Nozumi Japanese Cuisine

This past Friday Ginger and I were looking forward to trying a new restaurant we knew had just opened in the Arboretum in South Barrington. Nozumi Japanese Cuisine is an excellent addition to the restaurant scene in the burbs. There are one or two sushi places but this is more than California sushi rolls that seem to be everywhere. Nozumi is actually in the Arboretum Shopping Center. Of course this isn't a typical shopping center but a collection of upscale and unique shops, stores and eateries. I used Open Table to make reservations and we arrived almost 15 minutes ahead of the time I had reserved. We park very close and walk the short distance across the parking lot to the front doors. The building is on a corner and the entrance is set at a 45 degree angle to the corner. I pull the door open and allow my wife to go in first. It is a warm evening and we are greeted by a cool blast of air conditioning. The layout of the restaurant complements the entrance. A hostess station is several yards inside and parallel to the door so that the 45 degree angle creates two separate dining spaces on either side of the hostess station. Standing at the hostess station are two women and one of them is very familiar to me. She greets Ginger and me and welcomes us to Nozumi. She hands us off to the other young lady who commands us to to follow her by saying "Right this way" as she walks in front of us and deposits us at a table in the center and near the window of the dining area on the left of the hostess station. I take the chair while Ginger slips behind the table and sits on the bench or banquette on the other side.
The layout is interesting and very contemporary. There is something familiar about the high industrial flat black ceiling. The dining area is actually divided into sections by low walls and provide a distinct space within a space. I think it very smart and say so to Ginger. The chairs have wooden backs and are painted semi gloss black with leather cushioned seats. The tables are dark and the banquettes along the wall are covered in black leather. I know this sounds awfully dark but the expanse of glass on both sides of the restaurant brighten the room. As we walked to our table I noticed a bar against the wall on the right and a cocktail area with small hightop tables and stools. Ginger remarks that the banquette is too high. Now Ginger is tall at 5'11" and she has me look at her feet and they barely touch the ground as she is brushing the soles of her shoes against the carpet. She is definitely too high and she says it feels awkward to lean forward and rest her forearms or elbows on the table. She is uncomfortable and I am too but for a different reason.... It's freezing and I'm almost shivering. I tell Ginger I'm cold and she agrees that it is a bit cool. Loud early rock and roll music, circa the1960's, is coming from speakers attached to the high ceiling variously staggered in such a way that they seem to be directly overhead of most of the tables. It is irritatingly loud. I find it out of place and Ginger agrees. Of course we don't really enjoy blaring music as part of our dining experience unless it is a pub environment and we generally know what to expect. I wonder aloud to Ginger "Why don't they have some Japanese music playing softly in the background?" Ginger agrees that it would be more appropriate and even pleasant. Ginger excuses herself to go to the restroom and and I endure the music of my youth and even pick out a few familiar tunes and amazingly still recall the artists. When Ginger returns our server, dressed entirely in black, arrives at our table to explain the concept of the restaurant. She introduces herself as Uni and Ginger tells her that we have a teddy bear named Uni.... "No way" she says and "Really a teddy bear?" Ginger and I laugh as we recount how we acquired Uni the teddy bear and another one we dubbed U2 at Universal Studios on a vacation trip to Florida. Uni (the server) presents us with what appears to be a beautifully stained and finished teak or mahogany box of six hard backed books that turn out to be five menus and a book explaining the concept and origin of Nozumi. Each menu, she explains, contains a portion of the offerings.... one for cocktails and beverages, hot and cold plates, sushi, desserts and daily specials. I think it a little bit cumbersome but it is an attractive way to present the menu. I mean let's face it in many restaurants they have separate cocktail menus and desert menus that are brought at various times during the meal so this is actually a different way of doing the same thing.
