Atlanta-based fine dining restaurant UMI Japanese Modern is opening in Nomad, slated for a June 2026 soft opening and an official opening in the fall.
Co-owners Farshid Arshid and Charlie Hendon opened UMI in 2013, and quickly gained acclaim in Atlanta’s dining scene.
Arshid and Hendon are now making their New York City debut on 63 Madison Ave, blocks away from some of the most celebrated restaurants in the city. “We’re humbled to plant roots steps from Madison Square Park alongside some of the city’s most forward-thinking and admired restaurants and hotels like Eleven Madison Park and The Ned Nomad,” Arshid says in a press release.
Designed by Gilles & Boissier, the restaurant will open in an expansive 4,000 square-foot space, featuring a main dining room, sushi bar, private dining room and a separate omakase room.
UMI’s New York menu will be a retrospective of its past 12 years in Atlanta, offering some of its landmark dishes like its uni risotto, wagyu carpaccio and lobster toban-yaki. Its kitchen will be led by co-executive chefs Kazuo Yoshida and Todd Dae Kulper.
Yoshida is a well-known figure among omakase aficionados in New York, previously the executive chef at Juku. He also worked at the since-closed 1 or 8 in Brooklyn and Jewel Bako. On the other hand, Kulper was the executive chef at UMI Atlanta, having worked at the restaurant for nearly a decade.
“After 12 years in Atlanta, New York feels like a natural evolution – UMI was always envisioned as a gathering place for the creative community across art, music, fashion, and film,” Arshid says. “There is no greater crossroads of culture and creative energy than this city.”
