Sushi hotspots are popping up in unusual places in the Big Apple, with tasting rooms tucked away in train stations, hotel suites and public spaces – and one even featuring a menu curated by actress Blake Lively.
This month, Emil Stefkov’s The Group Hospitality opened Omakase Room by Shin, nestled in the 6½ Avenue passageway, at 145 W. 53rd St., across from the company’s La Grande Boucherie.
“We look for landmarked buildings like old bank buildings, theaters or fire stations and turn them into restaurants, like the beautiful arcade and pedestrian gallery between 53rd and 54th Street,” Stefkov told Side Dish.
“It’s the only covered passage, in the style of Paris.”
Meanwhile, Lively, the former “Gossip Girl” star and wife of “Deadpool” superhero Ryan Reynolds, has brought her love of sushi to Daniel Boulud’s Michelin-starred Jōji Box, located in a nook beneath Grand Central Terminal that bears no name, no door and no sign.
The curated omakase tasting menu, launched last week, includes 10-pieces of sushi for $55 — complete with her signature cocktail from her Betty Booze brand, a sparkling tequila with lime shiso.
“There’s nothing like fresh, high-quality sushi,” Lively told Side Dish, adding that she sampled the menu “in the back of the car on the way to the airport the week before launch.”
Another unique sushi spot has sprouted at Hotel 32|32 in Nomad, where veteran restaurateur and nightlife impresario Richie Romero’s Simple Venue is serving a four-seat omakase menu in a suite.
Diners check in at the hotel’s front desk and get a room key to Omakase and Sushi Suite, where they feast on 17 courses over one and a half hours for $185 per person.
The balcony features a hidden bar with a few seats, said Romero, a partner at Simple Venue with Mike Sinensky, Erika London and chef David Bouhadana.
“All of our omakase spots are hidden away in unutilized spaces,” Romero told Side Dish. “And they all have their own vibes, like a [Quentin] Tarantino film.”
Simple Venue also offers a more affordable option at outposts of Sushi by Bou — which is in places like a former room at the Sanctuary Hotel in Midtown, where workers used to break down cardboard boxes.
It offers 12 courses for $60 in 45 minutes.
The price point is much easier to swallow than the $950 a person charged at Masa at the former Time Warner Center across from Central Park – which comes with instructions like don’t wear strong perfume that could mess with the experience, according to its website.
“We are doing 4,000 to 6,000 reservations a week. It’s an affordable luxury,” Romero said. “It works out to $5 for a piece of wagyu, uni, or miso cod. It’s top quality, and the 45-minute seatings keep turning.”
The Omakase Room by Shin, spearheaded by Chef Shin Yamaoka, offers a 14-course menu, now $175 per person, that reflects traditional sushi preparation and kaiseki elements with fish flown in daily from Japan and also locally sourced.
Stefkov hired French designer Pierre Renart to work with curved wood to carve out a precious space with a fabric ceiling that seats just eight people.
“When people come to dine, it’s a transcending experience,” said Stefkov, who also recently opened Omakase Room by Mitsu in the West Village.
“We create Japanese rooms dedicated to the particular chefs. We build them and treat them like temples of traditional Japanese cuisine, and the chef is a priest telling his story.”
Other new spots include Crave Sushi Bar, a 1,400 square-foot, 60-seat space from Chef Todd Mitgang and partner Brian Owens.
It focuses on sustainable fish in a more traditional space at 947 Second Avenue — and follows Crave Fish Bar, a popular restaurant on the Upper West Side and in Midtown.
Crave works with fish farms on the northeast, like American Unagi, a women-owned sustainable eel farm in Maine.
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