An Artist in Our Restaurant Covered in Orlando Sentinel

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Check out this touching article on Lisa Curtis, a local Orlando artist we support on the walls of our restaurant.

Read the article here:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-murder-mom-artist-20091121,0,3580425.story

Have a great holiday weekend. 

Operation Shoebox

We are proud to be hosting the very first packaging party for Operation Shoebox on Monday night, October 30th. The event will take place from 6:00pm to 11:00pm. 



More information can be found on the Operation Shoebox website or the official Facebook event listing. Additionally, you can read a little about the event below.

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Please join us to support a wonderful cause this holiday season.

Operation Shoebox has been sending care packages to our troops since 2003 in Florida. There are many much needed items including toiletries, entertainment, old cell phones and ink cartridges can even help!

Let's start collecting items this month and we'll have a meetup or two to get them packaged up and shipped out. You can adopt a specific troop, or just make a general care package. Let's give our brave soldiers a happy holiday!

Here's more info on the cause:
http://www.operationshoebox.com

And items needed:
http://lnk.gd/oa

If you would like to host your own packaging party, drop off donations, provide a venue for a packaging party, or just have questions. Please shoot me a message or email me at riccs2@gmail.com.

Thanks!

**UPDATE** The first ever packaging party will be hosted by our friends and fantastic sponsors, Orlando Ichiban!!

Join us for:
$2 sushi
$3 rolls
$3 drinks

and of course, to put together care packages for the troops!

Finally, you can RSVP for the event on the doterati website here:
http://doterati.ning.com/events/event/show?id=2092234%3AEvent%3A26528&xgi=4tPxGPxceNuSc6&xg_source=msg_invite_event

Izea and Rock For Hunger

If you follow us on Twitter, you probably already know how much we love local charities and organizations. Namely, we have always stated our love for Rock for Hunger, Endagon Innovations, and Izea. We have been very up front in our involvement and appreciation of how much these groups are changing the local community for the better.

With this holiday season quickly approaching, and the even more immediate sneaking up of Thanksgiving, Izea and Rock for Hunger are at their best - doing what they can for their community, once again.

Ted Murphy, Izea's CEO, has conjured up a "Show Me Your Cans" campaign, which he announced on his blog earlier this week. All of the details on the event can be found here, but below is a snippet of what can be expected.

"I will be at the downtown Orlando Pancheros this Friday from noon until 1:30 collecting cans of non-perishable food items. Every person that brings me 10 cans or more gets a free burrito on me. The person who brings me the most cans will win a $75 Pancheros gift card courtesy of my good friends at Pancheros. Second place gets a $25 Pancheros gift card. If you don’t do so already make sure you follow Pancheros on Twitter, they are good peeps and I appreciate them helping me out."

In other news of local goodwill, Rock for Hunger will be Downtown providing their annual Thanksgiving breakfast tradition to those in need. More info on Rock for Hunger can be found on their website. You can also visit their blog by clicking here.

We love all that is happening around us. We look forward to a better community and encourage as many people to get involved in these events and others like it.

An Ichiban Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is approaching and the excitement is in the air. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce... the list goes on and on. Of course, everything at the table during Thanksgiving dinner is delicious and wonderful, but isn't it a little too expected?

Have you ever wondered what other countries do to celebrate a similar holiday? Do the British eat fish and chips, the Germans eat bratwursts, and the Spanish eat chicken and rice? Of course not. They don't have the dining traditions like Americans have.

At Ichiban, we strive to do something out of the ordinary. But what can we do? After all, do the Japanese eat sushi during Thanksgiving?

We are interested in hosting an Ichiban Thanksgiving event in a few weeks to celebrate a Japanese Thanksgiving. We will create a turkey roll, thanksgiving roll, and more... and invite guests to sit at a long and inviting table in our restaurant. It will be like Thanksgiving at your parents' house. Just you, your family, your friends, and great food.

Call us crazy, but we are trying to change the way Japanese food is consumed.  
Who is with us?