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Chef Niki Nakayama is renowned for introducing modern kaiseki to the U.S. at N/Naka — the two-Michelin-starred LA restaurant. Since N/Naka opened in 2011, chef Nakayama has honored the traditional 13-course Japanese-style dining while incorporating her Japanese American background by including nontraditional ingredients like pasta and artichoke. Following the Japanese concept of mottainai, avoiding waste, she demonstrates how to use every part of the squid — preparing the body as sashimi, grilling the sides, and frying the legs for tempura. The seafood and vegetable-forward menu also highlights ingredients like sea urchin, golden eye snapper, abalone, clams, white asparagus, and yuca chips.
Transcript
00:01One of the most important techniques in Japanese cooking is knife skills,
00:05also sourcing of ingredients.
00:08But I think what makes a chef really, really good is
00:11if the menu makes sense from the beginning to the end.
00:14Kaiseki is the most formal way of dining in Japanese cuisine.
00:19And what I like to think that we're introducing into this format as well
00:24is a different perspective and creativity.
00:28I think when I wanted to bring Kaiseki to the forefront,
00:32there was this idea in my mind where when you close your eyes
00:35and you ask a person to think of a Kaiseki chef,
00:38there was no image that they could immediately come to mind.
00:41And I thought that would be amazing to be judged not for what people imagine you should be,
00:47but what you already are.
00:49That was one of the reasons that I wanted to do Kaiseki.
00:52But the biggest reason is I just love tasting menus and I just love Kaiseki.
00:58So here I have aori ika, which is squid.
01:08So we're doing a version of ika uni ae, which is squid and uni as a modern style sashimi.
01:17So the modern tsukuri is one of my favorite dishes to put together because we always get to utilize Japanese sashimi courses,
01:25but presented in a completely different way.
01:27In my opinion, there are so many parts to an ingredient.
01:32It's all wonderful. It's all perfect.
01:35It just needs to find the right setting to showcase it.
01:40Like for example, the body of the squid is going to be best eaten sashimi,
01:44but the sides are most delicious grilled.
01:47And then the squid legs can best be enjoyed when you temperify them.
01:52So it's about understanding how to utilize each ingredient because none of it is less than.
01:58The squid is chewy and a little bit sticky.
02:02I'm cross hatching it without slicing through.
02:06This method tenderizes the squid significantly so the guests can enjoy it without feeling it bite back.
02:16So these are the sea urchin that we got in from Santa Barbara.
02:20And this is a smaller variation closer to the kinds that are native to Japan.
02:25Delicately cutting the top round out.
02:28We hollow it out and actually use the whole entire thing as a vessel.
02:32And then the meat, the uni that we extract from the inside, we make a sauce out of it.
02:36It almost looks kind of like extraterrestrial.
02:39So the uni is very soft and tender.
02:42They both have this amazing sweetness to it as well as a very mild ocean flavor.
02:48They enhance one another and bring out each other's amazing qualities.
02:53We have the beautiful yucca chips that Michael painted for us, right?
02:58And we are now dehydrating.
03:00I feel like the colors pop, everything just looks really great.
03:03And I think when our guests see it, it makes them, it just makes them smile.
03:06I hope.
03:08I fell in love with Kaiseki when I was 19.
03:12And I was traveling to visit relatives in Japan.
03:15They sat me down and served me dish after dish.
03:18And I was like, what is happening? This is so amazing.
03:22And I thought it would be so amazing for people to experience this in the States
03:26because we had nothing like it here.
03:29When I was opening Ainaka, I had this field of dreams experience where I was like,
03:34I'm just going to do it and people will come.
03:37It's just a big dream, but you believe in it so much that you want other people to believe in it.
03:43I think sometimes, you know, with the outside accolades and things like that, you can get lost if that's all you're striving for.
03:51For me, I feel that the biggest reward that I get is when our guests have a good time.
03:57Art Kaiseki uses 13 courses.
04:00We always say it's like Kaiseki inspired because it follows the format, the philosophy, but we're interpreting it our own way.
04:08I'm going to get some dashi that was made today and steam these artichokes up for tonight's mushi mono course.
04:17Because I'm born and raised here, I really wanted to showcase this experience of what it's like to have this dual culture.
04:27So artichokes are something that you'll never really see on a Japanese kaiseki menu, especially in Japan.
04:34For us, because this is such a big part of our California landscape, we really wanted to utilize it.
04:39And then when Carol and I first started working with artichoke, we were amazed at how much it was so similar to bamboo.
04:47So we're doing the same technique, but just a different vegetable.
04:50And of course, with artichoke, it's not the same flavor profile as bamboo.
04:55So it's natural for us to have reference to what we've experienced.
04:59Spinach and artichoke being a classic combination that we've all had growing up.
05:03We make a spinach and artichoke manju, which is kind of like a rice cake.
05:09And then we're serving it with a golden ice snapper from Japan.
05:12So the part of the fish that we're using is just the meat itself.
05:16We take the bones sometimes and have it enjoy a soup for a staff meal.
05:21The flavor is light, but it's still really nice and comes through.
05:26Gonna take out the belly bones and debone the fish.
05:30He's gonna get seven orders per side.
05:33Golden eye, right?
05:35You can eat it.
05:36Every part of the fish is edible.
