I was driving along the Pacific Coast Highway, towards my friend, celebrity photographer Philip Ramey's house in Malibu, when he asked me where I wanted to go for dinner that night. "Sushi?" I suggested. He immediately replied that he was going to take me to the best sushi restaurant in LA. I was expecting Matsuhisa. A couple of seconds later he was on the phone, making a reservation, when he asked for my credit card. "I can't reach for my wallet," he said. "I'm driving." I found this request a little unusual. 16 years ago, not too many restaurants asked for a credit card to guarantee a reservation as they do now. "I will bring the champagne," he said. Fine with me - Philip has one of the best cellars in California.
That night he took me to a tiny restaurant on the second floor of a building on Rodeo Drive with a couple of tables and a few chairs at the sushi bar, each one of them with an engraved plaque bearing the name of a customer.
For about three and a half hours I ate the most exotic, best tasting Japanese food of my life. Some of the fish had been flown in from the Fish Market in Tokyo the day before. The Master Chef did things with the food that I had never experienced. It was like watching a surgeon at work. Incredible. Until the bill arrived. $1,176 dollars, without liquor. Philip had made good on his promise and brought the Krug and Dom Perignon.
This was my first experience with Superstar-Chef Masa Takayama, at his former restaurant Ginza Sushi-Ko. I suffered chest pains. Not from the food, from the bill. A couple of hours later, back in my hotel room, I was still hungry. I walked towards the mini bar and reached for a Toblerone, realizing as I did that I had just spent over $1,000 dollars for dinner and could not afford the $14.00 chocolate bar. I put it back.
I must be a glutton for punishment because I went back to Ginza Sushi-Ko, not once, or twice, but many more times. I became friendly with Masa. I did a story on it when I worked at Telemundo. Believe it or not, a few people even called me from Mexico to ask about the restaurant.
Now all those addicted to good food know that Masa is one of the big guns. In 2004 he got a deal to move his restaurant from Beverly Hills to the new Time Warner Building in Columbus Circle, with Thomas Keller of Per Se, and the Mandarin Oriental.
He still serves his Omakase or "Chef's Choice" menu. He still prepares the majority of the food in front of you. He serves not only the best fish, but also black truffles and caviar. The tuna belly and squid look like tiny pieces of art.
Masa is a bargain when you consider that he still charges almost the same as what I paid 16 years ago. No inflation here. For those of you who still think that Masa is expensive, let's put it in perspective. Go to New York to watch a top Broadway play and you'll likely pay $400 a ticket. Time spent at a Broadway play -- 2 ½ hours. Time spent watching a master chef at work -- about the same -- but you're entertained as well as fed.
