Palo Alto: Chef Nobu shows off his new Japanese garden patio and talks teamwork, tequila, De Niro

On this spring afternoon, chef Nobu Matsuhisa is wrapping up interviews about the new Japanese-style garden patio at his signature hotel restaurant, Nobu Palo Alto, and getting ready to head to the airport.

But he knows he has to leave time for the swarm.

That’s when a dozen gleeful young cooks, servers and other hotel employees, thankful to have had a chance to meet the legendary chef and perhaps take part in some kitchen training with him during his few days here, encircle him on the patio, cellphones in hand, ready for selfies.

Beaming, Nobu autographs menus and caps and stays for photos with every one of them, striking his usual pose, his finger proudly pointed at them. You are the one. The expressions on the faces of this diverse young group tell him all he needs to know about the success of his visit.

“Communication is a part of my job. It’s important to make good teams,” he had emphasized earlier. “Now they can say, ‘Chef Nobu taught me how to make it.’ ”

This was the famed chef’s first visit to the Nobu Palo Alto property since the pandemic, and it was timed with the completion of an impressive and serene Japanese-style garden patio. The hotel, which opened in the summer of 2017, has been in renovation and expansion mode for a good deal of that time.

We had a wide-ranging conversation with Nobu on that new patio, with his pride in the garden and his sense of humor both on display. Here’s an edited version.

On the Japanese garden patio:

“People come here for good food, good service. Now we have one more reason … a good garden,” Nobu says.

The Palo Alto hotel restaurant is the first of the 56 restaurants in his multinational empire to feature a Japanese-style garden like this one. Noted landscape designer Shigeru Namba, in consultation with Montalba Architects, designed the space with Japanese-inspired plantings, drought-tolerant ground cover native to California and artistic boulders specifically selected and shipped from Japan.

Fittingly, this garden was created on expanded hotel space that was home to the Stanford Florists shop for many years.

The patio can accommodate 54 guests — 24 at tables and banquettes with a retractable awning to provide shade and 30 diners in an area that can be closed off from the elements, but not the garden view, with glass doors. Even Palo Alto pedestrians can get a peek, via a bronze gate at the street.

Sitting at one of the tables, Nobu notes that the cherry tree will blossom here every year at the same time as Japan’s iconic trees. The other plantings, tended five days a week by a knowledgeable team, will change with the seasons, as do gardens in Japan.

The garden still looks young, he says; he’s eager to see it mature. “After three to five years, it will become more established, like a zen garden.”

On his signature dish, Black Cod with Miso:

“I started using black cod at my first restaurant in 1987, 36 years ago. Black cod was very cheap. In Japan, it’s very popular in the wintertime.” Then other chefs began featuring cod, he says, “and people start to love it, love it, love it, not just at Nobu but all over the world.”

He shared the recipe in his first cookbook, much to the surprise of his customers. But he has never minded divulging his secrets: “All the chefs can copy my food, but not my heart. They can make black cod, but not like Nobu.”

On the Peruvian influence:

Nobu, 74, studied and learned to cook in Japan, then moved as a young man to Peru, which he notes has a sizable number of Japanese immigrants. Naturally, an early fusion cuisine evolved. “My food is very simple, with best quality product, then I put the Peruvian influence, creating the Nobu style of food.”

His recipes still reflect a contemporary Japanese-Peruvian touch. The Palo Alto menu, for example, features Seafood Ceviche and Rock Shrimp Ceviche, and both the Prime Tenderloin of Beef and the Jidori Chicken may be ordered with a spicy, garlicky Anticucho sauce.

On tequila and teamwork:

Nobu occasionally sips sake, wine or Japanese whisky, but tequila is his drink of choice. He says it’s become a tradition to toast with tequila during after-dinner meetings with his kitchen teams around the globe. “Some of the young people are afraid to talk to me, but after one shot it’s easy.” Then the conversations and ideas start flowing.

He’s found a high-quality tequila that meets his standards, so a reserve sipping tequila made by QUI now sports his name. Want to try it? Though it’s in limited supply, his restaurants have a few bottles.

On partner Robert De Niro:

Nobu and the actor have been business partners for decades. “Bob is a good friend, a good partner. He trusts us. A lot of investors are interested in more money. For us, we’re always looking for the best quality. So we have a good relationship.”

Nobu quips that he’s more versatile than De Niro. “I’m a chef, but I played in a couple of movies. He’s a great actor but never cooks,” he says, laughing. And he likes to tell the story of the “punny” headline about the two of them. Years ago, when Black Cod with Miso became popular in England, a London newspaper called the pair “The Godfather and the Codfather.”

On what’s next:

More trips to visit his hotel restaurants, more new ones opening. Marrakech opened in January and Seville in April. Nobu is in Europe now, where another restaurant will open in San Sebastian, Spain’s foodie capital. Then it’s off to Mexico, where a Nobu residences property will open. He’ll take the month of August off and visit family in Japan.

Beyond that, he’s looking forward to collaborating with all of his chefs, sending them recipes, asking what they would do differently, seeking feedback. “I’m always looking for more quality, more new dishes.”

Details: Since Nobu Palo Alto is also a hotel, Nobu’s kitchen team serves breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m., lunch from noon to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. at 180 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto. For reservations, go to www.noburestaurants.com/paloalto/reservations.