Nobu Hospitality, LLC is an American

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

founded by

Nobu Matsuhisa Nobuyuki "Nobu" Matsuhisa (松久信幸 ''Matsuhisa Nobuyuki''; born March 10, 1949) is a Japanese celebrity chef and restaurateur known for his fusion cuisine blending traditional Japanese dishes with Peruvian ingredients. His signature dish ...

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

, and

Meir Teper Meir Teper is an American film producer and businessman. He is also one of Nobu (company), Nobu's 3 founders, along with Robert De Niro and Nobu Matsuhisa.https://www.nobuhotels.com/our-story/ Nobu Filmography He was a producer in all films unle ...

in partnerships with

Drew Nieporent Drew Nieporent is an American restaurateur based in New York City. His company Myriad Restaurant Group owns and operates numerous restaurants. Nieporent's Nobu and Nobu London both earned two Michelin stars. The restaurant's partners are celebrit ...

as an Operator with Myriad Restaurant Group.

Background

In 1987, Nobu Matsuhisa moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and opened the eponymous restaurant Matsuhisa. In 1988, Robert De Niro first visited the restaurant, and thereafter became a regular customer. In 1989, De Niro suggested to Matsuhisa that he open a restaurant in

Tribeca Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stre ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. While Matsuhisa thought De Niro's proposal was attractive, he declined, feeling he should focus on establishing a solid foundation for his Los Angeles restaurant first. De Niro waited until 1994 before he floated the idea to Matsuhisa again, and this time Matsuhisa agreed.

History

Restaurants

In 1994, Matsuhisa, De Niro, restaurateur Drew Nieporent, and investor Meir Teper agreed to a joint venture and on the 17 September 1994, the first Nobu opened its doors. Nobu's famous signature dish is black cod with

miso is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and ''kōji'' (the fungus ''Aspergillus oryzae'') and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients. It is used for sauces and spread ...

. By 1997 the first Nobu opened outside of the United States, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. By 2018, the chain has expanded to 38 restaurants and currently (December 2021) counts 50 restaurants.

Hotels

The first Nobu Hotel opened inside

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

in 2013. Two years later, in May 2015, Nobu opened a hotel in the City of Dreams, Manila,

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. In October of the same year, the Australian billionaire

James Packer James Douglas Packer (born 8 September 1967) is an Australian billionaire businessman and investor. Packer is the son of Kerry Packer , a media mogul, and his wife, Roslyn Packer . He is the grandson of Sir Frank Packer. He inherited control o ...

bought a stake of 20% of Nobu for US$100 million. By October 2020, the chain had 13 hotels. In late November 2022, the first Nobu Hotel in the Southeast opened in Atlanta, Georgia.{{cite web, author=CJ Johnson, date=23 November 2022, title=Nobu Hotel and Restaurant Opens In Atlanta, url=https://atlantafi.com/nobu-hotel-opens-atlanta/, access-date=7 December 2022, work= AtlantaFi.com

References

Japanese cuisine Japanese culture Sushi restaurants