Where to Drink Seriously Good Sake in NYC on World Sake Day

The best places to drink sake in New York for World Sake Day on October 1 aren’t sake bars at all—mostly, they’re counters. Chef Tadashi Yoshida pours rare bottles at Yoshino on the Bowery; Sushi Noz on the Upper East Side sets Edomae sushi in a Kyoto-inspired room; Icca in Tribeca keeps roughly 70 bottles behind its omakase counter; Odo in Flatiron pairs kaiseki with a hospitality group that has made sake a recurring theme; Tsukimi in the East Village builds an entire seasonal pairing around its 12 seats; and Sakagura, the Midtown East basement institution, has been pouring from a list of more than 260 labels since 1996. Six addresses, one very good excuse.

World Sake Day falls on October 1—Japan’s Nihonshu no Hi, the traditional start of the brewing year—but a single celebratory glass hardly does the drink justice. In New York, the most compelling sake experiences invite you to explore it alongside carefully prepared food, whether that means an Edomae sushi dinner, a seasonal kaiseki menu or a conversation with someone who knows precisely which bottle to open next. For an evening worthy of the occasion, start here.

Sushi Noz

181 East 78th Street, Upper East Side

A meal at Sushi Noz unfolds in a serene dining room inspired by Kyoto architecture, where chef Nozomu Abe’s Edomae technique gives every course its moment. Sake is a natural companion, though the restaurant’s beverage pairings also incorporate Champagne and white wine. For a celebration focused entirely on sake, ask the team to help you choose bottles or pours from the list instead of assuming the standard pairing will be sake throughout. It is a beautiful setting for appreciating how a drink can change the experience of each piece of sushi.

Haute Living take: Speak up and ask for sake all the way through. The Champagne will survive without you for one night.

Yoshino

342 Bowery, NoHo

At Yoshino, sake deserves as much consideration as the seat at the counter. Chef Tadashi Yoshida’s 10-seat, Michelin-starred omakase is among New York’s most coveted Japanese dining experiences, and the beverage program offers a distinction even seasoned collectors will appreciate: bottles from Japanese breweries exported specifically for the restaurant. Let the team guide the selection as the meal unfolds. For World Sake Day, the prospect of discovering something you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere makes Yoshino a particularly compelling reservation.

Haute Living take: The bottle you’ll brag about later is the one you’ve never heard of. Trust the pour.

Icca

20 Warren Street, Tribeca

Behind Icca’s understated Tribeca entrance—you walk through a cocktail bar to reach it—is a Michelin-starred omakase counter made for a quiet luxury night out. Its sake collection runs to roughly 70 bottles, including rare and ultra-premium expressions, giving the beverage program enough range to be a destination in its own right. Take time with the selection rather than defaulting to a familiar name: the pleasure here lies in matching an exceptional bottle with chef Kazushige Suzuki’s Edomae sushi and seasonal ingredients.

Haute Living take: Skip the name you know. At Icca, the list rewards curiosity.

Odo

17 West 20th Street, Flatiron

Chef Hiroki Odo’s flagship offers a more expansive way to experience Japanese fine dining through kaiseki: a sequence of seasonal courses whose changing flavors leave room for an equally considered approach to sake. The chef’s wider hospitality group has made sake a recurring focus through brewery collaborations and pairing dinners at THE GALLERY by Odo. Book the flagship for the full tasting-menu experience; keep an eye on the Gallery’s calendar if a dedicated sake event is what you have in mind.

Haute Living take: Kaiseki is the long game, and sake is the ideal teammate.

Tsukimi

228 East 10th Street, East Village

Tsukimi makes the World Sake Day decision delightfully simple: reserve one of the 12 seats at its Michelin-starred counter and opt for the seasonal pairing. Chef Takanori Akiyama’s kaiseki tasting menu changes with the season, while co-owner Karen Lin, a certified sake and wine sommelier, curates the beverage program—the same duo behind the sake bar SakaMai. The result is an evening designed to show sake’s range across an entire meal, rather than confining it to the opening toast.

Haute Living take: The easiest yes on this list. Twelve seats, one pairing, no decisions required.

Sakagura

211 East 43rd Street, Midtown East

Sakagura remains essential because few places in New York offer quite this breadth. Open since 1996 in the basement of a Midtown office building, the subterranean restaurant lists more than 260 carefully selected sakes and serves Japanese small plates alongside them. It is the choice for guests who want to explore beyond a single prestige bottle: tell the team what you usually enjoy, then let the evening move in a less familiar direction. Decades after introducing many New Yorkers to sake, Sakagura still gives the category the attention it deserves.

Haute Living take: The city’s sake finishing school, still hiding in plain sight under an office lobby.

Read More

Still hungry? See our guide to the best omakase in New York City, and read about Masa Takayama’s residency at The Peninsula Beverly Hills.