Inside Wegmans’ Upscale Japanese Restaurant in NYC

When Wegmans opened its first New York Metropolis location in 2023, buyers started lining up at 2:30am. The grocery retailer, now with 112 places throughout the East Coast, has a faithful following for its accessible pricing, high-quality ready meals, and wonderful customer support. And as of at present, Wegmans followers can rejoice over a brand new idea: a high-end Japanese restaurant.

Subsequent Door, positioned inside Wegmans Astor Place, is predicated on its restaurant of the identical title on the unique Rochester, New York outpost. The menu is a collaboration amongst cooks Kazuya Matsuoka, Oliver Lange, and John Emerson. “You’ll see many favorites from Rochester on our Astor Place menu, alongside many new dishes that we’re enthusiastic about,” says Matsuoka. 

The restaurant is something however your typical grocery retailer meals courtroom. The design is lush, with golden hues, a marble sushi bar, customized mosaics, and velvet banquettes. There’s Champagne, tableside service, and loads of caviar. Nevertheless, the main target of the menu is undoubtedly the sushi. 

Wegmans grocery retailer has lengthy been identified for its premium sushi bar and seafood counter, that includes fish flown in from Tokyo’s Toyosu Fish Market, the biggest fish market on the planet. “We now have the benefit of Wegmans’ longstanding provider relationships — as an illustration, direct entry to the Toyosu Fish Market — permitting us to supply among the freshest and highest high quality elements out there,” says Oliver. “At Subsequent Door, we carry the identical dedication to ingredient high quality that has at all times been on the coronary heart of Wegmans.”

In fact, all this decadence doesn’t come low-cost. Whereas a nine-piece assorted nigiri set at Wegmans market prices $16, the “chef’s alternative,” nine-piece nigiri variation at Subsequent Door is priced a lot larger at $72. Granted, the fish tastes brisker and is offered on stunning plates, with the nigiri served on a big, rectangular stone. Past that, premium menu objects reminiscent of uni sea urchin will value you as a lot as $42 for 2 items; in the meantime, simply two miles downtown, Nobu serves the identical for $18 apiece.

Along with the uncooked seafood program, which incorporates oysters, sashimi, nigiri, specialty maki rolls, and tartare, Subsequent Door additionally provides ribeye, Tokyo-style tenderloin, and A5 Japanese wagyu, all cooked on a robata grill. Their extra reasonably priced vegetable dishes (all underneath $20) are shocking highlights; specifically, the baked candy potato mashed with black garlic ponzu butter and served with candy potato chips for dipping. Throughout my current go to to Subsequent Door, I observed extra tables with the candy potato than with the “chef’s particular” signature platter — a seafood tower of types, that includes oyster, king salmon pâté, lobster, and Hokkaido scallops. 

Contemplating the worth and the upscale environment, Subsequent Door appears like a special day spot. Nevertheless, the Wegmans crew hopes their Astor Place restaurant turns into a staple of the neighborhood — a restaurant that buyers can wander into after selecting up their produce, maybe drawn in by the mysterious, giant golden doorways positioned on to the proper of the grocery retailer’s exit. For now, when you’re curious about eating at Subsequent Door, it’s in all probability finest to make a reservation upfront. Given how hyped Wegmans’ followers get, it’s seemingly {that a} desk at Subsequent Door shall be tough to safe.