NAC: What cultures do you think are most influential on American cuisine? OKURA: Just as strawberry, vanilla and chocolate are the mainstays of the ice cream industry, Italian, Asian, and Latin flavors will always be the big three for us. The Asian cuisine category seems to have so much more to offer today that it's just sort of breaking the surface. At the Cheesecake Factory, we're focusing on Chinese, Japanese, and Thai influences, especially the under-utilized components of those cuisines. The general dining public seems to perceive Asian dishes as healthier options, and there is a lot of the Asian culinary culture that you could consider to be healthier and lighter, with less manipulation of the natural ingredients. There tends to be more steaming versus frying. But even the frying is different. Japanese tempura frying is completely different-- it might be a "better" [healthier] fried than, say, [American] Southern frying. NAC: How do you try to incorporate Asian flavors into the menu at The Cheesecake Factory, which began as a bakery decidated to New York-style cheesecakes? OKURA: We have a lot of Asian-inspired dishes, especially classics like teriyaki chicken, lettuce wraps, chinese chicken salad, orange chicken. I think where we really do a good job, and what excites us, is when we can come up with item that isn't mainstream Asian but has a little bit of an Asian touch to it, like hidden middle ingredients. Take our Firecracker Salmon Roll-- it's wrapped up in a spring roll wrapper, seasoned with an Asian pepper blend. It's those little touches that make the food unique and speical, and we're finding that guests really enjoy it, even if they're not fully aware of the Asian influences. The Asian influence is so strong that there isn't any level of Western cuisine that can't be enhanced. Kobe beef burgers have popped up everywhere. At Grand Luxe, we just introduced Kobe hot dogs. Something as all-American as the hot dog now appears as an all-American classic kicked up with an Asian touch. There's also kind of a "global" salad, with snap peas, a ginger-infused vinegrette, edamame, along with other things that make it kind of a mish mash. NAC: Tell us about the new Southeast Asian restaurant, Rock Sugar, that's opening in Los Angeles? OKURA: It's a Cheesecake Factory-ized Asian restaurant that focuses on the foods of Southeast Asia. There will be some amazing Asian-influenced desserts and dishes. What I've seen, from our pastry chefs, we might be able to do with Asian specialty desserts what Cheesecake Factory did for cheesecake. We could have just put any Rock Sugar dish on the Cheesecake Factory menu or the Grand Luxe menu, but with the cuisine of Southeast Asia, there's so much to tap into that we determined that there was enough to develop a full concept on its own. NAC: Do you draw inspiration from other restaurant trends? OKURA: We turn towards fine dining to develop dishes. The chefs of fine dining of the world have a platform that allows them to do whatever they feel is exciting and wonderful and delicious, and they seem to have less operational restrictions than we do. Their arena for creativity is without boundaries. We see what a chef of that stature might think is worthy of serving on his menu, and think about what we can do that can bring that high-end level of creativity and food excellence to, say, the general dining public, en masse. It works very well for us-- we take basic comfort food concepts and make them a little more intriguing and exciting. Using light tempura batter to enhance shrimp scampi, for example, or shitake mushrooms on salisbury steak. We like to make the ordinary a little less ordinary. Rock Sugar Restaurant Rock Sugar is scheduled to open at Century City Mall of Los Angeles