Zen and the Art of California Cooking

Yamasaki steers clear of the word “philosophy.” “I’m not the philosopher. I’m just a cook. I’m practicing,” he says, referring to his devotion to the Zen practice of honoring nature and seasonality. He explains that there’s no such thing as a truly Japanese restaurant outside Japan, because traditional Japanese cuisine is rooted in the idea of cooking only with what the earth provides locally.

“Idealistically, I’m cooking more Japanese than any other Japanese restaurant,” says Yamasaki of the dining scene in Los Angeles.

“The practice of Japanese food is not about using soy sauce and rice. In the purest sense, it means embracing nature and season,” he says. To his point, importing ingredients from Japan—as many restaurants do—goes against the core of traditional Japanese cooking.

At Yess, this means sourcing exclusively from the land and sea surrounding Southern California. On his days off, Yamasaki often fishes or forages for chanterelles and white porcini mushrooms—“AKA White King Bolete, Boletus barrowsii,” he specifies. They’re incredibly seasonal and appear only for a few weeks each year. Though he won’t disclose exact locations, his search spans from Lompoc to Morro Bay. These foraging and fishing practices have become central to Yess’s culinary identity.

“We do not use any fish from Japan. We try to stick to local as much as possible. Because I’m practicing Zen philosophy, which is: Let’s embrace the nature. Let’s live in nature. How can I say this is seasonal if I use Japanese fish?”

Of course, sourcing sashimi-grade, locally caught fish has come with challenges. In order to match the quality of Japan’s seafood, Yamasaki had to teach local fishermen the sustainable and humane techniques of shinkeijime and ikejime—methods that preserve freshness and minimize suffering.

“The only reason I had to teach them is because the quality of local fish is horrible,” he says plainly. Now, instead of relying on imports, Yamasaki works directly with fishermen and companies like Seremoni—a tech startup that enables large-scale harvesting of ikejime fish. At Yess, Seremoni’s black cod appears in miso-marinated temaki, grilled whole, or smoked into a creamy clam chowder, served in place of bacon.

“I’m just trying to embrace California nature, because that’s where I’m living,” Yamasaki says. Even fish, he points out, follows the rhythm of the seasons. “If it’s coming from the wild, everything has a season.”

Still, not all guests understand that. He laughs recalling how diners often come in asking for tuna, referencing a viral YouTube video of him breaking down a 137-pound bluefin and using every part. “Don’t you get it?” he says. “There’s seasonality! The tuna comes only in the summer!”

Asked what keeps him going, Yamasaki shrugs. “Once you open the restaurant, you have to keep on doing it.” The work, he admits, brings more pain than joy. “Having a restaurant is like that.”

Still, he returns to it each day with the quiet resolve of shoshin—the Zen concept of beginner’s mind. In cooking as in practice, it's not perfection that matters, but the willingness to meet each day, each season, each ingredient with humility and attention. “I’m just a cook,” he says. “I’m still practicing.”