New York’s “original hand roll bar” is currently gearing up to develop a brand new location in Union Square.
KazuNori is an extremely popular handroll bar from critically acclaimed chef Kazunori Nozawa. A sushi master who has been training since 1963, Chef Nozawa is credited with helping popularize omakase style sushi in America. Together with business partner and friend Jerry Greenberg, Chef Nozawa was responsible for both Sushi Nozawa and Sugarfish and is well known for his strict restaurant rules and incredibly disciplined attitude towards his craft.
KazuNori is the more casual of Chef Nozawa’s concepts, focused entirely on serving handrolls made with only the freshest fish. KazuNori set out to redefine what their guests think about sushi, establishing a counter-only sushi restaurant where patrons can order from a pre-set menu or select a-la-cart items. They even sell personal handroll kits, enabling fans to try their hand at preparing their favorite handrolls in the comfort of their own homes. At the moment, KazuNori currently operates six locations in Los Angeles and two in New York, in Midtown East and Nomad. Now though, Chef Nozawa and the team are preparing to launch their third location in New York in Union Square later this year.
KazuNori’s latest expansion will be opening up at 125 University Place, between East 13th and East 14th Street. The new restaurant will be replacing Ichiba Ramen, a popular ramen restaurant that operated in the space from 2016-2020. The premises offers a total of 1,747 square feet of space and will feature three sushi counters that can seat a total of 36 guests together.
Right now, the KazuNori team is getting ready to meet with the community board to apply for a restaurant beer and wine license. They are proposing operating hours of 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM Sunday through Wednesday, and 11:00 AM – 1:00 AM Thursday through Saturday. While the project is still quite a ways off from completion, you can follow KazuNori on Instagram for updates on all their new projects.
