For many years, Masa Takayama ran a restaurant in Beverly Hills called Ginza Sushiko. Then Thomas Keller came calling, and he convinced Masa to open a restaurant next door to Per Se in the Time Warner Center. With dinner costing an eye-popping $500 after adding ingredients luxury like fugu and truffles, the restaurant caused a stir when it first opened, causing many reviewers to question whether a meal based around raw fish was worth that price. But those who had spent time in Tokyo claimed; "It's the only U.S, restaurant that is on par with the top restaurants in Japan." The quality of the fish is absolutely dazzling; a pastry chef of Japanese descent told us, “I gave up eating sushi on a weekly basis so I could afford to eat at Masa once a month.”