WEST TOWN — Two Japanese chefs who have worked in restaurants in Japan, Chicago and elsewhere are launching an omakase-style restaurant and sake bar in West Town.
Omakase Shoji, 1641 W. Chicago Ave., is a joint project of Takashi Iida and Shoji Takahashi, who have teamed up to create an omakase tasting menu that emphasizes not only sushi but other Japanese dishes and ingredients as well.
The restaurant opens Friday in the former home of Six06 Cafe Bar, which closed last year.
Omakase is a high-end Japanese dining experience usually featuring an extended sushi dinner with the chef choosing each course.
Omakase Shoji will offer two tasting menus in an “omakase room” that seats only 10 people. A casual bar in the front of the restaurant will offer cocktails and smaller bites.
The chefs hope to mimic the dedication to detail of a traditional Japanese omakase, said Han Jeon, who is helping set up the restaurant and translated a recent interview with Takahashi.
“A lot of these dishes that you’re going to be able to experience derive from, and have a reason behind, why we created them that way,” Jeon said. “It’s not just the presentation of the food and the ingredients themselves, but the way that [the chefs] prepared them and the accumulation of the experience that they’ve had from working, whether it be in Japan or in America.”
Omakase Shoji’s 17-course tasting menu costs $185 and the 20-course option is $225. The menu changes daily based on the availability of fresh and seasonal ingredients, including fish flown in from Japan multiple times a week, Takashi said.
“We are buying the fish from Japan. It’s very, very fresh. So we really care about the quality control,” Takahashi said. “And I try not to use too many garnishes for the fish dishes, because I don’t want to kill the real fish flavor.”
Keeping the dining groups small and placing an emphasis on tradition speaks to the restaurant’s mission: creating the most authentic omakase experience in Chicago, Jeon said.
“I almost feel like a lot of these omakases are trying to emphasize the luxuriousness, or the fast cash grab. But that’s not what that’s about. It’s really showing and emphasizing the Japanese culture,” he said.
The sake bar will feature more than 40 variations of the Japanese rice wine plus rare Japanese whiskies and cocktails. The bar is designed to be a more casual experience, with a food menu that will use leftover ingredients from the tasting menu for dishes that can be ordered a la carte, the owners said.
“The bar is supposed to be that Chicago-slash-Japanese mixture, where you can basically experience the infusion of both cultures,” Jeon said. “And then when you get to the omakase room, it’s a very intimate experience that brings it all together.”
This summer, Omakase Shoji plans to add a rooftop bar overlooking Chicago Avenue. Jeon said the owners plan to give it a “speakeasy” vibe with cocktails and other offerings.
The two-hour omakase room experience at Omakase Shoji will be available 5-11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-midnight Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Sundays. The sake bar will stay open an hour later each day.
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