "The little I attempted to research was all in Japanese, so it was very hard to find any information about how to make it, recipes, all that kind of stuff."

Chef Virant spent years, experimenting before he finally got his hands on a traditional Japanese cookbook

"Turns out there was a recipe in there for okonomiyaki," He said. "So that was a pivotal moment in the development of how to … figure out how to do it right," Virant said. 

It didn't take long for the savory pancakes to become a staple in the chef's house, making them so often, it eventually became more than just a tasty import.

"At that point, it was like, you know what? We need to do an okonomiyaki restaurant," He said. 

Since 2019, okonomiyaki has been the main event at Gaijin, translated to mean grilled how you like it, the cabbage-based pancakes are customizable and complimented by a wide spread of Japanese dishes…

Chef Virant did eventually make it over to Japan to learn from the pros and he brought all that back to make Gaijin, the only restaurant in the city specializing in both the Osaka and Hiroshima styles of okonomiyaki.