Close your eyes.
Okay.
Name the fish.
If you don't know
the taste of what
you're making,
you cannot make it.
Name the fish.
So he likes us to every
now and then make sure
that we're really
tasting our food so
that we can really
make something more
delicious the next day.
I opened Tanoshi
three years ago.
When we opened, we just
only planned on doing
neighborhood business.
We didn't plan for
really, like,
the big restaurant.
I'm originally
from Hong Kong.
It's really close
to Japan, so
we'd always travel around
to have fresh fish,
like in the beginning
of sushi.
It inspired me to
introduce New York to
what sushi is because
they don't have really
authentic sushi around,
especially in this area.
And luckily,
I have Toshio to manage
this restaurant.
The first time I ate
delicious sushi when
I was 12 years old.
I still remember
the taste, the rice, and
seaweed, and the fish.
Yeah, that was the moment
I decided to be
a sushi chef.
I went to Tokyo when I
was 17, as an apprentice.
When did you come to
the United States?
1980.
I had a friend that
wanted to open the sushi
bar in her restaurant.
So, I asked her about it.
I can help you for
only two years.
I have to go back to
my masters to continue
to work with them.
But I met my wife.
If we had ever gone
to a dating service,
they would not even put
us on the same planet.
We don't listen to
the same radio stations.
We don't have
the same friends.
We don't eat
the same food.
But what we had
in common, well,
I was a ballet dancer and
he was a sushi chef.
We both had this
unbelievable mono-focused
passion toward one
singular thing.
And I had such
respect for
the way he went
about that.
This is yellowfin, tuna.
Can you see how
slightly oily, it is?
It's very creamy.
It's perfect for sushi.
Toshio had worked at
Morimoto here in New York
very briefly and
was asked to go with
Morimoto to Napa,
California to open up the
Morimoto in California.
It was not the kind of
work he wanted to do.
It was just too big.
I never had the
satisfaction working with
other, Japanese,
restaurants.
It's completely
different.
I never used my
technique to make food.
Sushi was getting way
out of control and
he was putting gold
flakes on the sushi.
It he was like,
you know what?
The basic product, the
simplicity of it is so
divine.
And we're getting so
far away from that.
I just wanted to bring it
back, to make it simpler,
and I think if I
can do that and
have it at a reasonable
price, people will come.
So, after the opening,
I came back to New York,
and I had to find
a job somewhere.
So my wife looked
on Craigslist,
so I found King.
I said, Toshio,
look at this one.
Wanted, extremely
experienced sushi chef.
Minimum 15 years
experience.
I'm like, this is it.
This is the one.
So go meet the guy,
Oguma-san sent me
a reply.
I was like, Well,
it's not real.
It's not going to be
true because he's a world
class chef.
So I talked to him.
I came here.
Mr. King,
I will help you.
So let's do this.
I was preparing
all the fish,
making the food,
taking orders.
He was washing dishes.
That was the beginning.
So this is the first
time I am happy.
I am satisfied.
Here.
It took a long time.
He's difficult and
he's demanding, but
he loves what he does.
And he loves people
who love it as
much as he does.
So this one is kasago,
young seabring.
It's a baby seabring.
It starts to come into
season about now.
Same time as when the
cherry blossoms come out.
It's this
remarkable color.
That's the same
like the blossoms
that come out now.
The preparation is the
most important part for
Edo style sushi bar.
Everything is about how
you cut the fish in
the beginning,
how you filet the fish,
and then how you
cure the fish.
Because there's
no audience,
it is the time for
learning.
It is the time that
you will make
the most mistakes.
You don't talk.
It all comes down to
your skill level and
what you know,
what you remember.
Oona is very focused on
the actual art of making
sushi.
She goes to eat sushi
on her day off,
and talks to other chefs,
and
she's interested in
Japanese culture, and
she has this artistic
eye, and fabulous hands.
When I was a kid,
I wanted to be an artist.
For a long time, I wanted
to just illustrate
science textbooks,
like ocean textbooks.
I loved the extreme
detail work.
This is what I wanted
to do as a kid.
This is what I imagined
I would be doing,
not working
with the fish,
but I'm so happy it
ended up this way.
Before I found Tenoshi I
was planning to
study Japanese language
after graduation and
go into translating and
work in Japan and that
was sort of the plan that
I had for myself before.
I landed here, and
couldn't leave.
I think why I'm even
still doing this, is I
remember that first night
that Toshio-san brought
me behind the bar, when
I was still waitressing.
He was like, oh,
why don't you try making
a few pieces of sushi for
staff dinner.
Alright, Gentlemen.
Toshio would let the
waiters, come over here,
see if you can do this.
It's kind of like a joke,
you know everybody
has something to
drink Saturday night,
to last to close
of business.
But in her case, the way
she held the knife,
the way she positioned
the thing on the plate,
you can tell that
she has an eye,
she has good hands,
like that's a start,
she's willing,
let's go with this.
