Charles Namba was born and raised in Beverly Hills after his parents moved to Los Angeles from Japan in their early twenties. Though his career took him across the country, Namba eventually returned home to open his first restaurant, Tsubaki, in Echo Park in 2017 with his business partner, Courtney Kaplan.
Having grown up immersed in Japanese culture and cuisine, Namba paid homage to his heritage with the opening of the classic izakaya and, later, its sister sake bar, OTOTO. But his path to that point wasn’t linear. “In high school, I worked at a pizzeria in Beverly Hills called Mulberry Street,” he recalls. Though he always loved Japanese food—his mother nearly had a cooking show of her own—he enjoyed exploring other culinary traditions.
In 2004, Namba moved to New York City and joined the opening team of EN Japanese Brasserie. He later shifted gears to study classical French technique at Chanterelle. “I wanted to learn more about French cuisine,” he says. “Everyone working there had been there for 20 to 30 years. It was a great family environment that I now base my restaurant culture on.” Working alongside Chef David Waltuck, Namba absorbed lessons he carries into his kitchens today.
In 2010, he returned to Los Angeles to assist Chef Thomas Keller in opening Bouchon Beverly Hills, before launching Tsubaki in 2017.
His newest restaurant, Camélia—a French Japanese bistro in Downtown Los Angeles—represents the culmination of his wide-ranging culinary journey. “The food is elevated, but the environment is comfortable,” Namba says. “Like a French bistro with a raw bar and Japanese sashimi.”