“Yess is a casual izakaya-style restaurant. I like dealing with direct fire and the philosophical idea of buying a whole fish and then processing it.” Today, Bon Appétit spends a day on the line with Junya Yamasaki, head chef at Yess in Los Angeles. Yamasaki follows the philosophy of buying a whole fish and using every part throughout the menu making sure nothing goes to waste.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00IES is a casual, izakaya-style restaurant.
00:06I like dealing with direct fire,
00:09and also, I like the philosophical idea
00:12of buying a whole fish and then process it.
00:15As a head chef, my responsibility is
00:17to bring everybody together.
00:19They all have their own ideas and their own heritage.
00:23I have to do prep, and I'm responsible
00:25for communicating with producers, fishermen,
00:28to bring the best season to the customers,
00:31because every day is changing.
00:34My role is to bring a moment of the food onto the table.
00:47My name is Jun Niyayamasaki.
00:50Sorry about my dogs.
00:53I'm a head chef at IES.
00:55Here in Los Angeles, and I just came back from Malibu,
00:59and I got lots of fennel flowers.
01:01But now I'm back at the restaurant in the business,
01:04so I'm really, really in a hurry, so I gotta go.
01:06Oh, wow.
01:08Right.
01:09Let's go.
01:11We can use this flower just to decorate,
01:13but also for dishes, because it's wild fennel.
01:17Basically, it's the same as fennel.
01:19This is a restaurant dining space.
01:21IES restaurant is all about the customers
01:24connecting to the kitchen and connecting to nature.
01:27We have a long counter.
01:29The people are sitting and facing our kitchen.
01:32I have to feed my dogs, and I have to come back
01:35for a quick briefing, and then the kitchen is gonna start.
01:3810.30, so shall we have a meeting, everyone?
01:42Morning meeting is very important
01:44because we use very fresh ingredients,
01:47and today I made a menu a little bit different
01:51from daily basis because we're gonna receive
01:55137 pound of bluefin tuna.
01:58So on top of every day's Inara Kaup menu,
02:02let's do a tuna special today.
02:04We call it lip-to-tail eating,
02:06so we try to eat every part of, you know, tuna.
02:09On top of that, another fisherman is coming
02:12to drop 10 vermilion rockfish.
02:14Yes.
02:15Okay, so shall we?
02:16Yes, definitely.
02:17Okay, let's do it.
02:18It's 11, and I'm expecting to get the tuna any time,
02:22but before the fish come,
02:23I have to start lighting the fire of a small fire.
02:26It's gonna be a slow cooking process,
02:29so I have to do that now.
02:31So we use almond wood, which is amazing for smoking.
02:35By the way, this is such a unique cooking system.
02:38In Japan, we call it okudo-san.
02:40San means somebody, like, you know, high up,
02:42so it's very precious.
02:43A big house, like a tempo or a big farmhouse,
02:47they used to have this kind of system.
02:49We cook rice every day with this.
02:52Much easier to put the rice cooker,
02:54but it's just nice to be able to cook by direct fire,
03:00and also, more than anything,
03:03tastes so much better if you cook the rice with this.
03:06The bottom of the pot gets slightly caramelized smoky taste.
03:10It's so important to connect to the fundamental,
03:13like a primitive part of cooking.
03:15This is such an important connection to the past.
03:19It's not just the spiritual side of it,
03:21but it actually does taste better.
03:23So, you know, so that's why we use this.
03:26I clean every day in the morning this Robata grill.
03:29I take all the ash.
03:31It's nothing complicated.
03:33It's basically a box, all insulated,
03:36and I change the height, length,
03:39according to what I have on the menu.
03:42It's like a Lego block.
03:43This is our insulated bricks.
03:45And today, the reason I have this wider, shallower part
03:48because I'm gonna use almond wood.
03:50So I'm gonna cook the aged tuna steak on the direct fire,
03:55which need a much shorter distance to the fire.
03:59So I use this section from here to here,
04:02vermilion rockfish and duck.
04:04Relatively high heat, but the distance,
04:06otherwise it catch the fire because the oil drops
04:09and it's gonna be disaster.
04:11And then lastly, I made a little, little, little hole here
04:15because I'm gonna use this section
04:17to smoke bluefin tuna otoro.
04:21Here is a hay, and I put a little bit of charcoal
04:24and then put the hay.
04:25Joy's gonna slice otoro, like a fatty tuna,
04:28and pass it to me.
04:29And in a matter of 10 seconds or so,
04:31I'm gonna lightly smoke and pass it back to him,
04:33and then he's gonna serve it.
04:35But that's basically this is the setup.
04:38And how many ingredients do you need?
04:40I just need 10.