05:38It just depends if you're willing to eat it.
05:41Maybe in 20 years.
05:45It's the seventh course on our menu.
05:49It's super delicious.
05:51When we're discussing what the guests might like to eat or how we can introduce something,
05:58it's always, like, as gently as possible.
06:01Yeah, I think there are certain textures in Japanese cuisine that aren't as familiar to Western guests,
06:07which are so important to our food.
06:10But we know that it's not for everyone.
06:12I think in small doses, everything should be tried at least once.
06:16So, Carol's my life partner, my wife, and she's also my partner in the kitchen.
06:22And we've been working together now for 12 years.
06:25There's no one I trust more whose opinion matters more.
06:29The big idea, that's what she's a visionary at, I think.
06:33You know, she can imagine a feeling that she would like to come through in a dish,
06:39a flavor that she would like to see come through.
06:42And because I know her so well at this point and I understand our cooking style so well,
06:47it's very easy for me to then take those crazy ideas that she sometimes has
06:52and, like, make them more realistic and practical.
06:56She just nods and doesn't really give me a good yes or no.
07:00And then I'll make it and then she'll be like, it's not done.
07:06I appreciate that.
07:08Jay, can you steam up one more, please?
07:10We start out with things that are more, like, creative and interesting and exciting
07:15because that's such a great way to introduce our ideas to our guests.
07:19And as the menu flows through, then it moves to something that's a little bit more comforting
07:23and a little bit more familiar.
07:25The abalone pasta is a constant on our menu.
07:28Our guests really love it.
07:31You don't find pasta course in traditional kaisek.
07:34On the menu, it's noted as shi-sakana, which is chef's choice not bound by tradition.
07:41I think about my first experience with pasta.
07:44It was just a fun thing that my brother put together with top ramen and ragu sauce.
07:49And I thought, this is the most amazing thing I've ever had.
07:51What is this combination?
07:53And then my love for pasta grew from that.
07:56I thought that it made sense on our menu because it's a representation of my personal experience.
08:03When we were asked to do chef's table, we were so naive in what we signed up for.
08:09The very next day after it aired, I think that's when we realized, like, oh my God, this is gonna be crazy.
08:16We used to have the phone here, forward all the phone calls to my cell phone.
08:20And the moment it aired, the phone would not stop ringing that it got so hot.
08:25I had to turn it off.
08:27So, it was just mind-blowing and very scary, but also just like, there was no time to think.
08:33It was just like, we just gotta go.
08:35We sat our team down and we told them that no matter what, you guys can't mess up and you can't make us look stupid.
08:44But most of all, I think we wanted to really live up to what the guest expectations would be and to do our best to not let people down.
08:54That was the first time I feel like people who were dining with us fully understood the concept other than, oh, it's a tasting menu.
09:02Most people back then didn't even know what kaiseki was at all.
09:05So that gives us the ability to just be authentic to who we are without worrying about it being misunderstood.
09:12There are scrap pieces from the wagyu that can't be used for steak.
09:16And so we kind of blend that into a meatball with some other spices and panko and stuff.
09:23And then we utilize it on the Zen side to showcase that there's gonna be a wagyu coming up later on.
09:29So with zensai, there are seven little dishes.
09:34Even though it's the table of contents, it's actually the last dish that I compose, even though it's the second dish of the whole meal.
09:41We want to think through all the ingredients that are gonna be on the menu.
09:45We want to make sure there aren't repeated flavors that you're gonna experience.
09:49Yeah, so this is the white asparagus from Holland and we use it on a couple of courses right now.
09:55The sunomono being one of them and then also the zensai.
09:59When you take that first very fibrous layer off, you'll notice that like, oh, it's very tough.
10:05You take that second layer and you notice there's like this beautiful sweetness to it.
10:10And so we didn't want to waste that beautiful flavor just because it's not edible in its original form.
10:16And the zensai really is about that Japanese concept of motainai, which is like to not waste any part of the fish or any part of the ingredients.
10:24And we basically cook the soy milk with the scraps in it to infuse it with the flavor.
10:30And once that sets, it's just like tofu.
10:33In the beginning, of course, without Kero is a lot more unorganized.
10:38But as time has gone by, there's a lot more intricate details that go into it.
10:43We want to make sure that every single piece of dishware is the right piece of dishware that goes on it.
10:50Which I have hundreds of in different styles.
10:53What makes sense for the season, the colors, the shapes.
10:57The accents that go with this plateware are a couple of slivers of clam and a little fan of green asparagus for garnish.
11:06I think my goal every day is how to make what we're doing even better than before.
11:12Just continuously find ways to improve even if it's just a micro-improvement.
11:18How to make this experience for our guests that have been coming to see us for so long still find joy in it and still discover something new.
11:26I always feel nervous and claiming to be a forefront of anything.
11:32I think their food has been around for so long.
11:35We're all just reimagining them in the way and reinterpreting them in ways that make sense to ourselves.
11:41I think the most important part is whatever chef story that they're trying to tell that is very honest about where it's coming from.
11:50It was and is still a very personal story that I wanted to tell about my experience growing up having a love for these two worlds that have shaped who I am.
12:02My dream is to retire when we're at the top of the world to end this work here on a really high note.
12:08And then relax, go on vacation, play more video games.
12:15There we go.
12:20You