ABOUT NORIAKI YASUTAKE

Noriaki Yasutake was led to a culinary path by his father, a sushi chef who owned and operated the family restaurant in Fukuoka City, Japan. After making his first hand roll at age seven, Yasutake was hooked and spent years cultivating the craft with the family before deciding it was time to hone his craft abroad. At 18, Yasutake came to the US to train and work as a sushi chef by working for his uncle at Matsuba.  

Yasutake moved to New York to work under mentor chef Haruo Ohbu at Inagiku Restaurant (inside Waldorf in the early 2000s). After two years, Yasutake moved to Bond Street Sushi in New York to work with distinguished sushi master and mentor Hiroshi Nakahara. Nakahara challenged Yasutake to maintain high standards and begin competing in sushi competitions. In 2002 Yasutake earned second place in the Creative Sushi category at the National Sushi Society of Washington, DC’s Annual Sushi Competition. The following year, Yasutake went on to win first place in the National Sushi Society of New York’s Annual Sushi Competition.