DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Nobu Matsuhisa munched a piece of ahi sushi during dinner service at Roy's Hawaii Kai last week. He had prepared a tray of sushi to be served at the post-dinner party for the staff. Matsuhisa's fascination with food began when he visited a sushi bar as a child, and he has built his cuisine on the exacting standards learned at his first job at a Tokyo sushi bar.

The master of Japanese cuisine
makes quite an impression
on his dinner guests

---

By Betty Shimabukuro
betty@starbulletin.com

Nobu Matsuhisa came to town last week for a bit of cooking and a lot of golf. "I stay three days, I play two days," he said after his first round at Waialae Country Club. "That's why I come."

Whatever got him here, his one day of cooking was An Event way up there on the foodie scale of special moments.

Matsuhisa cooked alongside Hawaii chefs Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong in a dinner Sept. 17 at Roy's Hawaii Kai. They were joined by Yuji Wakiya, one of Japan's premier Chinese-cuisine chefs. The dinner for 300 was a fund-raiser for community college culinary programs in Hawaii.

It was a powerful lineup of chefs, but the crowd was clearly there for Nobu. You could tell by the number of cameras pointed in his direction and the number of autographs he sat to sign.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Debbie Tesman shared a hug with Nobu Matsuhisa as her friends, Jason and Pam Princenthall, took their picture. The Princenthalls' son works at Nobu Malibu.

Why the fuss? Matsuhisa is arguably the preeminent Japanese chef in the world -- measured by restaurant success, personal celebrity and culinary skill. His first restaurant, Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills, opened in 1987 and is a magnet for Hollywood celebrities; his second, Nobu New York, opened four years later and won the James Beard Foundation Award for best new restaurant. This year, Matsuhisa was named to the James Beard list of Who's Who in Food and Beverage in America -- a hall of fame for chefs in the United States.

But when Matsuhisa met Yamaguchi in 1984, he was a chef without a restaurant, working at a sushi bar in Los Angeles and coming off a low point of disappointment and debt. His dream restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska, had burned down several years before, and he was still recovering. It would be three more years before he could open Matsuhisa.

But Yamaguchi says Nobu was already legendary. "If you want the greatest sushi you had to go and see Mr. Matsuhisa."

Nobu heard of Roy from customers across the sushi bar who were abuzz about the young chef who had just opened 385 North in L.A. The two have maintained a friendship for nearly two decades, with Matsuhisa as mentor, a role Yamaguchi now plays to many of Hawaii's young chefs.

"I respect him because he is great chef," Matsuhisa says of his friend. "He speaks English very well."

This is not meant as a cause-and-effect statement, but rather an admission that his own limitations in English keep him from being exactly the restaurateur he'd like to be. Of course, he does have 14 restaurants in five countries, so a little broken English is not holding him back much.

"If I speak Japanese I can explain to you 100 percent, but English is still very difficult for me. Maybe 50 percent."

We should all speak Japanese that well. Perhaps because of the language issue, Matsuhisa's words display an economy of expression that actually underscores his points. During his stay, he was quite open to conversation, and touched on a wide range of topics, both serious and casual.

AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM Within a few hours of landing in Honolulu, Nobu Matsuhisa, center, was teeing off on the Waialae Country Club course with fellow chefs Alan Wong, left, and Roy Yamaguchi.

On golf

This is Matsuhisa's preferred method of stress relief. He started playing in Peru, where he opened his first restaurant 25 years ago. He was able to play once or twice a week, "because, used to be, I had a lot of time." Not so, these days. "Last year I played only seven times all year."

Maintaining restaurants in a half-dozen time zones means "24 hours, open somewhere," so his cell phone is always ringing. He estimates that last year he spent 1,000 hours in the air -- "that's almost 40 days."

A round of golf is four to five hours of freedom from telephones and meetings, Matsuhisa says. And if there's a small wager involved, so much the better.

As for golfing with Yamaguchi: "Used to be I play lots, but Roy doesn't; I make lot of money. Now Roy plays lots, I don't play much; I lose lot of money. I pay back."

On 'Goldmember'

Matsuhisa has a small but crucial part in the summer hit movie "Austin Powers in Goldmember," as Mr. Roboto, a Japanese scientist who develops Preparation H, a device that is somehow going to help destroy the world.

He got the part after the film's star/producer/writer Mike Myers -- "my customer, long time" -- came to Matsuhisa in Los Angeles with Steven Spielberg.

"I went to say hello, how are you. We were talking about the new movie. I said, 100 percent joke, to them, 'If you need my character, call me.'"

A couple of weeks later, Myers' office called: "Come to audition."

