Created by renowned Japanese architecture and design studio Sankakuya, Sushi Noz’s minimalist, temple-like interior was created from over 1,000 individual pieces of wood (including many varieties of cedar) imported from Japan and assembled using traditional techniques, without the use of a single nail. A hinoki ice-chest complements the 200-year-old hinoki wood sushi bar at the center of the larger of the two dining rooms. The style emulates Japan’s historic, artistic sukiya architecture, originally used for teahouses before being extended to private residences and restaurants. Its desired effect is to evoke harmony and wellbeing, transporting guests to a dimension beyond time and place, where every moment is infused with Japanese refinement and every sensation can be lived to the full.
Many of the elements that contribute to the guest experience—from the lighting and ceramics to the flower arrangements and aromas—are artisanal products or antiques that were either passed down from Abe’s ancestors or acquired on his trips to Japan. Some of these items can now be purchased by customers for their own homes, from the online store Noz Honton launched by Abe and partners.
Nozomu Abe (‘Noz’ for short) was born and raised on Japan’s Hokkaido Island, where his grandfather’s seafood company had an early and profound influence on the young chef-to-be, allowing him to get up close and personal with ingredients like uni, salmon roe, king crab, and more. Abe’s growing passion for seafood led first to an apprenticeship as a sushi chef in Sapporo, Hokkaido’s largest city, and then to further training under various masters of Edomae-style sushi in Tokyo. It was in 2007 that Abe moved to New York City, hoping to introduce US diners to the finest sushi imaginable. On the road to realizing that dream, he spent three years running the city’s long-established and much-loved Sushiden before seizing the opportunity, in 2018, to open his own place.
Sushi Noz was awarded its first Michelin star in 2019, a recognition that was doubled in the 2023 edition of the Michelin Guide. Among the positive press the restaurant has received over the years, its classification in 2019 as the Absolute Best Sushi in New York according to New York Magazine stands out, along with its ninth place the same year in Opinionated About Dining’s list of the Top 150 North American Restaurants—the highest position of any sushi restaurant.