04:41So these fish are called vermilion rockfish.
04:44For me, it's California's staple fish or like signature fish.
04:48One of the most sustainable,
04:49but also stable fish for the fishermen to catch.
04:52His quality of fish is just phenomenal.
04:54Well, this quality didn't exist before
04:56Junior came to Southern California
04:57and showed us like the technique and the tools
05:00and how to properly bleed the fish.
05:03Usually it comes in like a banged up truck,
05:05but he brought it in a Prius today.
05:07Carbon impact is very important.
05:09That is important.
05:10You know, boats, they burn a lot of fossil fuel.
05:13So my way of giving back.
05:15Is it just riding shotgun?
05:17No, it's, you know, the backseat folds down.
05:19Okay.
05:20Everybody always thinks these fish
05:22are millions of dollars or something
05:24because it's more of like an ego competition
05:28for the people buying them.
05:29Most of the restaurant, they buy loin or belly.
05:33They buy section.
05:34For this quality of tuna,
05:36the only way we could provide in a restaurant at this price
05:39is because I'm buying a whole fish
05:41and directly from this amazing fisherman.
05:43Completely cost effective.
05:47Thank you so much.
05:48Enjoy.
05:49The mechanical anatomy of this fish is just incredible.
05:52They don't stop swimming.
05:54They swim from the moment they're born until they die.
05:57So like you see the fin is like this,
06:00completely sealed.
06:01And then there's a little ditch here.
06:03So the streamline is like a bullet.
06:06The body has this like energy source,
06:09which even after the brain death,
06:11the body is like independently alive.
06:14So this Shinkijime method,
06:16so it goes into the brain like that
06:18and then go like wiggle,
06:20but it's actually not really dead.
06:22So that's why you want to insert this wire
06:25all the way from the brain to the spinal cord
06:27to stop the nerve system.
06:29That increase the quality so much
06:31because of, you know, no stress whatsoever.
06:34I'm going to process the head to smoke it.
06:38Just cleaning inside a bit.
06:40Like a little small gill left
06:42and then any kind of like blood line.
06:45Just want to apply generous amount of salt.
06:48So we're going to smoke the head now
06:50for about like four or five hours.
06:52Then we take the meat out like a pulled pork
06:56and then we're going to braise it with soy sauce.
07:01Tuna Negima.
07:03So we're going to smoke the head right now.
07:06This beautiful pit grill.
07:08We're not really supposed to be a smoker,
07:10but we do a DIY style smoker.
07:13To cover the head, this is perfect.
07:16A plant pot.
07:17So now it's covered for four or five hours.
07:20I just put in the thermometer
07:21so I can read the temperature.
07:23I try to keep the temperature
07:24like a 200 degree Fahrenheit.
07:26I just started to do this for fun
07:28with friends using this pot
07:30and it worked really well.
07:31So I'm just like, okay.
07:33Might as well do it at the restaurant.
07:35Okay, now I'm going to take the collar off.
07:39Got it.
07:41Kama.
07:42It's a collar.
07:44It's like a tomahawk steak.
07:46It's really, really delicious.
07:47Another interesting thing about bluefin tuna
07:49is their body temperature is higher than normal fish.
07:52So you do this shinkei jime dispatch
07:55and then immediately you cut this artery
07:58and then bleed fully for like 30 minutes
08:01if it's this size in the water.
08:03And then you have to stuff lots of ice inside
08:06to cool it down.
08:07And then you have to put whole body in the ice
08:09to cool it down.
08:10Otherwise the tuna is going to burn itself.
08:12Inside there's always a little bit of water.
08:15So I'm just cleaning before I start processing it.
08:20We smoke the tail and then shred the meat
08:23and we make dashi.
08:24Dashi is like an essential broth
08:26that we use a lot in Japanese cooking.
08:29After this loin is removed,
08:33for this meat you can scrape it.
08:35It's called nakaochi,
08:37means the meat between the bones.
08:39We scrape it and use it for one of the dishes we do today.
08:45So some parts we're going to dry age with the bone in.
08:49It gets denser.
08:51It gets sweeter.
08:53Basically the taste gets stronger.
08:55But, you know, that doesn't mean it has to be aged.
08:58There's a beauty of fresh meat,
09:00especially something like nakaochi.
09:02So how many bone marrow we can get?
09:03One, two, three.
09:05Well, today we're going to make a bone marrow martini.
09:09Which is not at all traditional,
09:11but it's like bone marrow is a slightly briny jelly.
09:14So I'm thinking as like an olive.
09:19With shochu and also tomato pure water
09:22and then lemon zest and then bone marrow.
09:25It's like refreshing salt on martini.
