I ate here a week ago and the crew in the back was Mori, his brother (whose name I sadly forget), and Hiro. They were all in high spirits and really seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The hierarchy wasn’t clear, but after they learned I had gone to eat with Mori, he prepared all my nigiri. It was delicious.
One interesting tidbit was Chef Mori concluded my meal with a cut tuna roll. He told me he believes tuna maki is the ultimate test of a sushi chef’s skill, as it combines rice, fish, and nori in a single simple bite. I still find that a bit odd - largely because I’d think knife skills are much less important when cutting fish for a cut roll - but still fascinating.
I’m still learning, but maybe - as @PorkyBelly put on a different Shiki thread - Chef Mori’s point was not so much the knife skills on the fish, but the perfect balance of rice, fish & nori, and the perfectly uniformed, bite sized pieces of maki. It’s like how some American or French head chefs judge an applicant on their technique when cooking something as seemingly easy as eggs.
P.S. Good intel on the camaraderie between the chefs. Seems like a good situation for all. All these posts make me want to go splurge w/Mori-san. But alas, I’ll live vicariously for a while. I have my eye on new fridge.
You can have it both ways if you…cut out daily starbucks/fancy coffee, $15 acai bowls, cable, $25 pasta, $20 avocado toast, $100/pax farm to table small plate joints, $5 croissants, (insert your own low QPR item), $ cook @ home more often.
But I like acacia bowls and cable and those sharing menu places. I like having have a normal social life. I’m with @TheCookie abut cutting out high-end meals until I got my perfect fridge.
I really do need to cut back on delivery food though. There’s no excuse for that for me, other than pure laziness.