By his own admission, Chris Kinjo is an uncompromising perfectionist. Kinjo and his brother, Alex, are the driving, creative spirits behind MF Sushibar in Midtown —- a small, stylish place that's widely considered the best place to eat sushi in Atlanta. But the brothers' new restaurant, MF Buckhead, takes things to a much more rarified level. It's a grand, 8,000-square-foot palace devoted to the art of Japanese cooking. The fish is flown in daily from the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo. And an army of chefs prepare all sorts of exotic treats, including duck, eel and kobe beef done up on Japanese robata grills fired with imported oak wood.

Q: You've become known for securing the best fish and other ingredients —- is that what sets your restaurants apart?

A: That's what makes us very special. A lot of restaurant owners are too cheap to pay for the quality —- that's the first thing. The second thing is, they don't have the connections. They don't know where to begin to look. Last year, we went to Japan and we got hooked up to buy direct. And right now, we're working to get fish straight from the source.

Q: Ingredients are important in all kinds of cooking, but with sushi it's the most important thing, isn't it?

A: That's exactly right. You can't hide it. All these sushi restaurants now have added so many sauces and things to the sashimi grade fish that it's no longer sashimi. A great chef knows the quality of the fish and knows how to cut that piece of fish to the right thickness and portion, so that when you eat it, it just melts in your mouth. That's the great sushi chef —- the technique and the knife skill.

Q: Obviously, an artful presentation is also a huge part of the sushi experience.

A: Having great fish makes my job so much easier. As a chef, I'm more of an artist. I balance the flavors with how I season everything. But when I make something, it has to be so beautiful. I will not send out a dish unless I'm 100 percent satisfied with the way it looks. Sashimi is like chess to me. When I set up a sashimi plate, it's like setting up a chess board. When I plate something, I control what you're eating, in the order that I want you to eat it.

Q: You were the first to introduce Japanese robata grills to Atlanta.

A: I wanted to do it in Midtown, but they wouldn't let me have a hood in that building. Basically, the MF Buckhead concept, with the robata, was my original concept. To do the robata right, you need to use the right fuel —- which is binchotan, treated charcoal made from branches of the oak tree. Robata means 'open flame.' It's a very simple form of cooking. It's a very hot fire, and it cooks very quickly, with no smoke or odor. But the way you stack the charcoal and control the heat is the skill. And the thickness of the meat and seafood has to be just right.

Q: MF Buckhead is a beautiful space, with all sorts of subtle details. How does that reflect what you and your brother Alex do?

A: Everything we do is from the ground up. Every detail of this restaurant is very personal to us, because it's me and my brother. Alex is a designer and artist. But we're not architects. We're just two guys who love what we do.

3280 Peachtree St., Suite 110, 404-841-1192, mfbuckhead.com