In the 70s Seijiro Matsumoto hewed closely to the rules of kaiseki when he headed up the kitchen at the Hakata Tokyu Hotel in Fukuoka on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu. But at his new namesake restaurant he’s willing to be a bit more playful. Kaiseki, Japan’s version of haute cuisine, originated as a light meal served as part of a traditional tea ceremony. It follows a formal structure with distinct themes for each of the many small courses, and the aesthetics and order of the courses, which incorporate fresh, seasonal ingredients and are meant to reflect the elements of the natural world, are as important as the preparation.
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Matsumoto’s long-standing affiliation with Matsumoto owner Isao Tozuka began inauspiciously. In the early 80s Tozuka ran a ramen and tempura shop at Broadway and Diversey called Isao’s Place. “I noticed a man coming in for lunch . . . and then again for dinner–every day!” he says. It was Matsumoto. He’d just turned in his whites at Ohba, a simple Japanese restaurant downtown. “I didn’t have a liquor license,” Tozuka continues, “but there was a liquor store next to me. Matsumoto would buy a little something next door and bring it to dinner.” The two became fast friends and golfing buddies.
Matsumoto opened August 8 to little fanfare, but word has spread quickly through the Japanese community and on Internet food boards. It’s a modest double storefront with an odd color scheme of purple, dark red, and pale yellow. The restaurant and its hostess, the preternaturally sunny Chiyo, are extremely relaxed, but reservations must be made at least a day in advance, at which point diners are asked about any dietary restrictions and whether they’d like seven, nine, ten, or eleven courses–which can run from $80 to $150. The rest is left to Matsumoto, or omakase (literally, entrusting).
But Matsumoto’s attention to detail rarely flags; he even blends his own soy sauce, infusing it with bonito flakes and sake and then aging it in the fridge. And it extends to the sound system: Japanese pop songs provide a soothing backdrop to dinner. “The Man Who Was Born in Osaka” moved my dining partner to swoon in Japanese, “natsukashii,” a nuanced word that roughly translates to “how nostalgic.”
