Before the Covid-19 pandemic, New Yorkers had a hard time scoring a seat at chef Nozomu Abe’s Michelin-starred restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Now Mr. Abe brings Sushi Noz’s $325 omakase tasting menu directly to diners, catering small events and intimate private meals at homes, even though that frequently involves two-hour drives to Long Island’s East End.
“Many of my customers are not in New York City, so I get called to the Hamptons, six to eight times a week, sometimes three times a day,” the chef said.
The pandemic hasn’t changed what well-heeled foodies like to eat, but it has upended where some of them live and their thinking on dining out.
Some high-end Japanese restaurants have reinvented themselves to accommodate the migrations and shifting habits. Sushi Noz and others now trek to the second homes of New York City residents in the Hamptons and the Hudson Valley. Other restaurants, such as chef Masayoshi Takayama’s three-Michelin-starred Masa, have entered the delivery business in Manhattan. Masa now sells $800 sushi boxes meant to feed a four-person household.
