Chef's Table: Niki Nakayama

"Earlier in my career, there was this motivation that I had to prove myself to others that I was aiming to please guests with an incredible sense of responsibility towards the guests who have made plans and done their best to put together this experience for themselves, and to owe that to them to provide the experience that I have envisioned for them. With this goal of meeting their A grade standard, comes a high level of anxiety that makes me want to calm that anxiety by making myself work harder. But at this point, the whole feeling of cooking has shifted into something different. Now I am enjoying this work more for myself without thinking about pleasing people, carving my own path, not bound by tradition, able to create dishes that express who I am. Everything to me now is something I have always dreamt of. I constantly remind myself to really live it, to be in it. And appreciate it now so it doesn't pass me by."