Chefs at O Ya in Boston // photo by Amy Braga for MSN City Guides

The Rise of High-End Sushi

Sushi addicts with deep pockets are being tempted with top chefs, top-quality ingredients and creative flair. With a $400 prix fixe dinner, New York’s Masa is at the top of the scale.

By Andrea Pyenson for MSN City Guides

"It's like an addiction," Tyson Cole, chef-owner of Uchi Restaurant in Austin, Texas, says about sushi. His restaurant, which serves "contemporary Japanese" food and sushi, is among of a new wave of high-end sushi restaurants proliferating across the country, reflecting a trend that has its roots in Nobuyuki Matsuhisa's (Nobu) Matsuhisa Restaurant, in Beverly Hills.

Wild bluefin maguro tuna with soy braised garlic, micro greens (nigiri) at O Ya in Boston // photo by Amy Braga for MSN City Guides

Born and raised in Japan, Nobu had lived in Peru, Argentina and Alaska before opening his first U.S. restaurant. In South America, he developed his unique style, combining regional ingredients with classical sushi techniques. The wildly successful Matsuhisa was followed, in 1994, by Nobu in New York, spawning what today is essentially an empire, with restaurants around the world.

It also spawned a seemingly insatiable appetite for extremely high-quality sushi that goes beyond tuna maki or spicy crab rolls, at prices that can approach stratospheric. At Masayoshi (Masa) Takayama’s Masa in New York's Time Warner Center, for example, the prix fixe dinner is $400 per person—before drinks, taxes and the mandatory 20-percent gratuity. And a recorded message warns prospective diners that if they have to cancel a reservation, they better do it at least 48 hours before their scheduled dinner or there will be a $150 per person charge. Its lower-key and less-expensive sibling, Bar Masa, makes Chef Masa's food slightly more accessible. But a meal there is not for the faint of wallet.

CONTINUED: Testing the market

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The Rise of High-End Sushi

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