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Shotgun Wedding: Nisen Sushi marries a series of dining destinations within the narrow confines of a former supermarket space
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By Matthew Hall
How do you take a 28-foot-wide-by-150-foot-long slice of space and turn it into an upscale Japanese restaurant offering several distinct dining experiences under one roof-all the while making sure patrons aren't tripping over each other as they navigate a floor plan more conducive to bowling than dining? That's the challenge Horst Design International faced in transforming a 6,000-square-foot oblong space sliced out of a former supermarket into the tony, 75-seat Nisen Sushi restaurant.
Nisen Sushi is the vision of chef Tom Lam. Nisen is the Japanese word for the year 2000, which is when Lam opened his first restaurant of the same name in Commack, N.Y. For his second, Lam teamed up with a new business partner, Robert Beer, to secure this difficult but prime location in the Woodbury Village shopping center, Woodbury, N.Y. (The shopping complex housing the restaurant is also home to two posh Italian eateries, a high-energy Latino hotspot and an upmarket kosher deli.)
To make their mark in this crowded field and maximize their market reach, Nisen Sushi's partners asked the Horst design team to create not just one restaurant, but a series of well-defined destinations: an entry/vestibule, reception area, lounge/bar, sushi bar and main dining area. The goal was a dynamic and energetic scene.
"The local customer base comes from a very high-income demographic," says Doug Horst, president and creative director of the eponymous Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.-based design firm. "This target audience, with a core age range of 30 to 45, is highly sophisticated and frequents Manhattan eateries and clubs. They're familiar with and seek out the highest levels of dining experiences."
To create the right environment, Horst used the physical constraints of the space's dimensions as the starting point for the design solution. "That narrow configuration meant we had to organize the spaces within it in a ‘shotgun' layout, with access to each space flowing straight through from the previous area," he says.
To balance this logistical directive with the owners' desire for a multifaceted but consistently luxe experience, Horst and his design team began by installing a series of 5-foot-wide arches to establish visual continuity. With their wave-like undulations, these arches subtly define various areas within the space, while visually guiding patrons from one zone to the next.
Also serving to unify the space is the use of a layered ceiling throughout. The ceiling, consisting of Zebrawood floating panels, helps modulate the lighting effects designers created within the various zones, while also deadening noise.
The distinctive experiences begin to unfold as soon as patrons enter. Their first glimpse of Nisen's interior is a vestibule highlighted by a wall display of the more than 75 sake bottles/brands available on the menu. "Typically, vestibules are strictly utilitarian. We chose to put the sake bottles there to create an instant brand statement for the space right at the front door," Horst notes.
Next is a lightly colored, spa-like reception area. Horst and his team reiterate the sake reference on a big scale-this time in barrels rather than bottles. They pump up the design statement with an Asian-style chandelier suspended by aircraft cable and illuminated by low-voltage halogens. Then, they allow for a mood shift in the lounge/bar, where hints of the sea are reflected by a waving, sunset-colored gypsum panel finish that runs the length of the tall wall on one side.
The back half of the space is devoted to the sushi bar and the main dining room. A hanging beaded screen helps separate those two spaces from the lounge, while still allowing accessibility and visibility.
So what did designers do to keep patrons from jostling each other while transiting the various zones within the space? The key, says Horst, is flexibility in the placement of its covers. "All seating and tables are removable and re-organizable, so they can be adjusted to reflect the crowd density at any given time," he explains.
It took 17 weeks to build out the Nisen Sushi space. Horst says the owners have asked him not to disclose the project's budget, but characterized it as "limited, in relationship to other projects of its type."
Since opening in December of last year, Horst says the restaurant has been running at full capacity virtually every night. Helping to drive that traffic were several rave restaurant reviews that also included prominent mention of Nisen Sushi's aesthetic appeal. For example, Newsday, Long Island's largest daily newspaper, characterized Nisen Sushi as "sharp-both to see and to eat," while The New York Times called it "a hip Manhattan-style hot spot with drop-dead good looks."
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