The Concept
Farm-to-Table Bento Cuisine
aka “a labor of love”
aka “we’re ingredient-obsessed”
Bento Picnic specializes in healthy Japanese bento boxes made with high-quality ingredients, many coming from local farms and ranches.
Each day, we engage in the rituals of Japanese home cooking.
We source Sukoyaka Genmai, Japanese brown rice, that has been gently milled to remove just the outer layer of the hull. With the rest of the nutrients intact and the outer layer removed, Sukoyaka Genmai is the most wholesome, bio-available rice, and it has a pleasant toothsome texture and nuttiness. We rinse our rice in three changes of water, wrap it in a rice net with the perfect ratio of filtered water, and employ the brilliance of Zojirushi’s fuzzy logic to cook it to perfection.
We make miso soup from scratch, soaking kombu to make a vegan dashi broth, whisking in organic white miso, and ladling the broth over wakame, tofu and negi once its tepid, but before it simmers to keep the probiotics in the miso alive to share the benefits of digestive health and enhanced immunity with everyone who slurps it down.
I love tamagoyaki, Japanese rolled omelette, and have such fond memories of learning to make them from Elizabeth Andoh while visiting her in her old apartment in Osaka. Just like Elizabeth taught me, we use a square pan, roll together several layers of cooked egg, and then cut them into slices once they’ve cooled. At Bento Picnic, our signature tamagoyaki has sheets nori in between each layer of egg to make a beautiful spiraled cross section, and we garnish with green onion and crispy shallots.
We source organic vegetables from local farms & High quality proteins.
Some of our favorites include:
Greener Pastures Chicken (Local, Organic & Pasture-Raised)
The highest rate chicken farm in the entire Southeast United States, located just 45 minutes from Austin TX. We are obsessed as evidenced by the various ways we love to feature it on the menu: ie. Chicken Karaage, Japanese Chicken Tsukune Sausage, Deli-Style Chicken Breast
Garden Star Sprouts Tofu (Local & Non-GMO)
Our local tofu maker based in Dallas TX makes sumptuous blocks of tofu that are dare-we-say bready with lots of nooks and crannies which soak up oh-so-much flavor when we simmer it in our tsukudani braise for an hour before cutting it into cute toothsome triangles.
Big Glory Bay King Salmon (Sashimi-Grade & Sustainable)
AKA the best salmon in the world, and we’re not exaggerating. Seriously it’s better than wild salmon.
Coming from the pristine waters off the southern coast of New Zealand, where the antarctic tidal currents keep the waters at an ideal temperature of average of 12°C, the King Salmon from Big Glory Bay are sashimi-grade salmon with gorgeous color & incredible flavor that, unlike salmon from other parts of the world, you can enjoy raw fresh out of the water because the area is free of any disease threats. Big Glory Bay has set out to be the most sustainable ocean farm in the world, and in the course of over 30 years, they’ve done just that. They provide their fish with every advantage that salmon have in the wild, while taking incredible care of them — feeding them a recipe that mirrors the diet of wild salmon free of antibiotics or hormones.
Vermillion Farms (Local, Sustainable & Beyond Organic)
Husband-wife team Will & Dani Vermillion are growing 10 acres worth of vibrant produce in a 4300 square foot greenhouse, an innovative approach to farming that is uses a fraction of the water and zero pesticides or chemicals. We’re pretty much obsessed with how flavorful their cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuces are.
We pickle any veggie we can get our hands on. We especially love pickled lotus root & purple daikon.
Kabocha pumpkin is a staple of Japanese cooking - we love it because of its dense, earthy sweetness, and we use it to make our best-selling Kabocha Potato Salad. From a nutrition standpoint, it’s an excellent source of beta-carotene, which is great for immunity, healthy skin, hair, and eyes. It’s also rich in iron, Vitamin C, and some B vitamins. Another winning quality of kabocha squash is it has just a fraction of calories compared to other squash varieties. High in dietary fiber, kabocha squash is an ideal food to keep you feeling full and curb sugar cravings. We especially love the kabocha that Cas from Animal Farm in Cat Springs TX grows each winter.
We think the best local leafy green for meal prep is curly kale. As one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the whole world, kale often gets a reputation of tasting too healthy, but we’d like to invite anyone who shies away from this superfood to try our kale. We stem each leaf, wash it, spin it, and chop it into the perfect bite size. We massage our kale with Umami Oil, our own blend of organic coconut aminos, sesame oil and olive oil, and then sprinkle it with Pepita Gomashio, toasted sesame seeds ground with pumpkin seeds and sea salt, for added protein and crunch. For hearty salad that won’t wilt the second it sees dressing, curly kale gets our *Chef’s Kiss.*
In addition to our Pepita Gomashio, we also make a whole line-up of sauces and condiments in-house without any artificial ingredients or preservatives, including:
Everything Gomashio: Goma (sesame) and Shio (salt) with crispy shallot, dried garlic and poppy seeds. We use this as a finishing salt to add a desireable snappy-crackly topping to rice, salad, beef and salmon.
Firecracker Sauce: Gluten-Free teriyaki glaze sauce made with tamari, mirin, agave, mustard seeds and aleppo pepper
Sesame Tamari Sauce: Creamy nut-free sauce made with ground sesame paste, local olive oil, tamari, vinegar and golden raisins
Smoked Ancho Sauce: A bright emulsified vinaigrette made with hydrated sunflower seeds and three types of dried peppers
Furikake: It’s uncommon for a restaurant to make its own furikake, and this is definitely our most ambitious condiment, but it’s also our pride and joy. Instead of letting any of the pristine salmon that we get from Big Glory Bay go to waste, we scrape every last bit of meat from the ribs, puree it with ponzu and miso, dehydrate it, pulverize it into a super umami powder, and then folded with sesame seeds and nori. We then sprinkle this magic dust on our chirashi-don and onigiri, and watch people’s eyeballs roll back in their head because of how dang delicious it is.