It's time for cocktails and Ginger has the Chateau Ste Michelle Chardonnay and I order a Sapporo beer which incidentally shares its name with the fifth largest city in Japan.... a little factoid I thought I would toss in here. The drink menu is interesting and offers some very nice wines like Ferrari Carrano and eleven different kinds of sake and seven different sake cocktails. When Uni leaves to fetch our drinks it's my turn to go to the restroom. I walk the short distance to the area I had seen my wife disappear earlier and pulled open a door into the vestibule that separated the restrooms from the restaurant and as the door closed it was suddenly quiet as the music assault from above was finally muffled. I pushed open the door to the men's room and was greeted by a renewed blast of rock and roll. It seems the only place that wasn't wired into their music system was the vestibule. I passed through the vestibule again out into the restaurant and walked over to our table. I told Ginger I was going to look around a bit and come right back. I really hadn't had an opportunity to see the other side and was curious what was different. I walk to the front of the restaurant and peer into the dining area on the right side of the hostess station. I notice it is laid out a bit differently and has a long sushi bar manned by a cadre of chefs making hand rolls and other goodies. I'll bet this is a fun place to be when they get busy. I walk back to the hostess station and ask the young lady who had shown us to our table, "How do you decide where people sit?" "I put them where they want to go.", she says. I don't recall being asked for a preference and shrug and head back to our table. I look across the room and the other hostess I thought I recognized is talking with Ginger and leaves before I get back to the table. Ginger explains that the woman had recognized us as well and had asked Ginger if she remembered her. It turns out she was our server in another restaurant very nearby when we had taken Ginger's Mom and Dad to dinner the weekend prior. She has a personal association with Nozumi and is working here to help with the launch. We discover that they have only been open three weeks and business has been good. About that time our cocktails arrive and we tell Uni we need more time to look over the menu... We haven't really decided yet but quickly settle on two dishes right away... One we picked out ourselves and one that Uni recommended. The first is oysters from Washington and the second is Uni's recommendation of Blushing Geisha sushi roll. The oysters arrive first and they are topped with zest of lemon and on the half shell soaked in a citrus based ponzu. They are creamy and delicious with a Tabasco finish.... very good. But the star of the show arrives next. The spicy tuna with fresh jalapeno and a tempura crunch is out of this world. There is avocado, and spicy mayonnaise wrapped in mamenori, which is actually soybean paper and tastes quite good. Ginger tells me that she prefers it to nori which is the seaweed I happen to like. The roll is topped with unagi sauce consisting of a soy and mirin reduction. It is outstanding and I want to eat it again but we decide to order something else. We next order Sweet Miso Hamachi which is a black pepper encrusted yellow tail served over a sake-soy braised daikon (a large member of the radish family and very Japanese), sweet miso (bean paste), shimejishitake ragout. It's good but I can't stop thinking about the Blushing Geisha. Finally we decide..... actually I decide since Ginger seems to have had enough ... to order the tuna Tate Maki. This is essentially the sushi roll for which I am most familiar. Spicy tuna tar tare wrapped in rice and nori and sliced. We get several pieces and Ginger declares again that the mamenori tastes better. I'm not sure I disagree because the Blushing Geisha was superb and what I remember most about the night. Uni has been the perfect hostess and we enjoyed her service. After we pay the bill we walk to the front of the restaurant and I show Ginger the sushi bar and other eating area. Back at the hostess station we encounter the woman who recognized us and she gives us a tour of the restaurant to include the private modern tatami room with it's remarkable red decor. We ask for a card and email address so I can send my blog and thank her for her hospitality and decide it's time to go home. We step out of the restaurant into only a slightly warmer evening to make our way to the car and home.
I have to say it was a good meal and we enjoyed it. This is obviously a very good chef and his menu is outstanding. Besides the sushi and small plates Nozumi offer entrees like lobster, filet mignon, New York strip and Kobe. There are fun items like the DIY handroll where you get all of the ingredients to make your own handrolls to include a bento box. I even thought I saw a soup that was suspiciously similar to shabu shabu but I could be wrong. Over the course of the evening I grew accustomed to the music and I think Ginger got used to the high banquette. If you like Japanese food and want to experience authentic preparation you need to try Nozumi Japanese Cuisine. Nozumi means wish in Japanese and I wish I could return soon to explore the menu some more.

http://www.nozumirestaurant.com