International & Aspen icon opens a new restaurant in Vail
Nobu Matsuhisa
Nobu Matsuhisa is one of those very talented and very marketing savvy ego-driven (or at least self-assured) chefs who likes to name his restaurants after himself. He already has some named Nobu and some named Matshusia. One or more Nobu Restaurants can be found in Tokyo, Malibu, Las Vegas, Dallas, Miami, New York, Honolulu, London, Milan, Hong Kong and Melcourne. There are Matsuhisa restaurants in in Athens, on Mykonos, in Beverly Hills, in Aspen and now in Vail.
Matsuhisa Vail features Japanese and Peruvian fusion cuisine created by the famous chef who reportedly was in Colorado for the opening and executed by kitchen manager Sean Baek, who is tasked with making Nobu’s vision come to life at the Vail locations and head sushi chef Toru Watanabe who presides over the restaurant’s white oak sushi bar with Nobu-designed sushi cases.
Menu items include yellowtail jalapeño, tempura rock shrimp with creamy spicy sauce, tiradito-style sashimi and grilled Colorado lamb with anticucho, a Peruvian chili sauce. A Nobu-inspired dining experience wouldn’t be complete without the signature miso black cod that is marinated in miso for 48 hours before being broiled.
I haven’t seen Matsuhisa Vail, but it’s reportedly enormous, with lofty ceilings, soaring windows and more than 6,600 square feet of dining space to accommodate 225 guests in the restaurant, at the sushi bar and on the patio. It is quite a contrast to Colorado’s first, which is located in an modest downtown Aspen home magnified into one of the resort’s top restaurants.
The Vail restaurant in the Solaris Resort, 141 East Meadow Drive, opens daily at 5:30 p.m. for dinner. Reservations are recommended; call 970-476-6628.
