One of the most talked-about food trends of late is omakase. Omakase, also known as entrusted dining, is a style of dining where customers ask the chef to serve them what he or she is most confident in.
In Los Angeles Koreatown, not many offer authentic omakase. Also, there are only a few restaurants that serve kaiseki (traditional multi-course Japanese cuisine), which is considered more upscale than omakase in all of Los Angeles.
But there’s Umaya, a restaurant that serves both kaiseki and omakase, which are considered the pinnacle of Japanese culinary culture. At Umaya, a legendary chef, Nao Sugiyama, with 53 years of culinary experience, makes the kaiseki. At the age of 69, Sugiyama says leaving his mark in Koreatown is his last challenge in his life as a chef.
Boy Playing Baseball Becomes Chef
Sugiyama was born in Okayama, Japan, and played baseball as a child. At a local level, he was a well-known local baseball player who received a lot of attention until middle school. However, an injury forced him to give up his dream of playing baseball, and that’s when he discovered cooking. Ever since he was a kid, Sugiyama enjoyed cooking for his friends. He decided that if he couldn’t become a baseball player, he should become a chef.
As soon as Sugiyama graduated from middle school, he left his hometown and started as the youngest employee at a restaurant in Kobe. Working 16 hours a day didn’t bother his passion because everything was new to Sugiyama. His father came to visit him while he was working and asked him to go back home.
Afraid that it would weaken him, Sugiyama ran away from his father and found another restaurant to work at. Spending the next 20 years working in Osaka and Tokyo, he opened his restaurant in 1981 and started to gain a reputation. In 1990, at the age of 37, he moved to the United States, hoping to see if his skills would translate to the rest of the world.
Success in New York
In the U.S., Sugiyama worked at the restaurant Matsuhisa. It was the restaurant of chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, better known by his nickname Nobu and credited with globalizing Japanese cuisine. The world’s best Japanese chef was there for his first foray into the United States.
However, he quit after three years because he was not satisfied with the changing direction of the restaurant, which was moving toward fusion rather than authentic Japanese cuisine. He then headed to New York City to become the executive chef of Japanese cuisine at the five-star Le Meridien Hotel.
In 1999, nine years after coming to the United States, Sugiyama opened an izakaya named after him, Sugiyama, in New York. Sugiyama immediately went viral for its authentic kaiseki cuisine, a rarity in the United States at the time. Zagat, one of the largest restaurant reviewers in the United States, ranked Sugiyama as the fourth-best restaurant in 2000.
New York Times food writer Ruth Reichl praised the restaurant with a three-star review, calling it “a dream voyage across space, if only for a few hours, to the other side of the world.” Forbes, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, and Travel + Leisure have also featured the restaurant, making it a standout in New York City, the world’s culinary capital.
Settling in at Umaya
After 16 years of running Sugiyama, he closed the restaurant in 2015 when his restaurant’s lease expired. He was already in his 60s and thought about retiring to celebrate the successful end of his career.
However, he didn’t want to leave the kitchen yet, so he moved to Los Angeles. He worked as an executive chef at some of the finest Japanese restaurants, including Shiki in Beverly Hills and Gozen in West Hollywood, until he met the owner of Umaya, Jihwan Hwang.
“Chef Sugiyama’s kaiseki was at a level I had never experienced before,” says Hwang, “and I vowed to bring him in to help Umaya succeed.”
From that day on, Hwang convinced Sugiyama to join Umaya. He tried to bring conviction to Sugiyama, who was nearly 70 years old and wanted to choose his last restaurant carefully. It took six months of persuasion, including meeting and talking to Sugiyama’s family. A lifelong devotee of kaiseki cuisine, this legendary chef is now serving up his masterpieces in the heart of Koreatown.
A Feast for the Eyes
Chef Sugiyama’s kaiseki starts with the appetizers. From steamed eggs to tofu topped with caviar, more than a dozen dishes are presented on small plates. Each is a work of art not only in taste but also in color scheme. The flavors range from sour to sweet and are perfect for whetting the appetite. The appetizers are also Sugiyama’s most confident specialty.
This is followed by a course of hearty dishes of sashimi, a clear broth dish made with eel, grilled lobster topped with sea urchin, wagyu beef cooked on hot stones, sushi, including tuna belly, and desserts, which require a variety of culinary skills to make.
Sugiyama said he always prepares the best quality ingredients. Because he believes that no matter how skilled a chef is, customers cannot be satisfied without the best ingredients. Especially in kaiseki, which emphasizes the natural flavors of the ingredients, freshness is crucial.
Sugiyama personally sources his ingredients. Even today, the distributors of vegetables, beef, and seafood call Sugiyama as soon as the best ingredients are available. With pride, he said he brings in the best Japanese ingredients in the United States.
Serving Customers with Genuine Hospitality
Throughout the meal, Sugiyama asks each guest for their name, which he writes down in his notebook. It’s his philosophy to never serve the same dish twice to a guest in the same year. Sugiyama writes down the names of all the guests he’s ever met and what they’ve eaten. More than 40 of these notebooks are his greatest asset.
Watching a customer using chopsticks, Sugiyama moves the bowl of soy sauce to the left side, saying he doesn’t want the left-handed customer to feel uncomfortable when dipping the sashimi into the soy sauce.
When asked where this subtlety comes from, Sugiyama explains that he studies every day how to make his customers happy. He pays attention to details, such as fine-tuning the flavors according to each customer. Ingredients, cooking techniques, artistic flair, delicacy, and sincerity come together to make kaiseki.
Umaya as His Last Restaurant
The name Nao Sugiyama can easily be found in many articles online. Sugiyama has been featured in many media outlets thanks to his distinguished career. But it’s rather hard to find an interview with him, as he believes that chefs should speak through their food.
The reason he agreed to speak with the Korea Daily is because he believes Umaya will be the last restaurant in his career. Sugiyama is turning 70 this year and is thinking of retiring after Umaya. Still visited by customers from New York for his kaiseki, he wants to put off his retirement, but he now feels that the end is near.
Sugiyama’s final goal after more than 50 years of culinary endeavors is to be loved by the Korean Americans in Koreatown. He says this is because he has always had Korean-American customers who loved his food since he started his career in the United States. He hopes to finish his career with love and appreciation in the heart of Koreatown.
“There are many Korean Americans who have a high level of understanding of Japanese cuisine, so I think they will also recognize the meaning and the value of kaiseki. I look forward to serving them with kaiseki made with the finest ingredients.”
Address: 3322 Wilshire Blvd #100, LA
Website: Umayala.com
Contact: (323)997-4349
BY WONHEE CHO, HOONSIK WOO [cho.wonhee@koreadaily.com]
