At Yoshino in New York, chef Tadashi “Edowan” Yoshida holds court over approximately 20 courses at a 10-seat hinoki cypress counter, with two seatings each evening.
Delayed by the pandemic, Yoshino took three years to open, nearly exhausting Yoshida’s finances before its 2021 debut. Named for his father’s birthplace in Nara Prefecture, the restaurant features handcrafted furnishings and tableware made in Japan, including chairs from Yoshida’s home prefecture of Gifu. The hinoki counter was fashioned from a 300-year-old tree.
“I came to New York from Japan, and in doing that, as a Japanese sushi chef, I have a duty to uphold sushi traditions and convey those traditions to anybody that comes to my sushi restaurant,” Yoshida explains through a translator. “So in that sense, there is this baseline of tradition that I have to maintain, but at the same time, New York is a city of freedom, and so with that in mind, I did want to create my own brand. I would go window shopping, and I would eat lots and lots of different food from different countries. I would look at things. I would eat this. I would eat that, and I would just get little hints of the person I was going to become in New York, and then I used that to create my signature style here.”
Uni arrives atop a rice ball in a sizzling-hot stone bowl, where the sea urchin melts into a hot, gooey topping.
“I like cheese fondue, and so I created this dish in the past, where I had abalone, and I would pour cheese onto it, and I was serving that, and then that ended up evolving because I took inspiration from stone pot Korean bibimbap,” says Yoshida. “I combined that with cheese fondue conceptually, and that created the sea urchin sauce stone dish. So that dish is actually a fusion of Italian and Korean food, and I think you can only get it at Yoshino.”
Yoshino’s tamago has a caramelized topping in the style of crème brûlée, a preparation Yoshida developed after coming to New York.
“I had never served a dish like that before, but if there’s one thing about New York, it’s New York cheesecake, and I wanted to somewhat approach New York cheesecake, and that’s how I came up with this tamago crème brûlée concept,” says Yoshida.
One of the best things about dining at Yoshino is that it’s fun. The restaurant earned four stars from The New York Times in 2022. Guests enjoy rare sakes and white Bordeaux wines alongside impeccable food in a beautiful setting, yet the atmosphere is joyful, curious, and whimsical.
Yoshida brings out the binchotan charcoal to sear mackerel skin in front of each guest and loudly hums a tune inspired by Super Mario Bros. as he moves along the counter.
“The reason I started doing that is I realized when people come to this restaurant, it’s common for them to be very nervous, and I just want them to relax,” says Yoshida. “I thought, I have to do something, so I thought, I’ll make an original song, and that’s how it started.”
