Charlie Kim talks about the wild salmon he used to eat while living in Alaska and he gets a faraway look in his eyes, the knife he works so deftly with goes motionless. For a few seconds he's somewhere else.

For someone who knows fish, such memories can do that, and Charlie Kim knows fish. He's the sushi chef and owner of Yuki Sushi & Robata in Lone Tree.

Before the lunch crowd arrives, he prepares plates of sushi behind the sushi bar, precisely slicing tuna, salmon, carrots and cucumbers which he arranges on the plates in a display that's almost too pretty to eat. For Kim, the presentation is as important as the food itself.

Alaska was only one of many stops where he learned his craft- Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota make appearances on his resume. It all started in Los Angeles, where he came 15 years ago from his native South Korea. There, a friend took him under his wing and taught him about sushi, an education that continues every day, he says.

As it always is, a television hanging above him is tuned to the Food Network. He says he gets ideas from it, and the 42-year-old Kim is always looking for new ideas.

"I don't want to be like any other restaurant," he says. "I want to do everything a little bit differently."

The good ideas end up on the restaurant's specials board. It changes every week, and is something his regular customers look forward to, he says. Before a new dish makes it to the board he tests it on the restaurant's staff. If it gets their approval, it goes to his wife, Ivy, who has the final say.

Kim wasn't planning on becoming a sushi chef. He grew up in Seoul and studied law, though he didn't receive a degree. His mother moved the family to Los Angeles where he got a job in a restaurant and began to learn about sushi.

Kim and his wife bought Yuki Sushi last year; he had worked there for the previous owner. Kim enjoys the creative aspect of sushi and says he prefers working in the kitchen, but since he's now the owner he's involved with all aspects of the business. They live in Castle Rock with their two young daughters.

A typical day sees Kim at work before 10 a.m. prepping the food for the lunch crowd, and since the restaurant is open for dinner as well, he's often there past 10 p.m.

Kim's friend told him that to be a good sushi chef you have to know everything about the fish, and you have to try everything, he says offering up a sea urchin roll, a teasing grin on his face.

Yuki Sushi & Robata is located at 9447 Park Meadows Drive; their phone number is 303-662-8808.