Studio City sushi bar (1987–2012); the warm-rice set-omakase origin point.
Sushi Nozawa opened in 1987 in Studio City, California.
Sushi Nozawa was founded by chef Kazunori Nozawa, who began apprenticing under a master sushi chef in Tokyo in 1963 at age 18 and later traveled across Japan to learn regional fish preparation before opening his own restaurant.
Sushi Nozawa Group (legal operating entity Sushi Nozawa, LLC) was co-founded by Kazunori Nozawa and Jerry A. Greenberg (former co-founder/co-CEO of Sapient), with Tom Nozawa, Lele Massimini, Cameron Broumand, and Clement Mok. The group opened the first Sugarfish in Marina del Rey on June 23, 2008, and operates Sugarfish, KazuNori, and Nozawa Bar.
Founder Kazunori Nozawa apprenticed under a master sushi chef in Tokyo in 1963 at age 18 before emigrating to the United States; he made sushi professionally for roughly 47 years before retiring in 2012.
After closing, the restaurant's team and space carried Nozawa's legacy into the SUGARFISH chain — co-founded by Kazunori Nozawa with Jerry Greenberg, Nozawa's son Tom Nozawa, Lele Massimini and others; the first SUGARFISH opened June 23, 2008 in Marina del Rey, and the original 11288 Ventura space reopened as SUGARFISH in May 2012 and later became a KazuNori hand-roll bar.
The Nozawa name and method continued through the Sushi Nozawa Group: the original Studio City space became a Sugarfish, and the group also operates the omakase counter Nozawa Bar in Beverly Hills, which holds a Michelin star.
Sushi Nozawa itself never held a Michelin star. The MICHELIN Guide did not rate California statewide until its inaugural 2019 edition — seven years after Sushi Nozawa closed. The one Michelin star associated with the Nozawa name belongs to the separate, later Nozawa Bar in Beverly Hills (one star, 2019 California guide), not to the original Studio City Sushi Nozawa.
Sushi Nozawa was consistently top-rated in the Zagat Survey during its run; the 2005 Zagat Survey rated it as having the best food of any restaurant in Southern California, and by 2012 it ranked 14th overall for food.
Whether the ORIGINAL Sushi Nozawa (1987-2012) itself received any Michelin star could not be established; the Michelin Guide did not cover Los Angeles during its operation, and the group's Michelin star belongs to the later Nozawa Bar, not the original restaurant.
The restaurant's defining concept was the 'Today's Special: Trust Me' omakase — Nozawa chose every course and diners had no menu choice — serving simple, traditional Japanese sushi while banning Americanized items like California rolls and spicy tuna.
Sushi Nozawa pioneered an omakase-style 'Trust Me' format: customers were not given a choice in what to order, and the chef served a set sequence of Edo-style sushi he selected.
Sushi Nozawa was located at 11288 Ventura Blvd (Suite C), Studio City, CA 91604, in a strip mall on the Ventura Boulevard 'Sushi Row' corridor; the same address is now KazuNori Studio City.
Sushi Nozawa closed permanently on February 29, 2012, after 25 years, upon Nozawa's retirement; hundreds of customers came on the final day.
Kazunori Nozawa was nicknamed the 'Sushi Nazi' for his strict service code (rules against slow eating, mixing wasabi into soy sauce, mobile phones, loud talking, and seat-switching); Nozawa himself has publicly rejected the nickname.
Kazunori Nozawa enforced strict house rules (no mobile phones, no text messaging, no loud talking, no switching seats) that earned him the nickname 'Sushi Nazi,' a play on Seinfeld's 'Soup Nazi.'
Sushi Nozawa rose to fame after Jonathan Gold's Los Angeles Times review titled 'Code Is Strict at the Sushi Academy,' published January 1, 1988.
In the brand's own first-party telling, Nozawa apprenticed in Japan working 15-hour days before traveling its provinces to learn regional fish preparation, then opened Sushi Nozawa in 1987 to serve 'authentic, traditional sushi in a simple, no-frills setting.'
Trademarks for the family of marks (including 'SUSHI NOZAWA' and 'SUGARFISH BY SUSHI NOZAWA') are held by Sushi Nozawa, LLC, the Los Angeles / Burbank-area operating entity.