Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-07-22)

Somedinersattempttogetaway

with not paying for their meal.

“Oh, we’ve definitely had peo-

ple who’ve tried,” says a manager.

There are other payment chal-

lenges: Once at the Miami loca-

tion, a known cartel member

threwa chairata man-

ager and threatened not

to pay his $6,000-plus bar

tab because the manager

wouldn’t sing happy birth-

day to the kingpin’s girl-

friend. The manager was

able to talk him down. The

cartel member eventually

apologized and extricated

a hefty wad of cash from

his briefcase to pay.

There are, of course,

exceptions in the other

direction. The Downtown service

team still talks about a gratuity

left more than six months ago by

a high-profile chief executive who

was out dining with six friends,

includinganA-listactressanda

model.Heleftanextra$22,000

onan$8,000bill.Everyone

workingthateveningreaped

thebenefits of his drunken

generosity/miscalculation.

TheU.S.FoodandDrugAdmin-
istrationstronglysuggestsall
fishservedrawshouldbefro-
zenfirst,a practicethat’snow
lawin NewYorkCity.Yes,you
readthatcorrectly:Almostevery
sliceofsushislungin theBig
Applehasbeenfreezer-treated,
whichmeansyou’renevereat-
ingfishdeliveredthatday.At
Nobu,thesoon-to-besashimi
goesintoa medical-gradefridge
thatflash-freezestheproduct

at-90F.“We’reusingthesame

freezerhospitalshavetokeep

blood,sothefishcellsdon’t

breakdownupondefrosting,”

saysMattHoyle,executivechef

atbothNewYorkNobus.Fish

thatwillbecookeddoesn’tneed

tobefrozen.Generally,special

itemssuchaskisu(Japanese

whiting)andtobiuo(flyingfish)

arriveatNobuonTuesdaysor

Wednesdays;premiumcutscome

onWednesdaysandThursdays.

ChefNobu’slegendarycuisine

haschangedAmerica’sconcept

ofJapanesefood.Pioneering

dishes,suchasblackcodwith

misooryellowtailsashimi

withjalapeño,havebeenrep-

licatedatrestaurantsnation-

wide.AtNobuFiftySeven,the

blackcoddishrepresented

morethan$1millioninsalesin

2018.Theyellowtailjalapeñodid

morethan$1.5million.Nobu’s

Midtownhubisn’teventhe

empire’smostprofitableloca-

tion—thathonorgoestothe

oneinMalibu.

InNewYorktheaverageper-

sonspends$120,notincluding

tip;thenumberriseswithlarge

partieswhensakemagnumsare

totedout.A bigspendis con-

sideredanythingfrom$400

to$500;epictabscomeinat

morethan$1,000a person.The

omakase—aprixfixesampler

ofsomeofthefinestdishes—

startsat$135.Highrollerscan

settheirownomakaseprice

forpremiumeats,whichranges

from$250to$500a head.

Extremelystrictrulesgov-

ernprecisedishrollout.Even

thetuftsoflettuceareweighed

beforethey’reincorporated

intoa salad(70grams a plate).

Separate line cooks man each

station—salads, soups, tempura,

sauté, grill, and pastry—super-

vising only a few recipes each.

Thereservationsteamesti-
matesthatmorethan70%
ofthenamesintheirdata-
basehaveatleastonebulleted
itemappended,rangingfrom

“tap water, no ice” to “always

likes to talk to a manager.” A

designer who lives in Tribeca

allows no one to touch any-

thing on her table—servers can

place dishes, but water glasses

must stay on the table when

they’rerefilled,andnapkinsmay

notberefolded.Anotherregu-

lar,a supermodelfromthe’80s,

alwaysbringsinsugar-free

ingredientsandsplashesaround

mixingthesauces.“I’vethought

ofaskingif shewantsa chef’s

apron,”saysHildreth.He’seven

leftNobutopickupdeodorant

fora businessmannot-so-fresh

offa Londonflight.

63

THE STAFF WILL MAKE

DEODORANT RUNS

THE FANCY SUSHI YOU’RE EATING

WAS PROBABLY FROZEN

RICH PEOPLE WILL

DINE AND DASH, TOO

UPTOWN

CUSTOMERS EAT

MORETHAN

$1MILLION

WORTH OF BLACK

COD A YEAR