[Jazzy Music Playing]
[Wolfgang Puck speaking] I love the passion Japanese chefs have about vegetables,
about fish, whatever it is, but they're really passionate about quality. So...
To me, when we open our restaurant in Japan, to go to the fish market,
go to the vegetable market...
See how precious some of their vegetables and fruits are...
was really a revelation. And to me, it was always special to have great vegetables. So...
Now, we are making sushi nigiri and stuff like that, here,
with roasted vegetables, broiled vegetables,
grilled vegetables, you name it.
All right, Tetsu, so what you're gonna make for us?
[Tetsu Yahagi speaking] Okay, so can we just do Omakase-style?
[Wolfgang Puck] Omakase is my favorite! Okay. [Tetsu Yahagi] Okay, good. (chuckles)
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, let's start...
[Wolfgang Puck] I have the sake here! [Tetsu Yahagi] Oh, perfect....
[Wolfgang] So, I was thinking about tasting the Yuzu Sake with your Omakase vegan sushi here.
[Tetsu Yahagi] Okay, so I'm gonna start with... uh... red pepper.
[Wolfgang Puck] Uh huh...
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, I roast red pepper very, very...uh...slowly
...for a long time so it's melting soft.
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah...
[Tetsu Yahagi] And this is going to resemble tuna. It's almost like a vegetarian tuna.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay, you don't get nice tuna like that everywhere? Huh? That good color.
[Tetsu Yahagi] Yeah, so maybe a little extra wasabi is nice.
Very quick, very quick nigiri.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, that's our first course.
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah, a little pepper. [Tetsu Yahagi] A little pepper.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay, so, next one? [Tetsu Yahagi] Okay, so, then.. Let's move on to... uh...
[Tetsu Yahagi] ...avocado because we're in California.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay, good, yep, you're here. You have a lot of avocado in Japan, too?
[Tetsu Yahagi] Not a lot. We import them all.
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah? [Tetsu Yahagi] Yeah.
[Wolfgang Puck] I'm gonna have to go and show them how to grow them. [Tetsu Yahagi chuckles] Yeah.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, avocados being scooped up almost like a shape of fish eggs.
And... uh... it's soaked in basil oil.
So, you have nice basil oil.
We're gonna turn this into like a Gunkan-style.
So, we'll do avocado.
[Wolfgang Puck] How about a little chili?
[Tetsu Yahagi] I think that's good idea. [Wolfgang Puck] I like when it's spicy.
[Tetsu Yahagi] Perfect, so that's our second course. [Wolfgang Puck] All right, look at that!
So, we did salmon pearls. "Salmon pearls."
So, we're gonna do uni.
[Wolfgang Puck] Uni, okay! My favorite, you know? [Tetsu Yahagi] Vegetarian style. So...
[Tetsu Yahagi] We made really small, beautiful Farmers Market... uh...
[Wolfgang Puck] Butternut squash? [Tetsu Yahagi] ...butternut squash. Baby one.
[Tetsu Yahagi] We roasted really slow, so it's nice and sweet.
And we're caramelizing the miso on top...
[Tetsu Yahagi] As you can see, that's miso. [Wolfgang Puck] Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.
[Tetsu Yahagi] And we cook it really, really hard at the end, so that it gets nice and...
[Wolfgang Puck] ...So, it browns and everything. Yeah, get the flavor. [Tetsu Yahagi] So, it gets a nice torched...
[Tetsu Yahagi] Right, so...
We'll do this one with cucumber.
[Wolfgang Puck] You know I'm gonna send a picture to to Byron in the South of France, you know? At Baumanière, yeah?
[Tetsu Yahagi] He's working there? [Wolfgang Puck] He's working there, yeah.
[Wolfgang Puck] You know, he was always, like, into his... uh... vegetarian sushi, too.
He always said we have to make different ones all the time.
[Wolfgang Puck] Oooh, it looks like uni — the color! [Tetsu Yahagi] It does.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, scoop up a little bit of this.
So, miso is very strong in flavor. I don't think I need any....
...soy sauce on top? Or maybe we can garnish a little flower.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay!
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, that's our uni course.
Okay.
[Tetsu Yahagi] How about we do cucumber, next? [Wolfgang Puck] Okay!
[Tetsu Yahagi] It's very simple. So, a lot of the work has been done already. So, this is...
[Wolfgang Puck] You roasted them? [Tetsu Yahagi] We pickled it.
[Wolfgang Puck] We pickled them?
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, we pickled them in sugar, salt and mustard.
You want to taste a little bit?
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, it's still crunchy, but... [Wolfgang Puck] It's nice and crunchy, yeah...
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, we cut it...
[Tetsu Yahagi] And then I make a lot of incisions, so it's easier to eat.
How about we do this with the red...red...?
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, this one has shiso, you know? Cucumber and shiso is a very good friend.
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah, they're good friends in Japan and here, too.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, we go like that and then we have a little band.
Normally, if it doesn't fall off...
Okay...
And then we're going to garnish this with this cucumber flower.
[Wolfgang Puck] Wow, beautiful! [Tetsu Yahagi] ...On top like that.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So people go, "wow!"
So, we're into fifth course now.
How about we do another squash course — but different squash?
