Love soft shell crab roll, yellowtail with jalapeño? Thank Nobu Matsuhisa

Renowned sushi chef Nobuyuki Matsuhisa ’s eponymous restaurants and hotels are all over the world. He left Japan in the 1960s, created his signature sushi flavors with citrus, cilantro, and spice at a Peru-based restaurant, then eventually landed in LA. He’s the focus of a new documentary called Nobu , directed by Matt Tyrnauer. Matsuhisa grew up outside Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture in the post-war era. At age 8, his dad died in a motorcycle accident, and his mom raised him single-handedly. The family didn’t have a lot of money. He tells KCRW that as a kid, he dreamt of becoming like his father. One day, his older brother took him to a sushi restaurant, where he watched chefs make the pieces one by one, and he ate them at the counter for the first time. He wanted to become a sushi chef