New York has no shortage of sushi restaurants. The city is saturated with everything from high-end omakase bars where you can spend close to an entire paycheck in one seating to neighborhood spots dishing out colorful rolls. Well, a new sushi trend is popping up across NYC called temaki(aka hand rolls), which are cone-shaped rolls of seaweed stuffed with rice and fish, and they’re too good to pass up. Here are five great places to try this trendy Japanese-inspired dish.
If you’re a sushi lover, you’ll probably recognize the name Sushi Nozawa, the restaurant group responsible for cult-favorite spot Sugarfish. Those same people also opened KazuNori, a trendy hand roll bar in the Nomad area. The all-day eatery is open until 10 p.m. or later every night of the week, and you’ll almost always find it packed. Sit down at the chef’s counter and order one of the set menus that include three to six hand rolls, like yellowtail, lobster and bay scallops, each wrapped in a blanket of rice and tightly enveloped in a cone of crispy nori.
15 W. 28th St.; handrollbar.com
Just across the street from KazuNori, Bondi Sushi is a similar concept. Bondi does a big takeout operation of cut sushi roll sets, but the restaurant also makes some great hand rolls that are only available if you’re dining in. We like to sit at the bar and order the set menu that comes with four hand rolls (you pick your fillings from the choices that include spicy scallops, yellowtail and jalapeño, and blue crab, to name just a few). At $18, it’s one of the most filling and affordable sushi options around.
6 W. 28th St.; bondisushi.com
Ever since it opened this fall, Nami Nori has been the talk of the town…or of the West Village at least. The temaki are served open-style, sort of like sushi tacos. Crescent-shaped sheets of seaweed are topped with white rice and a variety of toppings as simple as fatty toro and scallion or as complex as crispy lobster tempura, yuzu aioli and frisée lettuce. The kitchen also offers a bunch of hot items, like shishito peppers and spicy tuna over crispy rice. While it’s possible to have a very affordable meal here, it’s also easy to rack up a big bill if you’re tempted by ingredients like uni, truffle and caviar.
33 Carmine St.; naminori.nyc
DomoDomo is one of those rare restaurants that work perfectly for just about any occasion: a casual date night, a fun group dinner or impressing a friend who is visiting from out of town. The vibe is lively and chic, the sushi is high quality and the prices won’t scare you away like many of the city’s omakase spots. There are lots of options, but we always find ourselves drifting toward the hand roll portion of the menu. The barbecue egg or miso black cod are great choicesfor those who aren’t crazy about raw fish, the spicy tuna is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and the uni and Wagyu is a real treat-yourself dish.
140 W. Houston St.; domodomonyc.com
Daigo Hand Roll Bar serves fresh, perfectly crafted temaki from a single stall in downtown Brooklyn’s Dekalb Market Hall. The chef hails from Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island that is known for its incredible seafood. From behind the counter, he artfully fills sheets of crunchy seaweed with fluffy white rice and fish such as delightfully fatty tuna, grilled eel and avocado, and sweet shrimp. Each roll is generously stuffed and perfectly balanced, and just about every item on the menu is less than $10.
Dekalb Market Hall, 445 Albee Square W.; Brooklyn; daigohandrollbar.com
