"Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Chef Noz was from a very young age inspired by the fresh fish and seafood of his grandfather, who owned and operated a seafood company. This provided him his first experiences with ingredients like uni, salmon roe and king crab, which still stand as cornerstones in his cuisine.
After finishing high school, Chef Noz moved to Sapporo city. He apprenticed at a Sapporo sushi restaurant and furthered his training in the art of sushi. It was during this time that he began to envision himself dedicating his life to the craft. After two years in Sapporo, he moved to Tokyo, epicenter of the centuries-old Edomae style, where he spent four years honing traditional techniques for preparing Edomae sushi’s hallmark freshly-caught fish and vinegar-seasoned rice.
Following his tenure in Tokyo, Chef Noz came to New York and worked as a sous chef for Sushiden NY.
Chef Noz’s lifelong dedication to quality food has made him one of the world’s premier Sushi Chefs. He advanced to the position of Executive Chef in 2012, and is excited to share his cuisine under the aegis of his own establishment
He will be opening his own restaurant, Sushi Noz, in December at 78st and 3rd."
It was great. I will post a full review this weekend. Rice was fantastic, temperature control, too. And Nozomu-san is super nice and very serious about his craft. Service was extremely attentive. One of the top sushi experiences in USA in my opinion.
Very entertaining dinner at Sushi Noz. Intimate seven seater counter in an amazingly designed dining space. Feels like you’ve been transported to Japan. The intimate seating arrangement affords diners who enjoy watching the sushi prep process an up close and personal experience.
This and SGO (Saito era) have been my best two sushi experiences in NYC so far; Noz being the more entertaining of the two - like broadway + sushi experience.
Highly recommended!
Rice is cooked in traditional rice cooking pot “O-Kama” (like in Jiro)
Kinki
Binchotan grilled and hay smoked Katsuo
Steamed Abalone w liver sauce
Pacific Oyster with tomato water gelee
Unagi served w sansho and wasabi
Salmon cured for a week with koji and served with egg yolk sauce. Paired excellently with Kamoizumi “Sachi”- well aged sake
Sanma. Love his technique of mincing the chive, ginger, scallion to a paste like consistency and applying it directly onto the shari.
Boston → Tsukiji → NYC tuna | akami, chutoro, otoro
Not intimate with model #s but sure looks similar. Definitely one of the higher end units with the feature rich silver control panel. Fortunately I’ve had practice operating them over the last few years
Hmm singlethread’s setup seems more conducive to operate discreetly…
love the full length counter (geta?) the sushi is served on and the old school ice box, reminds me of sawada. probably the most japanese looking sushi-ya i’ve ever seen in the states, can’t wait to try it.
how’s nozomu-san’s english? how difficult are reservations?
His english was fine - no problems at all communicating with all the diners, and we enjoyed a conversation in the private room at the end of the night. Reservations were not difficult on Tock. Though I book all of my travel itineraries quite far in advance, I do see that they have good availability even this month:
As @BradFord mentioned above, he’s fluent in English. My reservation was made a couple days before. Reservations for most of the newbie heavy hitters - Amane, Noz, Noda are generally fairly easy. SGO you might need a week or two if you have a specific date / time - probably due to the 2* ranking. Nakazawa has been the most problematic for me, still yet to dine there as a result.
Yeah Noz has my vote for the best looking traditional sushi-ya in the US thus far.
Technically, every bit as good. Very consistent - I’ve had Taku-san and Nakazawa-san make the nigiri. The style is quite unique. Personally, I really like it, even though it’s not that traditional at times. I’ve met some who didn’t care for it, but I really enjoyed the creativity behind the courses (and, I’m fairly familiar with Hawaii having been there 30+ times, so some items which may come out of left field for some may be a little bit more accepted by me). The progression certainly isn’t standard. The room and experience are very nice - it’s a big orchestration. You cannot fault Sushi Sho’s technical execution, though - Taku-san himself had a 2* sushi restaurant in Tokyo, and it shows in his precision.
In my last Honolulu trip, I went to SGO (with Sakagami-san from Ginza), Maru Sushi, and Sushi Sho pretty much back-to-back-to-back, and Sushi Sho was clearly the best experience for me.
I need a trip to HI soon!! I tried and failed to secure reservations at Sho on 2 occasions while he was still based in Tokyo. Maru is a new one I wasn’t aware of. Sounnds like one I should add on my list too.
Sushi aside, Honolulu is my favorite US city. I can understand why you’ve been there 30+ times
“Japan Series: Ryoriya So
Noz will welcome Chef Takashi Anezaki of the 2-Michelin star Ryoriya So located in Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, Noz’s hometown. The name of the restaurant means that the essence is found in simplicity – and Chef Anezaki’s cooking reflects this philosophy, which Noz certainly shares.”
“Sushi Noz is excited to announce the addition of a second intimate Edomae-style sushi experience with the opening of The Ash Room! The omakase at this conter is $175 per person, and offers diners a more casual dining style. The Ash Room will be open Mon-Sat beginning November 6…”
