outside, especially outside it tastes better, much better. anthony: everything tastes better outside. masa: exactly, exactly. anthony: so how long have you known these guys? masa: uh, since, since high school. anthony: high school. masa: high school, yeah, which is what? 44 years. anthony: 44 years. masa: yeah, it s a long time. huh? anthony: how does he remember you in high school? who was the best student, who was the worst student here? masa: he s the best student. anthony: best student. masa: these guys, the three guys, the three of us were the worst. anthony: the three of you were bad students. masa: ah, really good. anthony: so you do this when you were kids? build a fire? cook something? drink sake? masa: always, always we did that. smoked cigarettes. anthony: yeah. back then did everybody know that you were not going to stay? like, when you were in high school did you talk about, when i get old enough i m going to america, i m not staying here
of the dozen young men who work here, not all will make it to become a sushi shokunin. masa: oh, it s been a long time. anthony: to achieve that status of truly becoming a master chef. how many years? seven years to learn, right? masa: yeah. anthony: that s a lot of time. masa: a lot of time. anthony: a lot of work. a lot of pain. what was it like apprenticing here? hard? masa: his father was very tough. anthony: yeah? masa: very tough. at that time, his grandfather was here too. very tough. anthony: young masa was first hired here as an apprentice by shokunin toshiaku sugiyama. this is his son, mamoru sugyiyama, who runs sushiko today. the fourth generation to uphold the standards and family tradition. sugyiyama: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: some things should stay the same. masa: exactly, yes. sugyiyama: [ speaking japanese ] masa: aji. sugyiyama: [ speaking japanese ] masa: mix. anthony: seared horse mackerel over green onion and
new york and tokyo, even from kanazawa. ishi: [ speaking japanese ] anthony: it used to be a five-hour trip from tokyo, now reduced to two by the shinkansen bullet train. why don t we have these in america, by the way? ask your congressmen. this rather drab, featureless place is where masa was born and raised and could well have stayed. but then, everything would have been different. masa s dad, yoshio, recently passed. but his mom, ishi is still going strong, the center of the family. masa: [ speaking japanese ] ishi: yeah. catherine: nice to meet you! ishi: [ speaking japanese ] masa: thank you! tony, tony. anthony: pleased to meet you.
anthony: bold words. masa: maybe better. anthony: typical japanese meal. champagne, sancerre. masa: that s what we do. anthony: country cooking at its best, right? [ laughter ] all denny s pancakes are made to order with fresh buttermilk. but this month s spotlight stack is a patriot. fresh, sweet and full of freedom. new red, white & blue pancakes. this month s spotlight stack.
mm, oh man. wow. sugyiyama: [ speaking japanese ] masa: his father told me that, i did a great job for this. anthony: this is very difficult. masa: yeah. sugyiyama: [ speaking japanese ] masa: please teach my son, what he said. anthony: oh, wow look at that. masa: this has lots of shrimp eggs, those eggs, and the fish paste is in. anthony: really. masa: very special stuff.