We also make our own bitters, a 7-ingredient extraction that we bottle up to add complexity to our swirled mochi buns and housemade beverages
We agree with Bon Apetit Magazine that Yaki Imo, Japanese Sweet Potato, are the BEST sweet potatoes. We roast them until they’re perfectly tender and golden all the way through the center. We cut them into rounds and sprinkle with sea salt to put in our bento boxes. We also puree them with almond butter, cocoa and maple to make the divine flourless brownies on our dessert menu.
The aforementioned flourless brownies are part of our gluten-free pastry program which also includes miso chocolate chip cookies, matcha cake cookies and mochi butter buns swirled with Okinawan sweet potato jam, all made from scratch daily.
The ORIGIN
I discovered my love for bento boxes when I was living in Japan in 2011. I was so enamored with the variety of different bento available in the train stations across the country, with each prefecture featuring their own regional specialities and local ingredients. I found them all to be so delicious, and most of them quite healthy as well!
When I returned home to Texas, I started making bento boxes as meal prep for my friends and family because they were having a hard time finding options out there that were both healthy AND delicious. Long story short, they loved ‘em, and that’s where the idea for Bento Picnic originated.
I launched Bento Picnic as a catering company in 2015. In 2016, I started vending bento boxes at Austin Bouldering Project and the Mueller farmers market. And I opened my brick & mortar on East Cesar Chavez in 2018 with the goal of providing the same caliber of gracious hospitality and quality of ingredients that I give my own friends and family. I’m in the process of closing the brick & mortar to take a sabatical, but I will still available for private dinner parties and select catering events.
The SECRET
Aka “Not really a secret because I’m telling you”
AKA “More of a reward for reading this far”
The secret behind the menu at Bento Picnic is Washoku, the Japanese philosophy of using 5 colors, 5 tastes and 5 cooking techniques in every meal. By following Washoku, we are able to create beautifully balanced meals, and help you keep the commitments you’ve made to your health without sacrificing any flavor or enjoyment. To nerd out about Washoku with me, you can read more here.
My Mentors
Naoko Atsusaka
My Senpai
Naoko and I became really good friends when we started volunteering at Johnson’s Backyard Garden in 2007. We were paid in vegetables for our work, so we would head from the farm to Naoko’s apartment where we’d cook dinners and lunches for the week. Naoko grew up in rural Japan, and she amazed me because she knew a million and half delicious ways to prepare ALL the vegetables.
In Japanese the word Senpai translates to “upperclassman” or “big sister” — someone who has more experience and can provide mentorship. Naoko is my Senpai because she is who not only taught me so much personally, but she also encouraged me to go to culinary school and then she helped me set up a homestay in her hometown of Izunokuni in Shizuoka Japan.
Shigeyo & Hirotaka Atsusaka
My Senpai’s Parents
Fast forward about three years into my friendship with Naoko. At this point, we’re housemates and cooking together daily. Over dinner one night, she told me, “You know there’s only so much I can teach you, and if you want to keep learning, you’re going to have to go live with my parents in Japan.” Like most things, Naoko was right. For sure, going to Shizuoka to live with Naoko’s family in 2011 really ingrained in me the rhythms of the Japanese home kitchen, and made me realize just what a reliable framework Washoku is for making balanced meals that are delicious and healthy. Naoko’s parents, Shigeyo and Hirotaka, are not only accomplished home cooks, but they also built and ran a bakery business in their retirement. When I lived in Izu with them, I soaked in so much of the care and attention that they put into their cooking and baking. In addition to all the daily cooking rituals that they included me in, they also took me out on regular foraging expeditions for things like shiitake, yomogi, bamboo shoots, and fresh green tea leaves!
Elizabeth Andoh
aka “The Julia Child of Japan”
When I was in Japan in 2011, I had the good fortune of getting to know the award-wining cookbook author and teacher, Elizabeth Andoh, quite well. Even before meeting her in person, I had already learned so much from her by way of her gorgeous books, Washoku and Kansha. After spending time with Elizabeth, I became even more drawn in by the way that she “peels back the layers” to explain in plain English all the subtle complexities that make Japanese cuisine so flipping delicious. Not only is she incredibly thorough and well-researched; Elizabeth is really one of the most generous and lovely humans I have ever met. I’m beyond thankful for the ways that she’s continued to involve me in her work and how she has supported me in my endeavors.
Rachel Zierzow
Of Cook Love Heal
From 2009-2011, I completed a chef’s certificate at The Natural Epicurean Academy, a culinary school which no longer exists unfortunately, but that offered a one-of-a-kind education about how to cook for health and healing based in Eastern ancient traditions practiced in the temples and households of Japan and India. I was drawn to the program after attending a workshop at Casa de Luz taught by Rachel Zierzow. Rachel then became one of my main instructors in the 2-year culinary program. She is still actively teaching and writing cookbooks in Austin TX. She has a super warm, calm energy, and I love how she pays respect to the the ingredients and infuses so much love into her cooking.
OUR MISSION
co-written by the bento Picnic Team
Last updated: June 2022
Our mission is to connect customers with memorable experiences -- whether we are sharing the harmony of Washoku with a nourishing bento box unique to Central Texas, creating access to high-quality wines, sake, and non-alcoholic options that are hard to find elsewhere -- we create a welcoming, one-of-a-kind destination that makes a warm & lasting impression.
