Tucked among cookbooks in the office of his Hawaii Kai restaurant, Roy Yamaguchi keeps a 34-year-old notebook that he brought from Japan as an 18-year-old beginning his culinary education.

On the first page, dated Oct. 2, 1974, are the notes from his first day at the Culinary Institute of America, written in capital letters so precise they look as though they were typed: “;Appetizers should not dull or satisfy the appetite but should be appealing.”;

“;When I think of something, I never think it's not going to work. I take all that out of the equation. I just go forward.”; Roy Yamaguchi

At high school in Zama, near Yokohama, Yamaguchi was no great student, but he did develop an interest in cooking in home economics, a class he took to meet girls. But starting school in New York was his light-bulb moment.

“;When I got to the CIA I'd never seen an artichoke before. I'd never seen a turnip or a zucchini or a yellow squash,”; he said.

“;In high school I was at the bottom of the pack, but when I got to CIA I wanted to just study like a maniac. ... It was an incredible feeling. You know how some people find their soulmate? That school was my soulmate.”;

Fritz Sonnenschmidt, a master chef and retired CIA instructor, counts Yamaguchi as among his best students ever, which is saying a lot. He taught garde manger (”;cold kitchen”;) for more than 30 years to the likes of Todd English and Charlie Palmer.

Yamaguchi was focused - “;He never asked a question that wasn't pointed”; - and was often first to volunteer for extra activities, Sonnenschmidt said.

“;You could see right away he had the passion and the common sense. You could see he was looking toward the future.”;

That future has turned into an empire of 37 restaurants, and growing. The first, in Hawaii Kai, opened on Oct. 4, 1988, and Yamaguchi's 20th-anniversary plans include two gala dinner events, partly to benefit his alma mater, the CIA. One of them, a $10,000-per-table dinner, is sold out, an indication of how far Yamaguchi has come since those days of discovering artichokes.

“;I went to New York with $250,”; he recalled. His father - who hails from Maui and is Yamaguchi's original link with Hawaii - paid his tuition, but for day-to-day living he was on his own. Boxes he'd sent from Japan didn't arrive for six months, leaving him unprepared for his first New York winter. “;I had chapped lips for like six months, it was so cold. I didn't have money to spare on buying a pillow or a blanket, so I got the bed that was closest to the heater in my dorm. I put all my underwear and socks in my pillowcase.”;

  Upon graduation, Yamaguchi headed for Los Angeles and a series of positions of growing responsibility. Within five years he was head chef at Le Gourmet, the fine-dining room of the Sheraton Plaza La Reina, where one night he served Don Salk, Wolfgang Puck's partner at Spago.

“;His way of looking at food and thinking about it - was different from anyone else at the time,”; Salk said.

“;We met, we talked, we decided to invest together and open a restaurant.”;

The result was 385 North in Westwood, Calif., which opened in 1984. The young chef's visionary menu of Euro-Asian fusion gained good reviews and a great deal of press attention, but the restaurant struggled financially. It closed shortly after Yamaguchi collected the 1986-87 award for California Chef of the Year.

In those few years, though, Salk said, Yamaguchi grew to understand the mechanics of running a restaurant, and in the end, failure may have been the best thing that could have happened to him.

“;I think we gave him a very good education. Closing a restaurant is a very good way to learn what not to do. A very expensive education.”;

Well-learned by Yamaguchi, who picked himself up and started again in Hawaii at age 32. “;You have to be fearless,”; he said as he explained not just his business success, but also his approach to the occasional setback.

“;I'm not a genius and I don't have to be right about everything. But when I think of something, I never think it's not going to work. I take all that out of the equation. I just go forward. If you think you're going to lose, you're gonna lose. To lose is not a big deal, as long as you're healthy and have a clear mind. Cut your losses and move forward.”;

About moving forward: The economy's down, so he won't be opening restaurants at his usual pace, but Yamaguchi isn't finished yet. He's working on two possibilities for new restaurants, in California or Florida.

  It doesn't appear, though, that this will be a family business. Yamaguchi's daughter, Nicole, is a premed student; son Roy Jr., at 18, is looking to study computer science. At least his 3-year-old is showing an interest in food.

“;My youngest, Hoku, she has a little kitchen set. She puts on a chef's hat, she cooks ... (plastic) hot dogs, a chicken thigh. She puts it on a plate and hands me a fork, tells me to eat it.”;

Yamaguchi and his ex-wife, Jayne, divorced about eight years ago (Hoku's mother is his ex-girlfriend Carolyn Hulihee). While Yamaguchi is enjoying fatherhood the second time around, he doesn't expect to marry again.

His old teacher, Sonnenschmidt, said he knew all those years ago that the work would be Yamaguchi's true passion. “;It's love now,”; he said. “;It's like a marriage, to his profession.”;

“;What it boils down to, I'm not a marrying guy,”; Yamaguchi said. “;The restaurant industry is my soulmate.”;

Master chef has simple recipes for quick eats

When Roy Yamaguchi first left home as a teenager to take a temporary job moving military supplies, the dining was anything but fine: “;Every day my lunch was mayonnaise and bread. Two pieces of bread with as much mayonnaise as you could put. Then for dinner we either had Boyardi or pasta, with canned sauce. Seven days a week for like four months. No rice. We couldn't afford rice.”;

He can afford almost anything now, but the simple, quick meal remains his favorite for late nights at home.

For example: Saute sliced onions in oil until soft then add a can of tuna - “;It's gotta be oil-packed, for the flavor.”; Add a little soy sauce and serve over hot rice. “;There's nothing better in the world.”;

Unless it's: Penne pasta with garlic (out of the bottle) sauteed in olive oil until really brown, with pasta sauce (also out of a bottle), chili pepper flakes and frozen peas. For good measure, “;I have a bunch of dried herbs that people gave me probably 20 years ago,”; Yamaguchi said.

“;If I get extravagant I throw in a can of those minced clams, and it's heaven. You can't beat it.”;

Celebration

» Anniversary dinner: 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 5, Kapiolani Community College Farmers Market site. Tickets are $200, to benefit the Culinary Institute of America, available at Roy's Hawaii Kai, Waikiki and Ko Olina. Call 396-7697.

» Guest chefs: “;Iron Chef”; Hiroyuki Sakai, Ming Tsai, Floyd Cardoz of Tabla in New York, Hiro Sone of Terra in Napa Valley, Lee Hefter of Spago Beverly Hills, Hawaii's Alan Wong, among others.

» Note: A $10,000-per-table dinner Oct. 4 at the Honolulu Fish Auction site is sold out. It will be a benefit for the Culinary Institute of the Pacific.