09:29Akami is a loin.
09:31Otoro is fatty tuna.
09:33Chutoro we call it like a medium fatty tuna.
09:36So we're going to cut today like this much is enough.
09:40Today we're going to use that otoro, chutoro,
09:43and also part of akami too.
09:45Probably you saw the big toyosu market,
09:48they use big, big knife.
09:51Not that.
09:54Joe is going to take this fatty tuna part
09:56and he's going to cut into so-called saku,
09:59the block that he can use for sashimi.
10:01That's his job.
10:02Every day he takes the part that he needs
10:05and then he make into sashimi.
10:07The fish came today all in a dry ager.
10:10Start to use from today
10:12and then every day started to get aged.
10:16This is a remaining of the previous tuna
10:19I got three weeks ago.
10:21So this is like a very, very, very last piece of loin.
10:24The surface is a little bit dry, ruby red,
10:27and then closer to the skin,
10:29it's nice layer of fat.
10:31That's why it's pinkish.
10:32It's so much more dense and strong.
10:35Same as dry aging steak.
10:37It's amazing sashimi as well,
10:39but also it's so decadent
10:41that it's so nice to do a steak.
10:45Tuna steak is very, very simple dish,
10:47but sometimes people want to have a steak.
10:50So we do tuna steak frit.
10:54So first, trimming.
10:57This dryness is important because it seals the meat.
11:01That will make the meat not that easy to dry out.
11:05So it's very important to get this, you know, leather-like skin.
11:08My dogs love it because they love jerky, so, you know.
11:12That's a bloodline.
11:14Not all the chefs discard. Some chefs, they use it.
11:17For sashimi, I don't really include it,
11:19but for steak, I want to include a little bit of bloodline.
11:22I like the complexity of taste,
11:24a little bit of, like, irony taste.
11:26Tuna breakdown is done,
11:28but it doesn't mean it's end of the day.
11:30I have many other little things to do, so I better go.
11:33It's now 2.30.
11:35The tuna head is still smoking really heavily.
11:38Nathan is prepping his lobster sandwich.
11:41He's finished the tail into katsu.
11:43Now he's prepping the salad from the claw.
11:46And Rohan is doing family meal.
11:49And at the same time,
11:51just finished frying tofu for his tuna head menu.
11:55And now I'm just filleting the Vermilion rockfish.
11:58Why not? Like, you know, new fish on the menu.
12:01Grilled, super fresh.
12:03I'm doing the grilled Vermilion rockfish
12:05with the green grape and shiso salad,
12:07or salsa, you can call it.
12:10And also, I want to be in the kitchen,
12:12working together with my staff.
12:14We do all together, so I'm always in the kitchen.
12:17In traditional Japanese grilled fish,
12:20I often use a skewer,
12:22so it doesn't have any mark on the skin.
12:24The reason I score the skin is the skin shrinks,
12:27so if you score the skin, that will prevent.
12:30And really, skewering really helps a lot
12:32to operate on the grill.
12:34Sometimes I use
12:36a very traditional Spanish grill
12:39that many people use.
12:40And we are really open.
12:42We are not trying to do everything very Japanese.
12:45I think part of the beauty of a Japanese restaurant
12:47outside of Japan is this kind of exchange.
12:53It's absolutely important to taste and taste and taste
12:55several times, even one dish.
12:57New dishes, we taste all of us together
13:00and discuss what's the ideal,
13:02and everybody's opinion matters,
13:04and we work it together.
13:05So last week, we are using shrimp,
13:08and then we change ingredients to Texas prawn.
13:10We call it Texan prawn.
13:11Every time we change one ingredient,
13:13we all have to try.
13:15Oh, very good.
13:16I can get the batter lighter, though.
13:18Texas is good.
13:19It's a little doughy, yeah.
13:22Different from shrimp, it's much more meatier.
13:24Yeah.
13:25Very nice.
13:26So that's what he's been working on since the morning.
13:29The bun is toasted with the lobster butter.
13:32After picking the meat from the shelf,
13:34he roasts the shell and then makes two things,
13:36lobster butter and lobster aioli,
13:39which is on top of the bun.
13:41And then we put lobster craw salad and then lettuce,
13:45and then he just made lobster bisque.
13:48That's a sauce on top of lobster katsu.
13:50So it's whole lobsters in it.
13:53The lobster salad might need a bit more seasoning
13:57because you don't really get much kind of seasoning
13:59until you actually hit the katsu.
14:01Yeah, in general, like, it's really nice and fresh,
14:03but you need more, you know, to eat this big,
14:06you have to have much stronger taste.
14:08Let's take a little peek of the tuna, okay?
