Sushi behind a velvet rope? How a NYC restaurant in Miami is making itself exclusive
How to distinguish a new high-end sushi restaurant in Miami: Add a velvet rope.
The New York-based restaurant group behind the South Beach Italian-American restaurant with a two-month-long waiting list, Carbone, is debuting ZZ’s Sushi Bar, a Japanese restaurant in the Design District with an optional invite-only membership.
The Major Food Group partnered with two well-known sushi and Japanese cuisine pros, Masa Ito and Kevin Kim, who created cult following before relocating from New York City to run the new Miami restaurant.
“It was amazing to be able to get them to come here,” Major Food Group partner Jeff Zalaznick said. “It’s so important to find such incredible talent especially when it comes to sushi. ... Masa and Kevin will be preparing every piece of sushi you eat.”
The two-story ZZ’s combines the former Ember and Kaido, two separate restaurants from Miami chef Brad Kilgore that closed during the pandemic. ZZ’s Sushi Bar remakes those spaces into a high-end Japanese restaurant with a private 16-seat omakase chef’s choice sushi bar with ingredients flown in from Tokyo.
An adjacent dining room serves modern Japanese cuisine with an a la carte menu, from raw dishes to cooked plates of premium Japanese beef on custom-built charcoal grills.
The restaurant, which opens the week of April 12 , is the second of five the Major Food Group has announced it expects to open in Miami in 2021. Its name is drawn from the group’s successful ZZ’s Clam Bar (itself named for Zalaznick’s nickname) in New York City’s Greenwich Village, near the original Carbone.
What Zalaznick said he hopes will set his restaurant apart is service — and that’s where the optional memberships come in.
The limited number of memberships gives members access to private spaces, reservations and a concierge service that will know everything down to on which side of the place setting to set a favorite cocktail. The space includes an outdoor cigar lounge, backgammon terrace, and a private bar and cocktail lounge. Zalaznick compared the exclusive service to memberships at Soho Beach House and Casa Tua.
Those interested can send a request from the website or be invited by one of 50 other members who have already been accepted to join. The cost: Zalaznick wouldn’t discuss it. (Read: If you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it.)
“Everything is custom-tailored to how you like things,” Zalaznick said. “You can really raise the bar on hospitality. This allows us to take things to another level.”
ZZ’s Sushi Bar
Address: 151 NE 41st St., Suite 117, Design District
Hours: 5 p.m.-midnight, Tuesday-Sunday
More info: zzsclub.com
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 11:01 AM.
CORRECTION: The restaurant has updated its opening date to the week of April 12.