Okay, so...
Here's delicata squash. It's been roasted for about...
...45 minutes until super tender.
And we already stuffed with sushi rice.
But it's a mixture of jalapeño, red pepper, sesame...
[Tetsu Yahagi] We know you like spicy. [Wolfgang Puck] Okay, perfect for me.
[Wolfgang Puck] And the great thing is you can actually eat the skin with this delicata squash, huh?
[Tetsu Yahagi] Very nice with the skin. We don't have to peel them.
Okay, so we're going to garnish with with... uh....
...a little nori.
Okay, a little more.
And the rice is already seasoned already, so I think this is good like that.
So, that's delicata squash.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, we have here, we've pickled lotus and sugar and vinegar.
And this one is cooked in soy sauce.
[Wolfgang Puck] And this one is fried. Crispy. [Tetsu Yahagi] This one's fried crispy. Yeah.
[Tetsu Yahagi] One piece of this.
So, this is nice and sweet, the white one.
And then the brown one is salty.
So, we'll put both in one.
Just kind of....
Form it into a sushi shape.
There we go.
And then we can garnish it with a little crispiness.
There you go.
We have... Let's see...
[Tetsu Yahagi] Oh, we can do onions. [Wolfgang Puck] Onion, okay!
[Wolfgang Puck] How you call onion in Japanese? [Tetsu Yahagi] Tamanegi.
[Wolfgang Puck] Tamanegi. Okay.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, we roasted onion really slow again — with the skin.
So it kind of steams. Uh....
And then we'll just use this nice ring from inside.
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, in Japan we make a dish called... uh... Ikameshi.
It's a basically like a squid ring...
...ring of squid filled with rice.
[Wolfgang Puck] Oh, it could be like that!
It could look like a little bit like squid, huh? Yeah, uh huh.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, we'll fill this up with sushi rice.
Okay... and little...
This is Yuzu miso. So, it has a little bit of Yuzu and miso flavor.
And then we can garnish with a little....
...Shisho.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay, it looks great.
[Tetsu Yahagi] Very quick but...
[Tetsu Yahagi] And then I know you like the sweet glaze [Wolfgang Puck] Yeah, I love the glaze.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, it can go around....
...on the onions.
[ambient noise]
[Tetsu Yahagi] Okay.
All right, next one...
...We'll do... How about a pickled watermelon radish?
So, watermelon radish are...
...they really look like watermelon. Nice bright red inside.
[Wolfgang Puck] So, you pickle them again with a little vinegar?
[Tetsu Yahagi] A little vinegar, a little sugar, a little bit of ginger.
[sound of chewing]
[Wolfgang Puck] What is that? Ginger?
[Tetsu Yahagi] That's Ginger.
[Wolfgang Puck] You cut it so fine. Or you grated it?
[Tetsu Yahagi] No, I cut it so fine with the knife.
[Tetsu Yahagi] I can actually.... [Wolfgang Puck] ...use a knife?
[Tetsu Yahagi] Yeah, yeah. [Wolfgang Puck] Good job.
[Tetsu Yahagi laughs]
Thanks for teaching me!
Finally! (laughs)
Okay, so let's use the little chive here that I blanched previously.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So that...
[Wolfgang Puck] ...It sticks together? [Tetsu Yahagi] It sticks together... rice in the...
[ambient noise]
[Wolfgang Puck] Squish it so it doesn't fall.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay, we're only at eight, we said ten!
[Tetsu Yahagi] Okay. I have more coming!
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay, good.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, why don't we do eggplant? [Wolfgang Puck] Okay.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, eggplant...
I scored them really fine.
Deep fried first.
And then brined in vegetable dashi with a little bit of soy sauce for flavor.
[Tetsu Yahagi] I know you like eggplant. [Wolfgang Puck] Yeah, I love eggplant.
[Wolfgang Puck] Also, you can eat the skin now, when it's cut like that.
[Tetsu Yahagi] Yes, so it's going to be beautiful, tender.
It's not too much texture on your teeth, you know?
We'll make it — turn into sushi shape.
And then in my country, eggplant always with ginger.
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah, okay... In my country, too!
[Tetsu Yahagi] Same?! Oh, nice. [Wolfgang Puck] Yeah.
[Tetsu Yahagi] See, we have so much in common. [Wolfgang Puck] In Austria, yeah.
We don't go out — eggplants come from Italy and Austria.
I mean it's not the right climate. (laughter)
[Tetsu Yahagi] Okay, uh, let's see what we got.
Okay, we'll do one last one. It's gonna be romaine lettuce,
again from California, it's like a little caesar salad, right?
So, we grilled it first.
So, I'm going to take this...
[Wolfgang Puck] Now, spice it up for me! Okay?
[Tetsu Yahagi] Okay. Let's make it spicy with Wasabi, maybe?
[Wolfgang Puck] Yeah!
[Wolfgang Puck] You decide.
[ambient noise]
[Tetsu Yahagi] And then we'll put some beautiful flowers.
[funky jazz music playing]
[Tetsu Yahagi] And now salt.
There you go.
[Tetsu Yahagi] So, that's Omakase Ten Sushi.
[Wolfgang Puck] Okay!
[Funky jazz music playing]