Not too long ago, I made a video
with famed sushi chef Masa Takayama.
And then pretty much out of the blue, Elijah Wood,
who happens to be a movie star and a sushi fan, saw it.
So I asked Elijah to come with me
to one of L.A.'s most traditional sushi restaurants,
Q Sushi, and Elijah's never been, so it should be fun.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, that acidity is extraordinary.
What is that? What's the sauce?
- Is that the same type of vinegar that you would use
to season your sushi rice?
- Yes, exactly.
- I heard that with Edomae rice, you can't use any sugar.
Is that true?
- Just vinegar.
- And salt. Ah, okay.
And where is your salt from?
- Okinawa, okay.
Why do you pick Okinawa for where you source your salt?
- That's beautiful.
- How long have you been making sushi?
- For 30 years! That's incredible.
- Over 30 years.
- Scallop's one of my favorite things.
Your rice is really distinctive as well.
It's very good.
Honestly, I don't think I've ever had rice
quite like this before.
- And then, the progression of your omakase,
do you generally start out with more mild fish
and more delicate --
- Yeah it's like a little journey.
- It is.
And what's more important, fish or rice?
- I think that's something that most people
don't realize either.
To me it's also important
in my experience, is the fish to rice ratio,
which I feel a lot of people mess up.
What is your feeling about that, in regards
to how much rice versus the amount of fish?
- It always frustrates me when--
- So you think rice is seventy?
That's interesting!
I did not -- okay.
(all laugh)
- I think a lot of people don't understand
or recognize the amount of work
that goes into preparing a piece of fish
before it actually is served to somebody,
and there's this misconception of fresh fish
that all this fish that you're eating, it's never fresh.
It's, I don't know, a week old, two weeks old,
however long the chef is curing it or whatever techniques
he's doing to prepare the fish.
How long does it take, roughly,
from when a fish is caught to when you get it?
- So it's better two weeks later?
That's fascinating. - Isn't that cool?
- I've learned something today.
That's awesome.
(guitar picking music)