"My staff, even my daughters, very excited because ... Austin Powers! I never saw 'Austin Powers,' part 1, part 2. I was not much interested. But they say, 'Please! You must do it.'"

Filming took about eight days over four weeks. He was comfortable, he says, because he knows so many of the people involved. Director Jay Roach is a customer, as are Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Travolta and Danny DeVito, all of whom have cameos in the movie. (This is Nobu's crowd. Sort of puts his life in perspective compared to, say, ours.)

After the premiere, "I said to Gwyneth, 'My next movie, with you.'"

"Goldmember" is actually Nobu's second part, the first being a role in "Casino," which starred Robert DeNiro, Nobu's partner in Nobu New York.

The first time he saw himself on the screen: "Blush. Actually more sweat than blush."

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM At the counter at Roy's Hawaii Kai last week were, from left, Yamaguchi, Matsuhisa and Chuck Furuya, who handled wine service at the dinner.

On life in Hawaii

Matsuhisa's home is in Los Angeles, but he's only there 10 days a month. Still, his house is customized for his interests, with a sushi bar, outdoor pizza oven and storage for 1,000 bottles of wine.

Having another home in Hawaii appeals to him, and Yamaguchi took him house-hunting after golf last Wednesday.

"I work one day, Tuesday, and Roy gonna buy me a house Wednesday." Just a joke; Matsuhisa is a long way from moving in, although he's comfortable in Hawaii, where the weather's nice and he has so many friends in the profession. "Maybe in the future I'll live here."

He says the same of the chance of a restaurant here. "You never know. It's possible."

He selects locations based on a good fishmarket and a good source of fresh vegetables -- plus, "my inspiration."

"Somebody makes offer, I research. If all nice situation, maybe I can do it. But not now."

On food

Of course, a dish has to taste good, but it's the extra touches -- the "pluses" -- that create greatness. Matsuhisa is talking specifically about the tiny rose blossoms that were placed one to a plate on his Onaga Tiradito, Nobu Style, the opening appetizer at the Roy's dinner.

The roses were flown in from Japan because blossoms that tiny could not be found locally.

"When people see the dish, they say, 'Wow, it's beautiful.' That's first step, a plus. Then (seeing the rose), 'What is this?' That is also plus." Then they eat, and enjoy.

"Every dish is like a surprise to the customer. ... That's why the flower is a plus."

Matsuhisa speaks often of cooking with heart -- kokoro, in Japanese. It's that bit of himself that distinguishes his dishes from anyone else's, he says, even if that person is faithfully following a Matsuhisa recipe.

The Nobu style is emulated in restaurants all over the world, Matsuhisa being a trailblazer in contemporary Japanese cuisine. But even seeing one of his dishes duplicated on another menu does not bother him. "Nobody copies my heart," he says. "That's why I never worry about it."

Anyway, imitation is a form of immortality. "I cannot make any more babies, but my cuisine is all over."

With success has come celebrity, which Matsuhisa wears well. At the Roy's dinner he circled the dining room, visiting nearly every table, granting every request for an autograph, posing for countless photographs.

"Cooking is my first job, but talking to people is my job, too," he says. "People come to restaurant, enjoy food, enjoy restaurant, talk to chef. It's another plus."

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Matsuhisa's first restaurant was in Lima, Peru, where he developed his style of Japanese flavors tinged with South American tradition. His second language is actually Spanish.

Tiradito is a South American dish similar to ceviche, but without onions. Matsuhisa served a version of his signature tiradito at the Roy's dinner, using onaga. The fish was arranged on a sheet of seaweed gelatin brought in from Japan, and each plate was decorated with a tiny rose.

White Fish Tiradito,Nobu Style

"Nobu the Cookbook" by Nobuyuki Matsuhisa (Kodanshi International, 2001)

1 pound red snapper fillet
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon yuzu juice (see notes)
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Sea salt, to taste
>> Garnish:
Rocoto chile paste (see notes)
Cilantro leaves

Cut fish in paper-thin slices. Fan out on serving dish. Place one dot of chile paste and one cilantro leaf on each slice of fish. Drizzle with citrus juices. Sprinkle with sea salt. Serves 8.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving (not including sea salt to taste): 60 calories, 1 g total fat, 0.25 g saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 37.5 mg. sodium, 0.75 g carbohydrate, 11.5 g protein.*

Note: Yuzu is a Japanese citrus, much like a lime but with a distinctive flavor. It is sometimes available bottled in Asian markets. Substitute lime juice if necessary. Rocoto chile paste, also called rocoto sauce or rocoto aji, is a moderately hot Peruvian sauce. If you can't find it, substitute another type of chile paste.

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