After years of anticipation, Alessandro Borgognone and chef Daisuke Nakazawa will open the Los Angeles outpost of their Michelin-starred temple of sushi, Sushi Nakazawa, on May 13. Set on South Robertson Boulevard, on the border between West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, this will be the restaurant’s third destination, joining New York and Washington, D.C. In Los Angeles, Nakazawa will offer his signature Edomae-style nigiri-centered omakase, alongside an expanded chef’s menu.
Nakazawa, who had a star turn in Jiro Dreams of Sushi as chef Jiro Ono’s apprentice, opened the original Sushi Nakazawa in New York’s West Village in 2013, followed by an expansion to Washington, D.C. in 2018. In 2022, Sushi Nakazawa popped up at the Peninsula Beverly Hills for a month, followed by news that the restaurant had found a permanent location in Los Angeles; initially, the new location was slated to open in 2023. In the meantime, Borgognone and Nakazawa launched Hi Dozo, a delivery-only sushi service specializing in nigiri and hand roll boxes. The pair is currently developing a permanent dine-in location for Hi Dozo in West Hollywood.
Sushi Nakazawa in Los Angeles will follow the same Edomae-style omakase philosophy as its other locations. For the classic omakase, Nakazawa will dole out seven courses of nigiri flights for $190, while the chef’s menu, priced at $295, adds on hot and cold dishes. The menus in New York and D.C. are limited by the lack of a full kitchen, but the build-out in Los Angeles allows for a wider breadth of cooking, including some dishes prepared on a Japanese charcoal grill. “We realized that people were always looking for something extra,” Borgognone says. For now, Sushi Nakazawa will only serve dinner, with lunch following at some point in the future.
Three beverage pairings from Dean Fuerth will be available alongside the omakase: non-alcoholic, sake, and sake and wine. The menu will feature rare sake handpicked from Japan by Fuerth and Nakazawa, alongside wines from across California. “The reason why we came to LA is because of how great California is and the products that we could receive,” Borgognone says. “So why not highlight them?”
Studio Unltd designed Los Angeles’s Sushi Nakazawa, which plays into an underwater sea-cave motif with waves of concrete on the ceiling and soft blues. The dining room centerpiece is a white marble bar looking into an open kitchen, flanked by matching tables. The interior seats 32, with 16 at the counter, while the patio, which will open at a later date, offers room for an additional 30.
Thirteen years after the first Sushi Nakazawa opened in New York, Borgognone feels just as excited to finally show Los Angeles what the restaurant can be. “What we’re bringing to LA is my partner’s version of what he’s been doing for the last 30 years of his life and implementing that into the restaurant,” he says. When the restaurant opens, it will operate alongside a field of acclaimed omakase restaurants, including Mori Nozomi, Osusume Fumio, and Morihiro, but Nakazawa is confident that their restaurant will stand out from the crowd.
“We don’t just sell omakase, we sell experience,” he says. “That’s why we don’t need to compare other restaurants. We focus on ourselves.”
