Winter is peak seafood season in Kanazawa. Across the city, restaurants draw in locals and out-of-town visitors alike with feasts centered around the finest, freshest fish they can procure from the nearby Japan Sea coast.
Nowhere is the maritime bounty of this region more evident than at Omicho Market, the cluster of narrow streets often referred to as “Kanazawa’s kitchen.” Especially in the lead-up to the new year, it is jammed with people buying provisions for the holidays, lining up outside specialist eateries or simply gawking at the eels, urchins, mollusks and crustaceans arrayed alongside the yellowtail, salmon and other fish.
For a small but significant number of epicurean travelers, however, the most revered address for seafood dining lies a 20-minute drive out into the suburbs to the neighboring commuter town of Nonoichi. It is here, tucked away unobtrusively in the tidy, quiet, residential backstreets, that you’ll find chef Takayoshi Yamaguchi and his revered restaurant Sushidokoro Mekumi.
It is an unprepossessing locale, but once you’re inside and seated in Mekumi’s elegant, understated dining room, it feels totally appropriate to have made this pilgrimage. The look is spare and traditional: walls faced with timber and packed earth; an eight-seat counter cut from the massive trunk of a 450-year-old hinoki (cypress) and sanded down as smooth as silk; each place setting perfectly illuminated from above. This is the ideal stage for Yamaguchi to demonstrate what makes his seafood so special.
A chef with a quest
Born and raised in Yamanaka Onsen, a hot spring town in the nearby mountains, he first headed to Tokyo with the intention of becoming a baker. Finding the training too onerous, he turned instead to sushi, apprenticing at a number of restaurants before eventually returning to Ishikawa Prefecture and opening Mekumi in 2002.
Because he was serving Edomae (Tokyo-style) sushi, at that time still relatively unusual in Kanazawa, he initially bought most of his fish from dealers in the capital’s legendary (and now-closed) Tsukiji wholesale market. But he began to question that approach after customers began asking why he wasn’t taking advantage of all the superb seafood landed nearby.
He realized that if he were to buy directly from local fishing ports — such as Nanao, on the Noto Peninsula north of Kanazawa, or Himi, on the shore of Toyama Bay — he would be able to offer sushi that was not just fresher but with a local focus that few, if any, other restaurants in Kanazawa could rival.
Easier said than done: Nanao lies 100 kilometers from Mekumi, about 90 minutes away by car, and it takes almost twice as long to Himi. In order to arrive ahead of the early-morning auctions, to inspect the catch brought in each day by the fishermen, Yamaguchi had to set out in the middle of the night. But to him it was worth it, even if it meant he was operating on as little as two or three hours sleep.
This was the start of his quest to source the best possible ingredients. For the past 17 years, he has followed this routine with single-minded focus, always looking at ways to improve the quality of the sushi he serves.
His daily trips involve much more than just selecting the pick of the catch. Each fish must be prepared with the utmost care. Some are taken back alive; others are treated with the technique known as shinkeijime — using a wire to destroy the nerves along the spinal cord of the fish, to paralyze and prevent the stress that triggers the release of lactic acid, which immediately starts to impact both freshness and flavor.
Transporting the fish requires similar attention, to ensure everything remains in optimal condition. Yamaguchi has developed methods of packing them upright rather than on their side to further protect them on the long drive back.
Over the years, he has slowly and patiently won the trust and cooperation of more than a dozen of the fishermen, encouraging them to learn the shinkeijime method, so they can do it themselves while still out at sea, as soon as the fish is on board. This is especially important when dealing with larger species, such as tuna and yellowtail.
“With sushi, the chef’s skill and techniques are important, of course,” he explains, “but so is what happens before the chef gets hold of the fish. By the time they reach land it is already too late.”
Proof is in the feasting
Yamaguchi likes to say that he doesn’t choose what he will serve his customers, rather the sea does. He works with whatever the ocean currents provide and the fishermen bring in. On his journey back to the restaurant, he works out his menu according to the day’s catch.
Each meal at Mekumi follows the classic sequence, starting out with eight or nine servings of tsumami, appetizers of sashimi or lightly cooked seafood. In summer, these will feature uni (sea urchin), unagi (wild eel) or his renowned preparation of awabi (abalone), seasoned only with a sauce made from the rich, dark liver of the mollusk. In winter, it’s all about crab.
The season runs from November through February, with the prime spotlight on the two species of long-legged snow crab that are native to the Hokuriku coast, zuwaigani and benizuwaigani. Both grow to a considerable size, but have subtle differences in terms of their flavor and texture.
Yamaguchi prepares one of each, lightly steamed for 10 minutes, so that his waiting, watching customers can taste and compare. He doesn’t add any seasoning, not even salt. “If an ingredient is good enough, nothing more is needed,” he says.
First he extracts the meat, squeezing it out by rolling a wooden pin along the length of their legs. Over each serving he pours some of the juices from inside the carapace. While the benizuwaigani has a softer, moister texture, both have a light sweetness, with slightly saline undernotes and immense, lingering umami.
To watch the preparation process always makes for great theater. But at Mekumi it is also an education, as Yamaguchi speaks about the provenance and ecology of his seafood, the way it has been cooked or aged, and what he does to bring out its innate character and flavor. For the next course, he explains how the flesh and roe of the smaller female crabs are packed carefully inside their carapace to create the specialty known as kobako-gani. Later on he will also serve small dishes of crab meat mixed with warm sushi rice.
Finally, it is time for sushi. Again, the toppings vary with the time of year, but the stars of the cold season include kanburi (winter yellowtail); amaebi, large red shrimps with superb sweet flesh; maybe lean, red katsuo (skipjack tuna); and without fail soft, delicate anago (conger eel). All are likely to be the best you have ever tasted.
Yamaguchi is no less focused on his shari (sushi rice). He uses an old varietal, Sasashigure, where possible dried outside in the sun and stored for two years. He mixes in a blend of clear and red rice vinegars, and serves it noticeably warmer than you would expect at most other sushi restaurants.
The results speak for themselves. For his unique approach and his devotion to improving quality standards, Yamaguchi has been recognized with awards from the Japanese government and two stars in the local Michelin Guide.
He continues to work with university researchers on seafood issues. And he exerts a major influence on other local chefs, most notably his near neighbor in Kanazawa, Takuya Kataori, who now follows a similarly grueling schedule at his own two-star restaurant, the eponymous Katori.
Yamaguchi is arguably the most important Japanese chef that you’ve never heard of, and he will reach two significant milestones this year: He himself will turn 50, while Mekumi marks its 20th anniversary. It is unlikely that he will pause much to celebrate or slow down his pace. For as long as he continues, Mekumi will remain the destination restaurant par excellence.
Shimobayashi 4-48, Nonoichi, Ishikawa 921-8831; 076-246-7781; (no website); open for two sittings 6 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.; also lunch at 12 noon Sun. (closed Mon., occasional Tues.). Set menus from ¥40,000 (varies according to season & ingredients); closest station Nonoichi; smoking not permitted; major cards; no menu; some English spoken.
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