Aaron Israel dis­cov­ered his pas­sion for cook­ing while earn­ing his BFA at Mary­land Insti­tute Col­lege of Art. After grad­u­at­ing, he worked at August in the West Vil­lage with chef Tony Liu. He lat­er cooked with chef Andrew Carmelli­ni and helped open Tor­risi Ital­ian Spe­cial­ties. He has co-owned and oper­at­ed Shalom Japan in Brook­lyn with his wife, Sawako Okochi, since 2013.