May 18, 2006 — Chefs from the international chain restaurant Nobu are on hand at St. John's Caneel Bay Resort Thursday through Saturday to showcase their innovative Japanese cuisine.
"It's a very big deal," Caneel Bay's executive chef, Alex Chen, said Thursday. The Nobu team is based at the resort's Turtle Bay Restaurant, where diners can enjoy the $180 per person prix fixe menu from 6 to 10 p.m.
The menu includes yellowtail jalapeno, sashimi salad, white fish with yuzu and dried miso, king crab leg sweet and sour ponzu, Alaskan black cod, washu beef with baked enringe mushroom yuan yaki style, a selection of nigiri and maki, including a soft shell roll, miso soup, tofu mousse with liquid strawberry, and mango jalapeno salsa.
A "small snack menu" of Nobu sushi specialties will be offered on the Turtle Bay verandah. This menu includes black cod in butter lettuce, new style sockeye, anticucho's dishes, sushi, sashimi, and more.
Nobu Sake will be used to prepare a selection of Nobu cocktails.
The Nobu five-person team includes an executive chef, a sous chef, two sushi chefs, and front-of-the-house manager.
The Nobu chain has 14 restaurants in such far-flung locations as London and Las Vegas. The original restaurant, Matsuhisa, opened in Los Angeles in 1987. The well-known Nobu New York City followed in October 1994, with the others coming on line throughout the next dozen years. The latest, Nobu Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, opened in January. Plans are underway to open restaurants this year in Hong Kong, Hawaii and Melbourne, Australia.
Nobu Matsuhisa began his career in Tokyo as sushi chef. Moving on to Alaska, he discovered new varieties of Pacific fish such as the Alaskan Black Cod that would later become one of his many signature dishes. From there he went to Lima, Peru where he found that many of the region's intense flavors and influences were in stark contrasts to the subtle and delicate flavors of traditional Japanese cuisine. He brought all these flavors and influences together in his first U.S. restaurant, Matsuhisa.
Nobu New York City is a partnership among chef Matsuhisa, restaurateur Drew Nieporent and actor Robert Deniro. Deniro's influence made it the celebrity hot spot that it is today. Nieporent's expertise and string of restaurants have made Tribeca, where he has five other ventures, a culinary destination in New York City. And Matsuhisa's Japanese cuisine with influences from South America gained the restaurant numerous accolades including best new restaurant of 1995 by the James Beard Foundation, three stars by The New York Times as well as consistently high ratings.
Reservations are required for the Caneel Bay dining event. To reserve, call 776-6111.
