A new Japanese restaurant called n/soto is making its way to Mid-City, located at 4566 Washington Blvd.
The new restaurant will replace the former Ondal 2 space at the end of February 2022. Co-owners Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama first opened n/ naka as a kaiseki dining experience in 2011 and have since been awarded two-Michelin stars for the restaurant. Now, the duo gets ready to open their second restaurant, n/ soto, a California Japanese izakaya focused on market-driven products, led by Chef Yoji Tajima. The concept began during the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to stay connected with each other.
Before the opening, the Nakayamas went ahead and started giving those interested a taste of the menu through a temporary residency at JACCC’s brand new Toshizo Watanabe Culinary Cultural Center. Tajima, who has worked at Yojisan Sushi and Sushi House Unico, helped create a tasting menu that previews the various dishes, flavors, and concepts. N/soto aims to highlight its local Japanese American community by immersing diners in a unique culinary experience
“‘Soto’ means outside in Japanese,” according to their website. “At n/soto, we hope to step outside of the familiar and welcome the opportunity to learn from the bigger world around us. We believe food can bring people together. It opens up new worlds and shapes our understanding of one another.”
