Innovative Dining

By: Carole Dixon | June 26, 2008 | Dining Profile

Ben Bassu

Michael Hide Cardenas makes up one-fourth of the dynamic Innovative Dining Group that owns and runs Sushi Roku, Robata Bar, Katana and BOA. Cardenas is a trained chef who worked with famed chef Nobu Matsuhisa for five years as first general manager for the restaurant Matsuhisa, and has been in the food business in Beverly Hills for more than 25 years.

Born in Japan, Cardenas’ father is Mexican-American and his mother is Japanese. “I have soy sauce in my blood,” he laughs. This statement might also refer to how Cardenas began his career as a trained chef from a Benihana culinary school in New Orleans. With his dual Japanese-English language skills, Cardenas was a commodity, which was a big plus when he transitioned into management. He quickly rose from chef to a food and beverage manager.

To keep up with the ever-changing food trends, Cardenas visits his homeland of Japan at least four to five times a year, and since Japanese is his first language, he has no trouble sifting out the winners. “The partners and I own all these restaurants here, but one of the best ways to learn is by traveling, and the best place to see what’s going on right now is in Japan. We try and replicate and bring some of the stuff back here for the American palate.”

He is quick to point out that IDG established the first trendy sushi bar and later the robata craze with its first robata-themed restaurant Katana on Sunset, and later Robata Bar in Santa Monica. “Imitation is a form a flattery to us. We were pioneers with the robata, but also with the cutting-edge Sushi Roku that we opened in July of 1997 on 3rd and La Cienega.” The partners took the traditional sushi-dining concept and put a spin on it. “We added an upbeat mood and servers that actually spoke proper English in cool uniforms, great music and a good vibe. We were the first cutting-edge, innovative sushi house in town, and that was more than 10 years ago. Then places like Koi, Katsuya and Geisha House all opened.”

This turned out to be a great parlay for Cardenas after five years at Matsuhisa working for Nobu Matsuhisa. As he concludes, “Even today he is the most renowned Japanese chef and Nobu is the pinnacle of Japanese dining. Our customers that graduate from our restaurant go there. A lot of it’s a hybrid of his food, and food is all about copying. I truly believe in the freshness of the ingredients – same philosophy as Nobu, but we did it a little more flamboyant and whimsical. It’s eye-popping cuisine and Beverly Hills loves it. It’s the glamour of everything from fashion to food that makes it so fun.”

While find the copycats are flattering, “There is still more to do,” Cardenas says, “and there are other concepts that I have and that the partners have that we would like formulate and go further with.” For instance, the other IDG partners recently opened Luckyfish – the conveyor-belt sushi concept in Beverly Hills, but Cardenas is looking to put together a cool Italian restaurant. “I have to have some sort of pasta or pizza at least once a week. That is one thing, but there are other current dining trends and concepts that have not been explored. We need to be at the forefront, and take a chance and be pioneers. So, there are a lot of things that are in the boiler room for now.”

BOA also broke new ground with the whole steak house concept long before the throngs at Dakota, The Lodge or STK came along. Cardenas remembers the move well. “We had two Japanese restaurants at the time, and I saw that the American eating trend was very carnivorous, yet only Morton’s, The Palm and Ruth’s Chris were around. They were all old school — the places that our parents and grandparents used to go.” Cardenas had a plan, to make one for the cutting-edge crowd. The foursome came up with a sleek, sexy, urban contemporary steak house that also attracted the female customers. Cardenas continues, “Steakhouses before had always been primarily a male-dominated scene with cigar smoking and big leather booths. So, we made a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard with petite filet, seafood and salads, but yet there was still a big hunk of meat that the guys could eat.”

Even with all the groundbreaking concepts there is still plenty of work ahead. At home in Malibu, Cardenas finds the dining scene disappointing, although he has been known to enjoy a meal at Tra Da Noi, Nobu or Allegrea and even the Sage Room on Kanan Dume. A resident since 2001, he usually drives to Santa Monica to his restaurants to dine. “I hate the dining scene in Malibu,” he says matter-of-factly. “Right now, I’m in the process of sniffing out some locations on my own. I can’t disclose anything yet, but there will be a cool restaurant coming soon. It’s a sleepy town, but it’s home to me. I love being by the ocean and every morning when I see it – it reminds me of growing up in Japan. I have salt on my skin.”

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