It wasn't even
tasting sushi for
the first time that made
me so crazy about it.
It was definitely
feeling it.
I remember feeling
the rice in my hand and
I remember
feeling the fish.
And just the combination
of temperatures and
texture, I remember
waking up that day and
wanting to feel
that again.
I was like Alex here.
Alex is me.
What?
What?
Oona used to do what
you do now, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's how we met,
actually.
Yep.
And then you lost Oona
to the sushi bar?
Yeah.
But now I feed you.
Don't complain.
This is true.
Now I don't go hungry.
This is true.
Now I don't go hungry.
Okay so this is hirame
kobujime which is fluke
cured with kelp for
six hours.
There is shisa
leaf underneath.
A little bit of
yuzu juice on top,
as well as house soy.
If you don't know
the taste of what you're
making you
cannot make it.
It's different having
someone else make
sushi for you like Oguma
will make sushi for me.
That is mind blowing.
And I'll make sushi for
me and
that teaches me more
because I know what
I need to correct, I know
what I'm doing right.
Three soft shell
crab left.
Okay?
Janken.
Three.
Three.
Three.
Okay Janken boink.
Automatically Alex wins.
A lot does come down
to those final moments
when you're with
the customer.
They're there
only 50% to eat.
The other 50% is all you,
and
how you take
care of them.
What they learn from you.
So today,
we have Japanese.
This is from the belly
section, marinated with
cherry blossom leaf for
four hours.
Please remove
the leaf before you
have the sushi.
Enjoy the fragrance.
Your sight, smell,
taste, and texture.
People who want to learn,
that's what I
really need.
People who really
want to work hard,
they will pick
up the skill.
I really want that
kind of people to
learn with me.
You know,
I trust him completely.
I know I don't know
anything right now, and
knowing that, it's okay
because I can only know
so much after only being
here for like a year and
a half.
Think about the space.
His master learned from
his master's master, and
his master's
master's master.
And it goes all the way
back to the 1800s.
Obviously, times
are different now.
But with that in mind,
we're still trying to do
the closest that we can
with the resources
that we have now.
To do the same thing
that his master's
master's master did.
I didn't notice the first
batch was so soft.
But it's the first and
second batch together.
Okay, you're the first to
touch the first batch.
Not me.
If it feels soft, ask me.
It was the first batch?
First and second batch.
And it was like this?
Why didn't you
tell me sooner?
Why did you mix it?
I know when Toshio-san
corrects me, firmly,
it doesn't have anything
to do with who I am.
It's just purely
about work.
He just wants to make
the best food possible.
And I just want to make
the best food possible.
That's all that it is.
This is wild
yellowfin tuna.
Summer yellowfin
in season now.
Soft is okay,
but not mushy.
Right.
Don't.
Don't. Don't.
Don't compromise.
If you thought
[it was] soft.
Don't.
Okay.
Don't use.
Okay.
You cannot say, Maybe.
Maybe.
No, you don't
have a maybe.
Right.
Yes or no.
Right.
I learned everything
with pain.
Punishment.
Kick or hit.
To make sure I do not
forget that I made
a mistake, but
here I don't.
I ask them to try to
love what you do first.
Then make them to
work more harder.
We have family honor
of the restaurant.
And so I wouldn't want
to ever disgrace or
disappoint the family
in any way.
I don't want to
disappoint myself because
I also know how hard
I can push myself and
I know what I'm
capable of.
I remember when I
met this master at
the Ichikan Sushi,
he was ninety.
He told me that all
sushi philosophy is,
how do you say, magokoro.
Kokoro means-
can you explain?
Magokoro, genuine heart.
Sometimes you
get bad fish.
Sometimes you cannot
make good food.
But the people come in,
greet.
Make smile.
That is first,
they are already happy.
If you cannot
have magokoro,
you cannot serve
good food.
That is my philosophy.
I am the daughter of
an artist and a dentist.
Unfortunately, my
father passed away
when I was just
a year old.
For a long time I was
searching for something.
I feel like I
figured it out now.
I've just been
looking for
my dad cause I never
got to meet him.
Working here with
Toshio-san and
with the fish, it's like
being with your family.
It just has this sort
of warmth to it.
Wow.
I see what he knows.
And I get so excited
because I think like, wow
in a few years from now
I'll know that much more.
It's exciting more
than anything else.
After forty years now,
I think I just
started to learn.
I would like
to learn more.
What is the best way
to serve this one?
A better way.
You cannot say, oh,
this is enough.
I don't think there's
ever a moment where I'm
not being tested.
I'm sorry, but
I'm gonna be stubborn,
and stick with you for
a while.
I'm a terrible
sushi person.
I like tuna.
That's it.
I pretend I like
the other stuff.
I never even
tasted the other stuff
till like last year.
And I'll, okay.
And it's not so bad.
But basically,
if I had my choice,
I'd only eat tuna.
