Nobu Matsuhisa is a gastronomic genius. He also is such an honorable example of leading the life you want, while doing your best day in and day out, will lead you to tremendous opportunities.

Nobu is an empire, thanks to his culinary eye, and Robert de Niro’s savvy tastebuds. 40 restaurants worldwide, plus hotels marketed under his iconic name. And my experience at both spots showed me just how his excellence continues with the chefs they have entrusted the legacy to at each location.

Vegas. What can you say about Vegas? It’s big, bright and everything is done LARGE with lots of glitter. Nobu Vegas is no different. After walking down Nobu Way in Caesar’s Palace, we hit the Nobu Hotel, and then into Nobu’s inner food sanctum. The decor, and design is delish, and the culinary show was stupendous.

We started with yellowtail jalapeño, which was simply delish with the right amount of spice. Next, salmon sashimi with capers and garlic chips. Wow. The omakase?? I can’t begin to describe. Truffled toro carpaccio??? A serious OMG moment.

The climax was definitely the A5 wagyu beef from Miyazaki. I mean, wagyu beef is one of my favourite cuts of beef in the world, and well, Nobu Vegas did not disappoint by any means. Have a little lobster served alongside, didn’t hurt either.

Miso black cod anyone? King Crab Tempura? Finish it all with white chocolate sudachi ganache filled doughnuts, pistachio ice cream, and blueberry yuzu compote? Oh, I almost forgot the candied pictacia crisp.

Chef Matsuhisa is a freaking genius for his combinations, but also by who he selects to join his kitchen team. Service? Spot on and totally impeccable. The design? I felt like I was in my own private sanctuary, and despite the fact the resto was full, with the puffs floating gently above you helped deaden the noise to make you feel you were in your own intimate washitsu.

So, Malibu? The following week, thanks to my BFF Sarah Lee for making some calls, and her friend Kenny Hernandez weaving some magic, they were able to score me a reservation at Malibu. On a Friday. You two absolutely rock! Thank you! Of course none of this would have happened without my dad setting us up at Nobu Vegas. 🙂

For fun, I repeated several of the items on both menus, because I wanted to see what the difference were between the two restaurants. And you know what? The food, the taste, the service and the presentation were exactly dead on. Maybe a few slight variations, but overall it was a dead tie.

But there is one tiebreaker. It’s not fair, but sometimes life is just not fair. You see, I love water. I grew up in LA. For me, I really need to be by the sea, and no matter how fantastic Vegas is, water always wins. But hey, if you’re a desert and glitz kind of person, Nobu Vegas is definitely your place.

Advantage to Nobu Malibu for just being in Malibu.