“Is Chef Yoshi in the restaurant tonight?”

That’s a common question Sushi Zen regulars call to ask before coming to one of the restaurants’ two Savannah locations.

They want to chat with the owner and chef at Sushi Zen — the man who takes food so seriously that he travels to Atlanta, Boston and even Japan to inspect fish before buying it.

Kazumi Yoshimoto, affectionately called Chef Yoshi, is usually at one of the restaurants — greeting customers; encouraging nervous newcomers not to be afraid of their first sushi meal; or at work in the kitchen slicing squid and molding California rolls just so.

Sometimes Chef Yoshi, 53, even dispenses nutritional tips, telling customers which menu items give energy or boost the immune system.

Chef Yoshi’s life could be much easier.

He and his wife, Amy, could, for example, not oversee things at the downtown restaurant at 41 Whitaker St. until the 4 a.m. closing time on weekends.

He could use sushi machines in the restaurant kitchens instead of knives.

He could also hire chefs right off the street, rather than travel to Japan several times a year to recruit the very best for his restaurants — many from the sushi school he started in his homeland.

Chef Yoshi could treat his restaurants as merely a business, rather than a vocation.

But that isn’t Chef Yoshi’s style.

Chef Yoshi has been passionate about sushi since he was a child growing up in Japan.  He moved to the United States in his 20s to teach people about Japanese food.  He met Amy at a Florida restaurant.  He was the chef.  She was the hostess.

Amy couldn’t cook when she meet Yoshi.  She still can’t.  Because at home, Yoshi tests and refines dishes before putting the truly special ones on the menu.

Notebooks and pens are in every room of the house so the chef can jot down ideas for dishes that come to him at odd times.

Chef Yoshi’s been particularly inspired of late, dreaming up menu items for a new downtown Sushi Zen location.

“I always need to be taking on more, always advancing,’’ said Chef Yoshi.  “Not settling.  Not stopping.”

Not treating sushi as merely a job — but as an art.