JRG - chef's comment

chef's comment - Nobu Matsuhisa
Meiko Kodaira with Ed. Staff
PHOTOS: ©Kodansha International Ltd., © Fumihiko Watanabe

Born in Tokyo, "Nobu" worked in sushi bars there for 10 years before opening his own sushi bar in Peru. It was here that he began doing what the critics call "fusion" but what he calls "just food done in my own way." He's been honored by the New York-based James Beard Foundation and his London outpost, Nobu, was chosen Most Fashionable Restaurant by the British Restaurant Awards.
In the Los Angeles Zagat Survey 2003, he (and two other Japanese restaurants) earns the highest restaurant score in the city. We caught up with him at his original restaurant, Matsuhisa, on La Cienega Blvd. In Beverly Hills.

S&T:	When did you open Matsuhisa?
NM:	In 1987, I opened Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills.
S&T:	What brought you to New York?
NM:	Robert DeNiro was a customer. In 1994, he approached me with an offer to open Nobu restaurant in New York City.
S&T:	You cook for many famous people. Are you ever nervous?
NM:	I feel the pressure and anxiety (kinchokan) of meeting customer's expectations for quality and service," he admits. What is most important about the work is to never be negligent, to try as hard as I can. Customers can sense right away when I am earnest or not. I always work in a way so that I won't have regrets later.
S&T:	How have you been able to keep up your passion?
NM:	No matter what kind of job it is, the first thing you need is the resolve to go with that job for your whole life. Whatever the job is, you will run into walls from time to time. you are the only one with the power to climb over that wall. If you throw yourself into something 100%, you will come to love the work. When you love it, the difficulties you encounter are not so troublesome. people might think you are havingn a hard time but it is not a hard time for you because you love it. Matsuhisa is more than a second home to me--it's my castle.
S&T:	What is your guiding principle? NM: "Keizoku wa chikara nari," which means "Continuity is power" or, as we say in America, "Practice makes perfect."