Antonio Park Just Became The First Chef In Canada With A Kobe Beef License

The most expensive and fetishized beef in the world is about to come to Canada for the first time. Antonio Park is the first and only chef in the country to secure a license (see below) to import and serve Japanese Kobe beef. Monthly shipments of the upmarket Wagyu begin this month, via wholesale food distributor True World Food. "We will have access to a cow per month," reported True World spokesperson Miyuki Lajeunesse. "Park is the first restaurant in Canada with this permit [from the Kobe beef council]." The exclusive license also covers Park's parrilla restaurant Lavanderia (which, conveniently, uses Japanese binch-tan charcoal).

"I've been hard at work on this for years," said an elated Park. "This was all about the challenge. The challenge to be the first in Canada with access to genuine Kobe. We won't make a profit. The beef will be priced to break even. It's not about money — it's about serving the best quality ingredients we can get our hands on." Park has plans for the luxe beef beyond traditional methods like shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. "I want to experiment and use every part of it. It's very delicate but we'll use some parts for charcuterie and use the bones for broth."

Few extravagances are as misunderstood as Kobe beef. The protein's prevalence is a fallacy — it is uncommonly rare and subject to hyper-strict controls. Most beef advertised as Kobe is Wagyu from Australia, the United States or, in some cases, parts of Japan outside of Kobe. What it is not is beef from Tajima Wagyu cattle, bred in Japan's Hyogo Prefecture. In a 2012 article Forbes contributor Larry Olmsted wrote that you "cannot buy Japanese Kobe beef in [the United States]."

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