- [Man] The omakase, in a word, it means chef's choice.
It's not only just the sushi.
Welcome to Shuko.
Coming from Masa and then opening our own restaurant,
there's definitely pressure,
not just from the customers or the world but just from self.
The influence that I got from Masa is sort of constant.
It goes beyond food, for me it's about colors,
it's about texture,
looking at certain things that are striking,
that catch the eyes, that feels good,
that catches even the sound.
Masa doing very well like with the taste of things
he always thinking how to combine with the Japanese
and then how to match together.
The theory behind Shuko comes from the Kaiseki format.
Jimmy and I had created our own interpretation
of what Kaiseki is.
Traditional Kaiseki was created in Kyoto,
the tea master would pair tea with bites to compliment
course after course that all seamlessly goes together
so the Kaiseki menu is definitely for me
the original tasting menu.
(upbeat music)
This is our canape.
And it is sweet english pea chawanmushi with salmon eggs.
It is our introduction to our Kaiseki menu
to open up the mouth, our form of hello, a handshake.
(upbeat music)
(brush scraping)
And this is our second course, sunomono,
dungeness crab salad with the cucumber,
chrysanthemum flower, and tosazu sauce.
(upbeat music)
This is our bread course.
Homemade milk bread,
wild bluefin toro tartar from Spain with Russian caviar.
(upbeat music)
This is our sashimi course,
it is local long island fluke
with grilled maitake mushrooms,
shiso miso, and nori crumble.
It's a progression of courses
getting richer and more deeper,
setting up for the next course.
(octopus sizzling)
(cello music)
This is our fifth course,
it's octopus from a Mediterranean.
(electronic music)
This is our meat course,
this is Omi beef which is a breed that comes near Kyoto,
it's not as fatty as Kobe
which is the reason why we like it,
it's more about the flavor.
This is our last course before the dashi course.
(cello music)
(brush scraping)
This is our suimono course
which is dashi with grilled mushrooms,
the point of it is to clean the mouth
and get set up for the sushi course
which is about to happen next.
(gentle music)
(fish sizzling)
(brush scraping)
(upbeat music)
Homemade apple pie,
very traditional way to end end the Japanese Kaiseki menu.
(laughter)