THERE’S NO ESCAPING THE DEPARTMENT STORE OMAKASE

Omakase restaurants are turning up in the unlikeliest of places: the basement of Grand Central, for one, and in the back of Chelsea food courts. But chef’s counters haven’t hit peak weird yet. Later this month, a sushi counter is opening in the underground vaults of Saks Fifth Avenue, serving a $95 omakase with uni flown in from Hokkaido and a caviar course. It opens on June 22.

The six-seat counter, called Hoseki, is run by Daniel Kim, a sushi chef who previously worked at restaurant groups including Sushi by Bou and Sushi Zo. He’s serving a 12-course omakase with seared albacore, tuna belly, trout, and truffle. Hand rolls can be ordered a la carte from the counter in sets of three, four, and six for $35, $40, and $70, respectively.

The restaurant is located underground, on a floor of Saks Fifth Avenue that the Cut called the city’s “ultimate luxury destination for high fine jewelry and watches” when it opened in 2019. The 12,000-square-foot space with a rainbow elevator is “dedicated just to the fanciest, most expensive pieces,” the publication wrote at the time. And now uni.

Omakase is a Japanese phrase that translates as “I leave it up to you” in English. It’s used to describe sushi counters where cuts of seafood are selected by a chef. Why open one in a Chinatown alley, a Nomad hotel room, or the new Wegmans on Astor Place? As Grub Street noted this week, in most cases, the restaurants can be set up without much equipment in the kitchen, given that most of the food served is raw or seared with a blowtorch.

Hoseki will be open from 12 to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, with seats reservable on Resy.

2023-06-09T17:31:03Z dg43tfdfdgfd