14:11It looks good, but when it's cooked,
14:14the tuna start to cry
14:16because internally, like, it start to boil.
14:18All the fat comes out from the tears.
14:20And that's a sign that it's done.
14:22So it needs one hour, two more hours.
14:24But before the service, it should be done
14:26and then take the meat off.
14:27Okay, so this is pochini.
14:29This is coming from south of Yosemite.
14:32So this is like a first pochini I went to pick this summer.
14:35I'm not allowed to tell the location currently
14:37because in a mushroom-picking world,
14:39it's very secretive.
14:40Many fishermen I know are really into mushroom hunting.
14:43So that's how I get to know the place.
14:45And then out of all the respect to them,
14:47I can't really tell where I catch.
14:49When I catch, I catch a lot.
14:51I sometimes, I sell my mushroom to other restaurant.
14:55So this is the baby pochini, you see?
14:58Cute, cute, cute.
15:00And this, you can eat it raw.
15:03And same as, you know, naka ochi,
15:05the meat between the rib of the tuna.
15:07That's also super fresh.
15:09So we're gonna put it together.
15:11You can call it carpaccio.
15:12And we use pear as a medium to combine together.
15:16So some dishes like this, we have a saying,
15:18like ichigo ichie,
15:19means one ingredient meets the other.
15:22Shaved baby pochini meets, you know, bluefin tuna.
15:26Both are, like, top of this season.
15:28One in the mountain, one in the sea.
15:30Let's put it together.
15:31That can, you know, they meet each other.
15:33That's, like, really beautiful,
15:35poetic expression of, like, you know, cooking, I guess.
15:38I mean, it tastes amazing,
15:39but also you have this dish only this time of the year.
15:43It capture the moment of the season.
15:46That itself is very Japanese spirit,
15:48even though we call it carpaccio.
15:50And then finally, pine salt.
15:54In Sierra, pochinis are growing
15:56under the lochipo pine trees.
15:58So this is a needle that I, you know, pick from the trees
16:01where the pochini is growing.
16:03And I grind it, and then with the salt.
16:06Let's taste it.
16:07Let's taste it.
16:10Yeah, try with the, yeah, pear.
16:16So good.
16:17Dishes are looking really, really good, guys.
16:21Prep is, like, 90% done.
16:23Is it done?
16:2490% done.
16:25I have, like, a 10% workout after the lunch.
16:28Time to eat.
16:29Yeah, it's, like, 4 o'clock.
16:30It's time for family meal.
16:32I have to walk my dog.
16:33I'm gonna just shuffle, like, really quickly
16:35and then take my dog.
16:37Chantel, stop.
16:39So this is my sous-chef, Artichoke.
16:43This is my junior sous-chef, Chantel.
16:46Biggest stress of my life.
16:47More than the restaurant.
16:49Pretty much for them,
16:50I have to go to the mountain all the time.
16:52Okay, I have to go, and then let's forage, you know?
16:55And they actually work.
16:56On the way back with too much mushroom and it's too heavy,
16:59I bought this backpack for the dogs.
17:01Put lots of, like, you know, porcini on Chantel on the back,
17:05and then, you know, Chantel carry Chantel.
17:10Now it's time to meeting with front of house staff.
17:13So this meeting is about all the updating of the menu.
17:17We don't change entirely,
17:19but there's always a little bit of adjustment,
17:21a bit of a change of ingredients, you know.
17:23If there are limited numbers, we have to mention it's limited.
17:26And also checking who's coming, you know.
17:29Sometimes, like, all the friends and family comes.
17:31VIP, you know who's VIP?
17:33The family of Rohan's girlfriend.
17:36Rohan?
17:37Your girlfriend's family are gonna be here?
17:40Yeah, yeah.
17:41Okay.
17:42Good to know.
17:43I'm gonna send some, like, good stuff.
17:45That's it about the guests, right?
17:47Yeah.
17:48Any other questions?
17:49No, thank you.
17:50Okay, thank you.
17:51Okay.
17:52Hurry up.
17:53Thanks.
17:54Now it's 5.30, like, 30 minutes before opening.
17:57I have to change to uniform.
17:58I just have to do, like, a couple of things just before,
18:01like, 30 minutes before I still have to prep.
18:03This is the grill set up today.
18:05So that's my setting.
18:07And then Nathan is doing all the, you know,
18:09kakiage tempura as well as lobster cut sandwich.
18:13And then in this section,
18:14all the sashimi and then cold cut.
18:16And Rohan is doing all those other salads
18:19and, you know, anything else but sashimi.
18:22Oh, shit.
18:23It's 6.10 already.
18:25What are we doing?
18:26Like, if the customers are here,
18:27please, please, please, please, please leave.