Sunday, April 06, 2008
Food
More from Magic Fingers
Brothers Chris and Alex Kinjo bring fresh catch to Buckhead
CREDIT:Photos courtesy of MF Buckhead
By Carly Felton
When Ohio-born and Los Angeles–bred Chris Kinjo was 16 years old, he needed a job. The one he happened to find was in a small, 30-seat sushi bar. For more than a year, all he did there was scrub floors, sharpen knives and serve drinks; but gradually, he picked up on the fundamentals of sushi rolling. This skill would grow, eventually leading to a career-forming path.
All in all, Chris worked in 33 restaurants, taking what he saw as the best skills and tips from the best chefs and purposely forgetting the rest. In San Francisco, he earned the nickname Magic Fingers, or MF, because he “worked so quickly, it was like I was in fast-forward mode, while everyone else was going normal speed.”
In 2002, Chris and his brother Alex Kinjo opened MF Sushibar in Midtown Atlanta. The city’s first Japanese restaurant to exclusively serve sushi, it quickly became known for the some of the best sushi in Atlanta. With the Sushibar’s wild popularity, Chris wanted to open another, perhaps in New York City or Los Angeles (the Kinjo brothers also own Nam, a Vietnamese restaurant in Midtown), but the presence of his newborn child convinced him he was needed in Atlanta. Hence, the November 2007 opening of MF Buckhead.
Although the two MF restaurants are related, neither the food nor the decor is the same. Located in the new Terminus building on the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont in Buckhead, MF Buckhead is the more sophisticated version of its sister. The restaurant features Atlanta’s first robata yaki, which roughly translates to “open flame,” the highest form of grilling in Japan. The technique, which is thousands of years old, uses binchotan—a type of charcoal made from petrified oak that burns at 1,000 degree F for six to eight hours—and paper fans to control the heat. Unlike other forms of grilling, cooking on the robata does not produce fumes or smoke, and it sears in the juices and flavors while keeping the fish or meat moist and tender.
So, MF Buckhead’s menu is divided into sections for soups, salads, sushi appetizers, makimono (traditional rolls), nigiri, sashimi and robata grill. Easily the most expensive section, the robata features items like Chilean sea bass, marinated Japanese black cod in a house special miso sauce, miso-marinated duck breast miso yaki served with scallions on a hoba leaf, assorted Japanese mushrooms, and Kobe beef tongue served with asparagus and foie gras. A few of the items, including the mushrooms and duck, are cooked on the robata, then re-heated at the table on a small portable grill called a konro. Customers may balk at the $65 price tag on the 100-percent certified Japanese Wagyu Kokushu beef, but Chris insists the restaurant makes only a mere $5 off the dish. (The cows from which the beef originates are fed a special diet, including grains and beer, and are massaged frequently to procure the meat’s tender and fatty taste.)
The sushi is designed to be uncomplicated. “Sushi is a simple art that should not be messed with,” Chris says. Standout selections include the flounder appetizer (thinly sliced with Himalayan salt, yuzu and extra virgin olive oil), yellowtail appetizer (served raw with a zest of lemon, cilantro, jalapeno pepper and grated wasabi), saki maki (salmon roll), and the Kobe beef nigiri (slightly seared with ponzu, jalapeno and cilantro). The fish are flown in fresh daily, and there are no California rolls in the restaurant. “Here, we’ve taken sushi to a whole new level,” Chris says. “We’re catering to the serious sushi-eater.”
They’re also catering to the serious diner. The servers wear custom-made suits, and customers are expected to dress well, too. There’s no sign announcing the restaurant’s presence; only a small MF insignia on the glass doors guide customers inside. A large marble hostess stand greets guests, and high ceilings give the rooms a spacious feel. Rows of red, orange and green Japanese bottles sit above the bar, beaded colorful lights hang from the lengthy sushi bar, and pillows—covered with authentic handmade silk from the obi (the part of a kimona that goes around the waist)—adorn soft off-white banquets. This same fabric is also embedded in three curvatures of the ceiling and on the dividers in the dining rooms. Everything in the restaurant, bar and lounge upstairs—from the floor plan to the abstract art on the walls—was designed and created by the Kinjo brothers. The result is a clean, sleek, chic look so unlike any other, you’ll have to check it out for yourself.
And, if you get hooked, you might just want to sign up for Chris’ ultra-special, uber-selective four-hour-long, 60-plate dinners, held once a week for eight chosen ones. These dinners are held upstairs in the Omakase room (omakase means “to entrust”). Chris makes the sushi directly in front of his guests on a very intimate bar, as live Japanese music plays in the background. The selected guests must undergo an interview process of sorts, so Chris can ensure that their sushi palates are up to the level of sophistication of his food. The menu is different each week, and the price varies according to ingredients used; this is no casual dinner. SP
DINING ESSENTIALS
MF Buckhead
Terminus 100
3280 Peachtree Road, Suite 110
404-841-1192
www.mfbuckhead.com
Hours: Lunch: Mon.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Dinner: Sun.–Thu. 6–10:30 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 6-11:30 p.m.
Reservations: Recommended
Dress code: Dressy
Cuisine: Sushi and robata (traditional Japanese fine dining)
Alcohol: Full bar
Cost: Soups, salads and appetizers: $4.50–$45; sushi: $5.50–$16.50; robata grill $7.50–$65
Credit cards: All major
Outdoor seating: No
Parking: Valet and self-park in the Terminus garage