Q+A: Celebrated chef Nobu Matsuhisa talks first failures, thoughts of suicide, culinary empire

Nobu Matsuhisa might be the most incredible story of the culinary world, but it didn’t start out being an easy journey. His father died in an auto accident when he was 7 years old. His mother raised two older brothers and him.

He literally walked out on his first sushi restaurant employer in Tokyo after seven years and went to Peru, where a dispute with his financial partner, a former Tokyo customer, ended that run. He wound up in Alaska thinking that it would be a great gateway into America for his third and final attempt at success.

But on Thanksgiving Day not two months after opening, his restaurant burned to the ground, and Nobu lost everything except for a sashimi knife. He was penniless and admits it was at that lowest point of his life that he wanted to kill himself.

He made the stunning revelation when I sat down to interview him for our new website’s debut video at his restaurant Nobu in Caesars after he’d been presented with the hotel’s 50th anniversary icon award by President Gary Selesner. This is the first time Nobu has talked extensively on camera about the darkest days of his life.

Nobu had asked his wife and two daughters to let him go off for the third time to a new country after setbacks in Japan and Peru.

“It wasn’t for success. I told my wife that it would be my last challenge, my last chance. A friend of mine told us somebody was looking for a partner opening a Japanese restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska.”

But, tragically, it wasn’t third time’s a charm. Unfortunately, a third problem and less than a year after your opening, the restaurant burns to the ground. How did you feel at that point?

It is my worst memory, my worst experience because it was my last chance. I loaned a lot of my own money, and I did the construction myself to help out. It took us almost 10 months until we could have a grand opening. But 50 days afterward, not even two months, on my first national holiday in the United States, my first day off was Thanksgiving, and we celebrated the opening with turkey, wine and happy conversation.

I was so happy, but my partners call me, “Nobu, you must come to restaurant because restaurant start burning.” I didn’t trust him. I thought, ‘This is not a good joke!’ ”

Anchorage is a small city. It’s almost midnight, and I start to hear the Fire Department sirens. In the dark, I see the fire and the big smoke in downtown. It was cold and snowing in Anchorage, but I never felt the cold — anything. My restaurant burned out 100 percent, nothing was left except I find my knife in the rubble. I still have it — my lucky charm.

I was so distraught, I couldn’t even drink water. … My brain was thinking how can I kill myself because my dream is gone, money’s gone, no insurance. I lost everything. My life is over. I have no energy anymore. Maybe I’m going to kill myself. After five or six days, I hear my wife and the kids screaming and laughing, so I said I would try one more time to challenge my life. I have to do because my family gave me life again.

So you go to Los Angeles in 1977 and work for 10 years as an unknown in restaurants saving your money once again to eventually build up to your own Matsuhisa restaurant where Robert De Niro becomes one of your regular hotspot customers? Did he say, “I’m going to make you a star”?

I don’t know that he thought Nobu would become like this. He lived in New York but always stopped into Matsuhisa when he was in Los Angeles. He likes my food so much that he says he wants to open one close to his house in New York City. My restaurant because he likes my food. He starts to think we should make my restaurant together in New York City.

So you go from a burned-down restaurant to a partnership with De Niro and his partners with Nobu Hospitality and Myriad Restaurant Group, which has now grown to be a huge empire. You have the world’s most recognized restaurant and truly are now an icon with four bestselling cookbooks. What do you love most? Still cooking or heading up the empire?

I don’t know business much because I started as a chef when I was only 18 years old. I still like cooking. I love to see the look of pleasure on my customers’ faces. I love to work, and I love my job. I like to see my customers happy. All I need back from them is just a smile.

What do you do next to continue this legacy?

I’m not looking for the future as much. I like to go one by one, just a day at a time, especially after my restaurant burned. … Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, I like to go one by one. So, I can’t know what’s going on the future, but my philosophy is always after Alaska experience, I like to go one by one. Then you see where you are after a year.

You look back at your life and you overcame all of these problems and hurdles. What does that say about you: You never give up, you persevere through trials and troubles?

Sometimes I still dream and see the fires, the problems, and I wake up scared. Then I repeat again, “Go one by one.” So I don’t want to go too fast. I like to try my best, always. Even if I make a mistake, I don’t want it to be a big mistake. I like to learn from the mistake. I like to educate for the next generation. I like to try to challenge the business and see a lot of different people. I’m still learning my craft.

A case of if at first you don’t succeed, you keep trying until you do succeed.

Always. I like to try my best. … I don’t want to have any excuses about my life: I was young, why did I not do this? Now at my age, I like to go one by one.

Final question: You come into a restaurant like this, what will you order from the menu? Is your signature dish of miso cod the best item on the menu here for you?

It’s very difficult to say like I choose my favorite dish because a lot of dishes are created by me. It depends how you feel. Nobu restaurant customers feel very comfortable because we have a lot of options, a lot of choices on the menu. Some people don’t eat raw fish, so sometimes black cod, sometimes meat, sometimes vegetable.

I love the sushi, but very difficult for me to choose just one. I started as a sushi chef, so I love the sushi. I like the tuna, the white fish and shellfish, squid, you know, sushi anything. I like all of it—anything!

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And with that, Nobu scurried behind the sushi counter to show our video cameraman and his own chefs how the master can still make it better than anybody else.