Chef Shion Uino, late of Amane in Midtown East, took over the reins from Derek Wilcox, who had split the menu between kaiseki and nigiri. Shion 69 Leonard Street had already beefed up its prices earlier in 2021, upon reopening and rebranding following an eight-month hiatus. Prices at both restaurants are inclusive of service.
Noz also offers a cheaper $230 menu in a separate “ash” room, while Onodera offers more affordable lunch menus starting at $100. Noz on the Upper East Side also announced a hike, moving things up by just a few dollars to $400 - that’s still $75 more than what I paid in late 2019 - to match the pricing at its newly opened Noz 17 in Chelsea. Ginza Onodera near Bryant Park raised the cost of dinner by $50 to $450 supplements like Ezo-bafun sea urchin rolls ($45) can jack up the bill even higher. “They’re all looking to be within that range some are a little higher some are a little lower,” he said.Ī flurry of sushi price hikes occurred around the month of December. He recounted the example of a new sushi spot that “looked at the market” before deciding to charge $400. “The market ultimately is the biggest determinant of price in any industry,” said 69 Leonard owner Idan Elkon during a phone interview, who added that he used to run the pricing department at a telecommunications company. These rising prices are also surely a product of savvy owners who are well attuned to what their competitors are charging, often tweaking things up by a few dollars when their peers do the same. Restaurant operators who spoke with Eater attributed the newly elevated cost of dining out to a variety of factors, including global supply chain issues, an increasing number of omakase venues bidding for a fixed supply of wild seafood, and a growing class of wealthy and knowledgeable consumers with the means and desire to indulge. Order a few glasses sake and a meal for two will almost certainly hit $1,000 at the bulk of these establishments. Today, there are at least eight of these tiny venues: the hinoki room at Noz, Yoshino, Noz 17, Onodera, Shion 69 Leonard Street, Icca, and the relocated Noda. Masa, the oligarch-friendly restaurant that traffics in ohmi beef and white truffle ice cream, was, for over a decade, the only local sushi spot where the price of dinner, after tax and tip, exceeded $400.
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The $1,000 sushi date, once a reasonably rare species in New York, has become increasingly common as a series of splashy openings and winter price hikes push Manhattan’s high-end Japanese scene further into the stratosphere - and out of the reach of everyday gourmands who save up for an occasional splurge.