The lure of Matsuhisa is supposed to be the star power of its chef, Nobuyuki Matsuhisa. Nobu is the Mac Daddy of international Japanese chefs, having mastered sushi by age twenty, moved to Peru and incorporated South American seafood styles into his Kung Fu skills. Frankly, I was pretty unimpressed – especially given the price tag at the end of the meal. Four of us ate for $600. That was dinner for four, with only two drinkers. $600! And we were still hungry afterwards! Nobu’s sushi was fine, but I’ve had fresher at the locals-only sushi bars downtown for a fraction of the price. At its core the secret of sushi is the freshness and quality of the fish. Some days it’s perfect, some days you need a lot of lemon juice. I’ve been exceedingly harsh in verbal reviews of Matsuhisa to friends, because I’m one of those people who likes a good story with dramatic beats, but now that I’m committing it to searchable digital ink I suppose I should admit that the worst thing about the meal was that it was wholly forgettable – other than the sticker shock. I’m in debt to my parents for taking me out to a meal that was as much as the rent on my studio apartment at the time, God knows these places are out of my reach. But at those prices Matsuhisa is catering to a crowd most of us can’t even afford to park next to. I don’t even want to think about the price of a door ding repair on a $250,000 Bentley GT. Come to think of it, I don’t have to. An appetizer should just about cover it.
(310) 659-9639, 129 N La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills