Say hello to Nozawa Bar, a hyper-intimate sushi destination that refines and redefines Chef Kazunori Nozawa’s signature “Trust Me” experience.

Tucked behind a door marked “Staff Only” at Beverly Hill’s SugarFISH, Nozawa Bar serves pristine sushi in sparse and compact quarters. The space between itamae and diner is never more than an arm’s length.

Nozawa Bar serves a twenty-course omakase twice a night, Monday through Saturday at 6 and 8:30 PM. The cost per person is $150, exclusive of tax and gratuity. Each course is served to all ten diners at once, making substitutions and special requests mostly impossible.

Prior to taking the helm at Nozawa Bar, Chef Osamu Fuji, a long-time friend and colleague of Chef Nozawa, opened Japanese restaurants across the U.S. and served as corporate chef for a number of large hotels.

The Astronomer and I reserved two seats for the later seating on a recent Saturday night. Fellow diners included a mix of longtime Sushi Nozawa fans, as well as first-timers like us. The mood in the room was stiff at the start, but eased into casual banter by night’s end, with Chef Fuji cracking jokes left and right.

The omakase opened with a tangy seaweed salad dressed in rice vinegar and generously topped with sweet hunks of Dungeness crab.