As it’s been a few years since my last visit, I need a refresher on the sushi scene as of late. Does Yoshino top Noz? What’s the ranking within the Noz family (Noz, 17, Market)? Are there any other spots that should be considered above these? I only have one night dedicated to sushi so trying to make the best decision.
I liked sushi sho the bestest
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Concur. Sho. That is fo’ sho.
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Mitani, Mekumi, Yoshitake, and maybe one other famous sushi restaurant from Japan opening in NY in 2025, apparently.
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Home of the greenbacks!
Wow, not one I would have expected to make a NYC expansion.
on upcoming openings
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Yes, Mekumi’s a surprise to me as well. Will the NY branch feature crab or Noto products? I’m not sure. Very, very interesting.
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Yoshitake has been trying to open in NY for a while. In 2018, a sushi chef in NY told me he had tried years before. Likely his abalone liver sauce will be featured, even if we’ve seen many follow. Though I don’t care about Michelin ratings, particularly in Japan, his achievements in that will certainly carry over in terms of reputation. Also, his branch Sushi Shikon in Hong Kong confers another boost in recognition outside of Japan.
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The other famous sushi restaurant opening next year will have a lot of ingredients on display (I think some can guess who it may be). A chef in Japan told me, but I haven’t seen anything official or read anything. I could be wrong but could’ve sworn he said a certain Nakakmeguro name. I’ll wait until it’s official, because for example there was supposed to be a different big name before at a nice hotel but that didn’t come to fruition.
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Mitani is actually rather exciting, particularly for its otsumami and alcohol pairings. Despite a food influencer calling it “no frills” or something, I think that the meal here is a bit creative especially compared to other Japanese sushiya. There are many “no frills” sushiya, but Mitani isn’t one of them, stylistically they are a little flashy with a fancy setting (food is served on a glass sushi geta) with unique and great otsumami.
Great alcohol pairings alongside otsumami, which is maybe what they’re most famous for. I’ve had various excellent Juyondai, Shinshu Kirei, some Next5 bottlings, etc. alongside some decent village Burgundy. Both times I’ve had my favorite Shinshu Kirei Kinmon Nishiki, a phantom bottle that’s seriously good with food.
I’ve been to two branches in Kioicho, not Yotsuya, but speaking with others, I hear the Kioicho branches are stylistically faithful to the honten. I can see this working well in NY. Certainly at these expected price points, these high-end sushiya will have to differentiate themselves.
Here’s some fancy otsumami I’ve had at Mitani branches, not the kind you’d see at normal sushiya:
- shirako risotto with fried amadai and karasumi. with Shinshu Kirei (one of my very favorites) and a rose champagne.
- kinki (channel rockfish) with its liver; ankimo with toasted rice cracker. with Masuizumi barrel aged kijoshu.
- hotaru ika with its innards, asatsuki, and shiso
- fried awabi with dashi ankake and seaweed
- ni-hamaguri with ankake sauce
right now, it seems like Sushi Sho and Sushi Yoshino are the top places. It’s interesting how the NY scene has evolved. 15-20 years ago, there was a big gap compared to what it is now. back then, maybe Masa was considered the top (some had allegiance to Yasuda or Kurumazushi). Then around 2016ish or so the scene seemed to level up significantly, and yet again since the pandemic with Sho and Yoshino opening. Now that more are following, NY seems poised to be the high-end sushi destination outside of Japan.
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Sushidokoro Mekumi New York will be at 70 Charlton St and already has their liquor license as of late June.
and this was reported last year, but Sushi Yoshitake NYC will be at 550 Madison ave, mezzanine level, backed by the team behind COTE (and Nas may be an investor? at least in the new COTE project). it’s been a long time coming for them and Yoshitake’s arrival to NYC has been talked about for well over a decade. construction slated for spring 2026 completion so maybe Yoshitake won’t open until a bit after that.
both are branches not relocations. curious to see who will run the counters.
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as reported by others late last year, Sushidokoro Mekumi New York will have be sushi chef Hajime Kumabe, who was an assistant at the bar with Mekumi’s main chef Takayoshi Yamaguchi in Kanazawa. oyakata Yamaguchi-san won’t be relocating, naturally. interestingly, there’s also going to be a Japanese cocktail bar sharing the space - Bar Maeda, whose bartender Yoshikatsu Maeda worked at Ginza’s famous Mori Bar (known for their martinis).
edit: Mitani might be a quarter mile away from Yoshitake.
no real word on the other possible opening (from the Nakameguro place), though someone else suggested it as well so we’ll see but there’s a lot of rumors swirling around for several. with that said, only Yoshino and Sho have the main oyakatas at the NY counters and I think that is unique.
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Not sure if this was already reported but it looks like Sushi Ginza Onodera is closing and turning into Bond St Sushi. I’m staying on 39th and 5th and saw the signage as I was walking to the office today.
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Mekumi NYC is opening this month, but there’s very little news/social media presence. A couple posts on instagram from a preview event, and that’s it.
$300 on Tock.
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looks like there’s kegani from Ishikawa for the opening this week.
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Indeed (well, it’s listed as from Hokaido) The crab is used in 3 dishes, not a lot for each person (16 legs for 8 guests, and other meats were used with uni and in miso soup) but tasted great. They already ran out of add-on ankimo though 
We just had a great meal there. Stylistically it was very different from edomae standard affairs. Highly recommended.
$300 left us decently full (whereas we needed more food after Sushi Sho NYC’s $450 set) is pretty good value for New York, and we wondered if/when prices will go up
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thanks for the look in. sounds good. kawahagi with liver, kue, hirasuzuki, anago from Nagasaki, good stuff.
favorite bites?
$300 p/p is quite good for a place like this in NY. i was expecting $450-550, which I bet Yoshitake will be.
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nitpicking: service is still settling in, and the chef’s techniques still, also the sushi plate comes out ugly in pictures for me lol
best bites:
grilled nodogoro
Steamed ikura (warm, so good we wonder why others don’t do it this way)
Sweet shrimp
Sumi ika (very tender, best squid we’ve had)
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aaaand it’s closed, lasting about 7 months.
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Tough times for high end sushi in NYC. Seems like outside of Sho every place is not filling seats on the regular. Mekumi was pretty good value for $300, and poor for $400. Shockingly short run, still, and a pity.
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It’s gotten crazy expensive. Even sho wasn’t filling seats until very recently, when they stated getting rumors of 3* then got 3*.
Yoshino is like 550 pre tax tip water last I checked, and the must have ankimo is an add on now. Almost everyone of note is north of $350, except Shota and Mumi. Three years ago, Yoshino was one of like two or three that were north of that price point.
Yes, things have gotten more expensive and what not, but there are way too many options across the board for prices to be that high.
For perspective, you can go to any other non omakase 3* for less than Yoshino. With the ankimo add on, you can even go to some twice. There, you get exquisite technique and white cloths. I like omakase but I don’t think most people in NYC can tell the difference between Nakazawa vs Mumi vs Shota vs Yoshino vs Noz vs Sho.
Nakazawa is still at $180. Mumi, a local favorite, is at $225 and is very honest about his sourcing and the realities of the business. I can go to Nakazawa 3 times for one Yoshino/Sho.
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Nakazawa can still stay $180 and I’m still not gonna go.
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