Chef Masa Takayama – Redefined What an Omakase Menu Is

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The head chef and owner of Masa, one of the most expensive restaurants in the world, is Chef Masa Takayama. Through his culinary skills, he has redefined what an Omakase menu is. He has shown that through the use of only the most exotic and freshest seafood and ingredients, it can be at par and even superior than some of the popular international cuisines. Many apparently agree with him as his restaurant in New York became one of the most-visited restaurants in the world, even if a meal will cost you more than $500.

Chef Takayama was born in Tochigi, Japan on the 1st of May 1954. He grew up in a family who was in the food industry. They have a fish shop where he would often spend some of his time when he was just in high school, and they also have a catering business that is being managed by his parents. Chef Takayama, although he enrolled at a university, really had no interest in becoming a businessman, so he decided to work with his brother who was an apprentice chef at one of the restaurants in Tokyo, a mere hour away from Tochigi.

His brother suggested that he try working at a sushi restaurant, and since he really did not have anything in mind, he decided to go with his brother’s suggestion. He landed a job at one of the oldest restaurants in Japan, Ginza Shushi-ko, a very illustrious restaurant that has 150 years of history. Chef Takayama started out doing manual labor. He was assigned to clean the toilets as well as wash dishes. In time, he began working in the kitchens.

If his first duties were hard, working in the kitchens was harder. In fact, he was always tempted to quit, and it was only during his third year as an apprentice that he started appreciating kitchen duties. By the fifth year, he finally understood what work and success really means, that if you want to make something out of yourself, you have to use your hands and love your profession. With eagerness to learn and determination to succeed, he trained to become a sushi chef, and the process took him eight years to perfect his craft.

Aside from being a sushi chef though, he also loved to paint landscapes, and the thought of seeing and painting the desert fascinated him. One of the diners of the restaurant found out about his passion for painting landscapes and urged him to visit the United States. Chef Takayama took the opportunity of seeing the country, and in Las Vegas, he has seen the beautiful desert.

To support himself in the United States, he worked at several restaurants before deciding to finally open his own little sushi restaurant in Los Angeles. He did not like the quality of the seafood, so he developed working relationships with Japanese seafood providers, and he would have the seafood flown in from his native country to the United States. He knew imported seafood was expensive, but he did not want to compromise the quality of his cuisine. His motto was, “if the price is expensive for your taste, then do not try my sushi restaurant.”

It was a food critic from one of the magazines in Los Angeles that first took notice of his sushi restaurant. She gave him a very good review, stating that, although the price is a bit expensive than usual, it is worth the money. Pretty soon, gourmands from all over the country began trekking in, and the demand for his cuisine was increasing that he finally had no choice but to expand and move his business. He thought of New York, where he says has no quality sushi restaurant. Selling his restaurant in LA to his sous chef, he moved to New York, opened Masa, ordered the most exotic and most expensive seafood that his money can buy, created his own distinctive cuisine, charged an expensive rate for his menus, and, with his “eat if you want, do not eat if you do not want” attitude, redefined what a sushi restaurant really is all about.

Through his culinary skill, he has earned three Michelin stars and a spot in the San Pellegrino list, among other awards and praises that he and his restaurant received.

Chef Masa Takayama’s Grapefruit Granite

Ingredients:

2 cups grapefruit juice
1 cup Sauternes or champagne
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, optional or to taste
1 large grapefruit, cut into segments between the membrane, each segment cut into thirds
6 teaspoons Grand Marnier
Grated zest of 1 yuzu (1 lime can be substituted)

Directions:

1. Combine the grapefruit juice and Sauternes. Add the sugar to taste, stirring until dissolved. Pour the liquid into an 8-by-10-inch tray and freeze for several hours.

2. To serve, scrape or mash the frozen grapefruit with a fork and transfer to a bowl. Stir in the grapefruit segments and divide the granité into 6 individual bowls. Pour 1 teaspoon of Grand Marnier over the top of each granité, finishing with a little yuzu zest. Serve immediately.

Servings: Serves 6.

Image Credit: creativeworldnewsandinformation.blogspot.com

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