A young man wearing a bucket hat and a denim tuxedo monogrammed with the letters LV across every inch of fabric leans in to talk to his dinner date. A couple takes selfies between bites of a California roll, both using forks to stab at the maki. Four women, their faces buoyant with Botox, clink glasses of elderflower and lychee martinis. It’s just another Friday night at Nobu on La Cienega Boulevard.
The Los Angeles Nobu is not as flashy as the one in Malibu, where the waves of the Pacific Ocean create a backdrop for the restaurant and Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox were just spotted on a double date. This Nobu, which opened in 2008, several years after its more famous Malibu cousin, is somewhat of a hidden gem on a stretch of La Cienega Boulevard, where black cars once swarmed its valet stand and reservations were elusive. Now, it’s more of a hotbed of furniture and home decor stores. And weeknight dinner reservations are procured with ease.
The main dining room that houses the sushi bar still vibrates with a current of money, celebrity and those who seek it. But, once revered as one of the most stylish rooms in Los Angeles, it now suffers from the aesthetic malaise of an “Asian-themed” chain restaurant in the mid-2000s, its patterned fabric banquettes feeling more dated than retro. The menu, for the most part, is similarly past its prime even if everyone (this writer included) still loves the black cod with miso.
When I learned that this specific location of Nobu was getting a new executive chef, I was intrigued. Sean Tan, originally from Malaysia, has cooked at Nobu Melbourne, Nobu Chicago and overseen Nobu experiences at events like the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Would he be introducing new dishes that are only available in Los Angeles? Updating old favorites?
There was nothing noticeably different about the menu during a recent visit, but my server said that the chef had tweaked the Chilean sea bass with jalapeño, a dish that’s been exclusive to the Los Angeles location for about a decade.
The broiled sea bass was topped with a small heap of micro cilantro and a salsa of chopped red and green jalapeño, onion, lemon and olive oil that resembled pico de gallo. Marinated in “jalapeño miso,” it was nearly indistinguishable from the restaurant’s black cod miso, one of the signature dishes that helped catapult founder Nobuyuki Matsuhisa‘s career as the most recognizable sushi chef on the planet. But the sea bass was cooked far past firm, and the marinade, despite the salsa garnish, far too sweet.
While Tan may be running the day-to-day operations, it is only ever Matsuhisa’s name associated with any of the dozens of Nobu restaurants around the world.
The Nobu phenomenon can be traced to the opening of Matsuhisa restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1987. In 1994, actor Robert De Niro famously partnered with the chef to open the first Nobu in New York, and a restaurant empire and hotel brand — with more than 50 locations from Dallas to Dubai — was born.
Matsuhisa’s influence reverberates through every strip mall sushi restaurant in Los Angeles. He is the reason 99.2% of the sushi restaurants across the country have versions of tiradito and all variety of broiled white fish marinated in sweet miso on the menu. With sprigs of cilantro, dots of chile paste and lines of miso powder, the chef recalibrated the way people think about sushi.
“He made sushi chic and he made it the thing everybody wanted to eat,” says Ruth Reichl in the new documentary “Nobu.” Director Matt Tyrnauer’s film is a comprehensive look at Matsuhisa’s humble beginnings and his journey to becoming the face of sushi in America.
It was Matsuhisa who merged Peruvian flavors with classic Japanese technique, and introduced a new style of sushi to the masses.
His black cod with miso and pinwheels of chile-decorated yellowtail continue to be staples at every Nobu. Only now, you might find the versions across the street, down the street and all over town, better.
At Nobu Los Angeles, tiles of saba, hotate and toro all have a uniform flabby texture and a distinct, heady aroma of disinfectant and raw fish. The shari underneath is cold and soft enough to mash with a chopstick.
The tiny fried wonton taco shells are bubbly and crisp but overshadow the diced lobster and Wagyu cradled in the middle.
Umami chicken is bloated with salt, like something you might find in an airline lounge, sliced and splayed over a handful of mushy green beans.
The seaweed hugging my handroll is so tough and chewy, the spicy scallops and rice in the center shoot out the back with every bite. There’s a single piece of baran draped over the top of the handrolls, the same faux clump of grass you might find separating your plastic-clad sushi at a grocery store.
My mind flashes to a scene in the “Nobu” documentary where Matsuhisa is addressing the staff at the Nobu Los Cabos. He repeatedly sends back a dish, unhappy with the inconsistency of the plating. The garnish needs to be uniform. It’s too fine and clumped together. Make it more separate. Overlap the fish.
It is difficult to reconcile the precision demanded by the Matsuhisa on the screen and the plates before me. Maybe the film should be required viewing for anyone contemplating a first-time meal at Nobu. I found myself frustrated on his behalf, the blow of spending an exorbitant amount of money on a less-than-stellar dinner a little less severe. Is it fair to expect a certain level of consistency from a restaurant group that has a presence on five continents in more than two dozen countries?
During meals at Nobu Malibu, Matsuhisa’s famed miso cod has been more supple, evenly cooked and the marinade less cloying. The service more attentive and sharp, and the shari properly seasoned. If you inform your server of a penchant for silver-skinned fish, he might recommend the off-menu kohada.
And at the original Matsuhisa, now nearly 40 years old, I’ve always found the nigiri to be an exemplary version of the genre. And here, the miso cod is nonnegotiable.
Perhaps Tan needs more time to establish himself in the Nobu Los Angeles kitchen, though there are still glimpses of the brilliance Matsuhisa inspired decades ago. The hearts of palm salad with jalapeño dressing is exhilarating the first time you try it, revolutionary in its simplicity and clarity of flavors. The vegetable is shaved into a mountain of tender ribbons over a pale green vinaigrette that hums with chile and citrus.
The restaurant’s interpretation of spicy tuna with crispy rice is a playful, interactive dish that requires diners to dunk squares of crispy rice into a ramekin of spicy tuna. Though the amount of fish is hardly sufficient, the nuggets of rice are at once crunchy and chewy, the perfect vessel for the cool, smooth tuna.
Halved okra are lightly dredged and fried until crisp as potato chips. Los Angeles could be a brighter, better place if there were more plates of fried okra and a little less Brussels sprouts.
While Matsuhisa is widely credited as the progenitor of yellowtail sashimi with ponzu and chile, the tai with shiso and fried shiitake mushrooms is the sashimi plate that should grace every table. The slices of tai are fanned out, surrounded by a sharp citrus sauce that gently tightens the flesh. It’s crowded with chopped shiso, like a sweet, minty chimichurri you’ll want to spoon over anything else on the table. And the curls of fried mushrooms over the top have the same smoky, meaty complexity as a pile of bacon.
During my third dinner, I looked around the room to see a family fresh from a graduation wearing orchid leis around their necks, their heads on swivels, scanning the dining room for celebrities. I was reminded that Nobu isn’t just a sushi restaurant. It’s a brand like Louis Vuitton or Mercedes, with the sort of name recognition any company would spend endless amounts of money and maybe commit corporate espionage to achieve. If you stay at a Nobu hotel or dine at Nobu on a cruise ship, it can also be a lifestyle for those who hover comfortably in a certain wealth bracket.
There is no doubt in my mind that Nobu will continue to thrive on vibes, the allure of the name and a handful of dishes Matsuhisa is most known for. Like the Birkin bag and the Chanel 2.55, the Nobu in Los Angeles, Malibu, or wherever else you happen to be in the world, will never go out of style. It also won’t be, and probably shouldn’t be, your favorite sushi restaurant.
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