At a time when most Big Apple eateries are struggling to survive, Manhattan sushi restaurant Kissaki has been thriving, according to Kanfer — thanks to some pointed business decisions like importing fish directly from Japan, making a takeout-friendly menu, and investing in sushi-making robots.
New Yorkers who make their way to Long Island’s East End and other popular warm-weather retreats this summer may find they haven’t left the city behind, at least in a culinary sense.
With fish flown in weekly from Japan, an innovative sushi chef and two robots shaping rice, Kissaki may carve out it a new niche in Long Island's saturated sushi landscape. The sushi restaurant debuts in Water Mill Saturday, nearly five months after its first location opened (and then closed for a time) in New York City. As in New York, the takeout menu — the only one available until late June, when a patio opens — will be anchored by omakase boxes ($35 to $140) of nigiri sushi, sushi rolls (futomaki), and bespoke nigiri sushi using seasonal fish flown directly into JFK Airport each week.
Kissaki, a traditional Japanese restaurant with a 16-seat omakase bar, is delivering at-cost sushi boxes to workers at hospitals across NYC. They’re also providing two 3-ply hospital-approved masks with every meal delivered through a partnership with MIR Solutions Group. Since they began this initiative about a month ago, the restaurant has delivered approximately 1,400 free meals to healthcare workers.
The executive chef at Kissaki in Manhattan has been bringing bluefin tuna, yellowtail and uni to hungry hospital workers using a car rented by restaurant owner Garry Kanfer.
Sushi chef Mark Garcia has been in hospitality for nearly 20 years, but he’s trying out a new position amid the pandemic — delivery man.
Coronavirus News: Sushi restaurant in Manhattan feeds Mount Sinai Hospital workers
NYC-based Kissaki Omakase -a Japanese-Cuisine focused fine dining restaurant - has delivered over 800 meals to first responders as a thank you for their efforts in battling Covid-19. Since kick-starting the program in late March, they have received over $35,000 in meal purchases from friends and customers to keep our most critical doctors, nurses and hospital staff fed as they continue to work exhaustively to care for sick New Yorkers from the 5 boroughs and Long Island.
At Kissaki, Chef Mark Garcia brings his quirky and unconventional spin on sushi to lunch with dishes like the bluefin tuna with caviar, yuzu zest, and plum soy sauce; Buri, a type of Japanese yellowtail, served with soy sauce and pepper-infused butter; and broiled Kinmedai, a bright-red fish, served with a crispy, honey-infused radish garnish. Kissaki’s lunch menu features three sets: a $55, $85, and $125 option, each served with miso soup, nigiri, and a hand roll. Lunch service runs from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays.
A sushi omakase restaurant is moving into the former Amato Opera House space. The fish and rice experts behind the menu are Mark Garcia, who was at Gaijin in Astoria, Queens, and Evan Zagha, who was at Brushstroke. Mr. Garcia will be doing the sushi, and Mr. Zagha will be in charge of the composed plates that will be part of a 16-dish tasting ($160). The restaurant will seat 26.
Kissaki — the anticipated new omakase restaurant from the popular chef behind former Astoria sushi bar Gaijin — opens today on the Lower East Side, at 319 Bowery, between First and Second Streets. Mark Garcia brings his quirky and unusual takes on sushi to his new restaurant in dishes like the bluefin tuna with caviar, yuzu zest, and plum soy sauce; Buri, a type of Japanese yellowtail, served with soy sauce and pepper-infused butter; and broiled Kinmedai, a bright-red fish, served with a crispy, honey-infused radish garnish. “I really want customers to come in here and have fun and have a laugh,” says Garcia. “I hope that comes across through my conversations with them.”
At a time when restaurants across the New York area started to struggle amid the COVID-19 pandemic, somehow Kissaki on the Lower East Side managed to thrive.
Kanfer invested more than $20,000 in sushi-making robots to speed up production. The shop has one robot pressing out rice sheets for maki rolls, and it expects to add a maki-roll cutter and nigiri rice ball maker soon.
Lower East Side sushi restaurant Kissaki, which had been open for just a month before the dining room shutdown, has needed to wrangle new wholesale suppliers to maintain a new sushi takeout program, says managing partner Garry Kanfer. “I’ve been helping our chef out,” Kanfer says. “I’m doing a lot of things I didn’t do before. I just have to.”
Taxi drivers, motorcyclists and sushi-making robots are among the unlikely couriers distributing food and supplies to New Yorkers impacted most by the coronavirus pandemic
Some high-end restaurants in New York City have stepped up to feed hoards of hungry healthcare workers as the city battles the coronavirus pandemic. Sushi restaurant Kissaki is one of such restaurants where the owner Mark Garcia prepared 50 meals for workers at Mount Sinai hospital in Manhattan on Tuesday.
It goes without saying that the COVID-19 crisis has been catastrophic for the restaurant industry, but many innovative businesses have found ways to continue providing food and services. There's delivery, takeout, online orders, food pantry donations—and now, there are sushi robots.
Nestled in Lower East Side Manhattan, Kissaki is a recent addition to New York’s food scene. With a minimalistic sushi bar, the restaurant is home to traditional Japanese cuisine, particularly with its omakase dining experience which means guests pretty much leave themselves, and their meal, in the hands of the chef who artistically pulls it together in front of them.
At this Lower East Side omakase restaurant from chefs Mark Garcia and Evan Zagha, the menu includes a dozen pieces of nigiri and four plates for $160. Eleven of the eatery's 26 seats are reserved for those who want cocktails and bites, and don't want to order off the full menu.
Kissaki is an upscale omakase sushi spot with a colorful space on Bowery. For $160, you get 12 pieces of nigiri plus four small plates.
