The sushi of Jiro’s dreams will run you $20/minute Sukiyabashi Jiro is a 3-star Michelin restaurant in Tokyo that many say serves the best sushi in the world. The chef/owner, 86-year-old Jiro Ono, was the subject of last year’s excellent Jiro Dreams of Sushi documentary film. Adam Goldberg of A Life Worth Eating ate at Sukiyabashi Jiro yesterday. The meal was 21 courses, about US$380 per person (according the web site, excluding drinks), and lasted only 19 minutes. That’s more than a course a minute and, Goldberg estimates, around $20 per person per minute. And apparently totally worth it. Goldberg has photos of each course up on Flickr and his site has a write-up of his 2009 meal. Three slices of tuna came next, akami, chu-toro, and oo-toro increasing from lean, to medium fatty, to extremely fatty cuts. The akami (lean toro) was the most tender slice of tuna I’ve ever tasted that did not contain noticeable marbelization. The tuna was marinated in soy sauce for several minutes before service, perhaps contributing to this unique texture.

The medium fatty tuna had an interesting mix of crunch and fat, while the fatty tuna just completely melted in my mouth. My friend with whom I shared this meal began to tear (I kid you not).sushi los angeles sunset blvd Lest you think Goldberg’s meal was an anomaly, this is a typical meal at Sukiyabashi Jiro. jiro dreams of sushi playing in nycDave Arnold wrote about his experience earlier this year:jiro dreams of sushi about The sushi courses came out at a rate of one per minute. where to buy sushi grade fish in nyc19 courses in 19 minutes. sushi grade fish by mail

No ordering, no real talking — just making sushi and eating sushi. After the sushi is done you are motioned to leave the sushi bar and sit at a booth where you are served your melon. order sushi viennaWe took that melon at a leisurely 10 minute pace, leaving us with a bill of over $300 per person for just under 30 minutes time. jiro dreams of sushi playingNastassia and Mark thought the pace was absurd and unpleasant. They felt obliged to keep up with Jiro’s pace. I didn’t feel obliged, but kept up anyway. I didn’t mind the speed. I could have easily eaten even faster, but I’m an inhuman eating machine — or so I’m told. At the end of the meal, Jiro went outside the restaurant and stood guard at the entrance, waiting to bid us formal adieu. This made Nastassia even more nervous about rushing to get out.

At over 10 dollars a minute I have no problem letting an 86 year old man stand and wait for me to finish my melon if he wants to. Here is some wisdom distilled from a great sushi chef on how to master your craft and live a life of success. "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" is a documentary on the life and craft of the great 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono, who owns a tiny 10-seat shop in Tokyo that has the highest Michelin Guide rating of three stars. To get a seat you must make a reservation months in advance. The courses are carefully planned and the creation and serving of the meal is a multi-course symphony of sushi that some guests have even described as “stressful” yet an experience like no other. Jiro himself serves each course to his guests and carefully examines their faces as they taste his elegant works of edible art. What follows is the wisdom distilled from the great sushi chef on how to master your craft. 1. Learn from the best. Sometimes you must learn to fail before you learn to succeed.

Yamamoto, a renowned Japanese food writer, says: “When you work for Jiro, he teaches you for free. But, you have to endure ten years of training. If you persevere for ten years you will acquire the skills to be recognized as a first-rate chef.” In Jiro’s restaurant, many apprentices do not make it to the next level. Yet there are those who persevere. For example, one of the apprentice sushi chefs tried over 400 times to make egg sushi that met Jiro’s standards of being worthy to be served. When he finally received Jiro’s approval, he was overwhelmed with joy and cried. Take away lesson: Only when you understand what it feels like to fail and try again will you be able to cherish the moment when you achieve success. 2. Don’t be afraid of having the same routine every day and working long hours. Yamamoto: “[Jiro] repeats the same routine every day. He even gets on the train in the same position. He has said that he dislikes the holidays. The holidays are too long for him.

He wants to get back to work as soon as possible.” Jiro’s oldest son, Yoshikazu: “It really comes down to making an effort and repeating the same thing every day.” Take away lesson: Today people talk about creativity stemming from novel experiences. This may be true. However, incremental improvement is the key to becoming a creative master of your craft. To reach the highest levels of creativity, sometimes you must slowly get better each and every day. 3. To be the very best you must have talent and be willing to develop that talent. Jiro: “In order to make delicious food, you must eat delicious food. The quality of ingredients is important, but you need to develop a palate capable of discerning good and bad. Without good taste, you can’t make good food. If your sense of taste is lower than that of the customers, how will you impress them? When I think of someone with a highly acute sense of taste and smell the first person I think of is the great French chef Joel Robuchon.

I wish I were as sensitive as he.  I have a very good sense of smell, but he’s on another level. His sensitivity is very high.  If I had his tongue and nose, I could probably make even better food.” In other words, talent is relative. Yoshikazu: “There are some who are born with a natural gift. Some have a sensitive palate and sense of smell. That is what you might call ‘natural talent.’ In this line of business if you work hard you will get good over time. But if you want to reach the next level, you need talent. The rest depends on how hard you work.” Take away lesson: To become great in any domain, underlying talent matters. But what matters most is whether you are willing to develop the talent that you have to become the best that you can be. 4. Give your life to your craft and improve it daily. Never be satisfied with your work. Yamamoto: “I’ve seen many chefs who are self-critical, but I’ve never seen a chef who is so hard on himself. [Jiro] sets the standard for self-discipline.

He is always looking ahead. He’s never satisfied with his work. He’s always trying to find ways to make the sushi better, or to improve his skills. Even now, that’s what he thinks about every day, all day.” Jiro says that he gave his life to his work and that he never once regretted joining his profession. Take away lesson: Find a profession you are willing to devote your life to and never be satisfied with your product or your skill set. Improve them every day. 5. Don’t plan for Plan B. It’s the mindset to fail Plan A. Jiro: “When I was in the first grade, I was told: ‘You have no home to come back to. That’s why you have to work hard.’ And I didn’t want to have to sleep at the temple or under a bridge so I had to work just to survive. Nowadays, parents tell their children, ‘You can return if it doesn’t work out.’ When parents say stupid things like that, the kids turn out to be failures.” Take away lesson: While this “Jiro-ism” may go against conventional wisdom, Jiro points to this life moment for his mindset for greatness.

Don’t rely on a safety net because it will prevent you from expanding beyond your perceived boundaries. Greatness will often come from necessity. 6. As a leader you may not always collaborate well with others, and that’s okay. Yamamoto says that a key attribute of great chefs is “impatience. They are better leaders than collaborators. They’re stubborn and insist on having it their way.” Take away lesson: There is a reason why we have the idiom, “too many cooks spoil the broth.” Today there is much praise about being a great collaborator to reach the top. And certainly collaboration is important. But the truth is that the leaders of any domain are often mavericks who are not fun to work with at all. If you are one of those leaders just remember that it’s okay to go your own way. 7. Master the art of simplicity. In simplicity there can be found great depth. Yamamoto says that all of Jiro’s sushi is simple and that “Ultimate simplicity leads to purity.”