PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — When brothers Nicolas and Job Martinez walk into Mirakutei in East Portland, they’re not washing dishes or taking orders — they’re calling the shots.
At age 15, Nicolas arrived in the United States from Oaxaca, Mexico to join his father who would sometimes travel between countries. Job then joined his brother three years later at age 14.
Nicolas remembers trying to attend school but having difficulties not knowing English. When he moved to Oregon, he found a dishwasher position at a Hiro Sushi in Lake Oswego and the rest seemed like fate.
“I was doing dishes and little by little, I started watching how they cook,” Nicolas said. “I was very interested in the craft and into their cooking. At that time, there was a bunch of Japanese chefs.”
The student becomes the master
But there was one chef that took Nicolas under his wing: Hiro Ikegaya.
Immediately, you can hear Nicolas’ respect for Ikegaya, calling the sushi chef “sensei” and “master” – along with crediting him as “one of the oldest Japanese chefs in town.”
He remembers begging Ikegaya to teach him how to cut fish but wasn’t met with the same enthusiasm.
“He would say, ‘No, this is expensive,’” said Nicolas. “I would tell him to give me a chance.”
Once Nicolas was given the opportunity, he ran with it and quickly showed his sensei what he was capable of.
“The whole time he thought I was gifted, but I told him I just practice and practice,” Nicolas noted.
Little brother steps in
Job Martinez echoed the same struggles in school and decided to take his brother’s dishwasher position once Nicolas moved on to prepping food.
He later worked his way up in the industry to a pair of head sushi chef positions at Masu and Bamboo Sushi SE in Portland.
That’s where he recalls learning more than just cooking from the restaurant business.
“How to put numbers together, the cost of fish,” Job listed. “You take everything into consideration. Family businesses don’t think about these things.”
Job said he thinks the reason other businesses break even or lose money is that they price their food too cheaply.
“People have this conception that food should be cheap, or sushi should be cheap, and when we price the items at a reasonable price, they think it’s expensive but it’s not,” he explained. “It’s just the cost of doing business.”
Despite not going to culinary school, Job calls Bamboo his schooling.
Honoring the culture
The brothers also acknowledge their presence in Japanese cuisine despite not being Japanese or from Japan.
Job credits his early days with Ikegaya because he was introduced to the culture at a young age with open arms. He remembers Ikegaya’s family offering the brothers fermented soybeans mixed with tuna.
It wasn’t their favorite, they both said, but added “we didn’t make any face. we just ate it.”
They also mentioned similarities in Mexican and Japanese culture, such as honoring your elders.
“We ate it, and they were amazed at how young we were and would eat anything — all the raw fish and all the fermented stuff that they would eat.”
Job said he wants the restaurant to continue the same pride and respect for Japanese food.
“We just grew up in it naturally. We didn’t force ourselves into it. Not for profit or for business,” he stated. “We feel like we represent the culture to the extent that we can.”
He added, “A lot of people make comments about why Mexican people are making sushi, but they don’t know our backgrounds.”
Both noted that Nicolas has been worked for Ikegaya on and off for 20 years before both bought the business from him.
Buying the business
Nicolas worked with Ikegaya for the first five years but then worked at various restaurants throughout the area.
Nicolas says Ikegaya wasn’t too thrilled about him leaving the nest, but welcomed him back with open arms and eventually sold him — and Job — the business back in 2018.
“For some reason, he kind of loved me,” Nicolas said. “He probably thought of me like a son.”
His brother chimed in saying Ikegaya’s family still visits and picks up sushi once a week.
However, Nicolas wouldn’t dare give his sensei the meal at half price because “otherwise they won’t leave,” he said with a chuckle. “They want to pay the full meal.”
That’s what family does, Job said — they take care of each other.
“(Hiro) could have sold the restaurant to somebody else for twice as much money, but he sold it to us because we’re family,” he stated.
The Martinez brothers’ dream soon turned into a nightmare once the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States. Restaurants were soon forced to close and owners were left to pick up the tab.
“There were some days that we were doing two or $300 a day,” said Job. “We didn’t have a salary or anything. We were just living off of savings for months and months.”
New beginnings
The brothers say they’re not out of the woods yet, but they recently renovated and opened Kaizen Sushi in downtown Portland.
There, you’ll be met with Sushi served with sake and mezcal, the blending of two cultures close to the duo’s heart.
They also plan to open a new Mirakutei location at the Clackamas Town Center in the future.
As for their other plans, Nicolas hopes to one day visit Japan and learn more from Japanese culture. Until then, the two brothers look back at fond memories from their childhood.
“I remember this one time we went to eat tacos. We only had enough money for one taco, but the taco was little,” Nicolas recalled. “I would tell Job to eat first but not to finish it… and then it was my turn, and I ate a little bit less because he was younger. We’d go back and forth and had so much fun.”
Whether it be a sushi roll or a street taco, the brothers hope they can continue honoring both cultures one bite at a time.