Two sushi rooms opened on Main Street in Huntington this year, at 255 and 273, only eighteen street numbers apart. Ensō no Sato opened at 273 Main St. on February 9. Oku opened at 255 Main St. in late summer. By September, Newsday was calling Huntington "a prolific sushi town." Farther up the street, Umami runs a five-seat omakase counter at 329 Main St., across from St. John's Church.
The sushi boom is real, but it didn't happen at the top of the price range. The most expensive Japanese dinner in town was a ten-course kaiseki menu on New York Avenue. It closed at the end of August. The two newcomers that earned the attention are on Main Street, and they're priced for a regular weeknight dinner as much as a special occasion. That tells you where to book now.
The $262.50 Dinner on New York Avenue
House of Yoshin opened at 479 New York Ave. in the former KuraBarn space. It was built around a 10-seat tasting room with chef Tadaaki "Zack" Ishizaki, and dinner was $262.50 including tax and tip, with beverage pairings extra. The space took two and a half years to renovate. A few months after opening, the restaurant switched from kaiseki to a more familiar omakase format. It also made Newsday's 2026 list of Long Island's top sushi restaurants. It served its last nigiri on August 31.
Steven Tsang, chief operating officer of WH Restaurant Management & Development Group, explained the closing in an interview with Newsday:
"We had this ambitious idea to bring kaiseki to Long Island when it was up and coming. Unfortunately, at the end of the day ... we didn't take into consideration what the community wanted. I think it was too niche, because it didn't cater to the broader community."
Tsang's explanation is about who the format served, and it raises the question of how often people could come back. A $262.50 dinner is something you book once a year. The two Main Street openings were designed around a different number.
What Ensō no Sato Built at 273 Main Street
Owner Keai Carmen Shi is an interior designer. She turned the old Neraki space into a front room centered on a 10-seat omakase counter and a back room built around a bar. In Newsday's October roundup of the year's best new restaurants, she said she wanted to "create a casual atmosphere for people living here, where they can come daily." She also explained the name. "Enso" is the hand-inked Zen circle, and "no sato" means "in the village."
The menu is priced for that kind of regular visit. The restaurant's site lists three ways in:
- 18-course omakase at the counter: $135
- 14-course omakase tasting at a table: $85
- Kitchen and bar menu: à la carte, $5.95 to $55
Chef Alex Zheng is a 25-year veteran who most recently worked at Nobu. He changes the sushi menu weekly around the best seasonal fish, which can include bluefin tuna, amberjack, jumbo sweet shrimp, smoked ocean trout, Hokkaido scallops and red sea bream from Ehime Prefecture. Beyond the sushi, the izakaya side has yakitori, two skewers for $5.95 to $8.95, along with gyoza, miso-glazed eggplant, agedashi tofu, ramen, udon and katsu. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Friday, 5 to 7 p.m., at the cocktail bar, with any two yakitori skewers for $12 and $10 cocktails.
Ensō made both of Newsday's major 2026 lists, the best sushi on Long Island and the best new restaurants. The best-sushi writeup said it offers "the most reasonably priced omakase" on the list, "but, also, one of the best." At $85, the table tasting costs about a third of what House of Yoshin charged, and it comes from a chef Newsday's critics ranked in the same tier.
Oku Starts Lower Still at 255 Main Street
Oku opened without a tasting menu, and its own plans explain why. Owner and executive chef Jeff Lee spent 20 years in Japanese kitchens, including Nobu and Sushi Samba in New York City, followed by a decade in Dubai. His wife and partner, Kim, told Newsday the couple chose Huntington for its dining scene. "We wanted to create a neighborhood restaurant that people would want to come back to, not just a place they visit once," she said.
That's almost the same goal Shi described a block down. Oku delivers it through the à la carte menu. Newsday's September prices give a sense of the range:
| Dish | Price, per Newsday, Sept. 2026 |
|---|---|
| Miso soup | $6 |
| Pork or vegetable gyoza | $11 |
| Crispy rice, avocado or fish-topped | $17 / $22 |
| Oyster trio with avocado mousse and ponzu mignonette | $20 |
| Oku roll: bluefin, yellowtail, salmon, charred yuzu glaze, serrano | $25 |
| Beef fried rice | $26 |
| Miso blackened cod | $38 |
Omakase is in the plans. "We need the right chef and staff that can be dedicated," Kim Lee told Newsday, adding that her husband wants everything exactly right before that part of the menu begins. Long Island Wave also reported that omakase was on the menu as a coming feature and suggested calling the restaurant to ask.
So far the approach seems to work. Newsday reported that on a Saturday evening shortly after opening, not a seat was available by 6 p.m.
The Five-Seat Counter at 329 Main Street
Umami predates both openings and shows that a serious counter in Huntington doesn't have to be priced as a once-a-year event. In Newsday's feature on Long Island omakase, chef Sean Chen's five-seat counter was described as pin-drop quiet. The writer said it makes a case for omakase "as something other than an occasional splurge," with prices that started at $50 for nine courses when Newsday profiled it. The courses the writer described included a Kumamoto oyster with lemon and sweet vinegar, toro tartare topped with quail egg, and A5 Wagyu nigiri with truffle and caviar. With only five seats, call Umami at 631-421-4726 before you plan an evening around it.
Matching the Night to the Seat
The choice depends on how much of the evening you want to give the chef. Here is how the street lines up, starting with the smallest commitment.
- A quick weeknight bite after work. Ensō's happy hour, Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., with two yakitori skewers for $12 and $10 cocktails.
- A sushi dinner where you order what you want. Oku, where you can make a meal of hand rolls, crispy rice and a cut roll or two. Newsday lists hours of Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, 5 to 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10:30 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 9:30 p.m.
- A chef's-choice dinner at a table. Ensō's 14-course tasting at $85, which works for a group that would rather talk to each other than watch the knife work.
- The counter seat. Ensō's 18 courses at $135 at its 10-seat counter, or Chen's five seats at Umami.
Plan around Mondays. Ensō's site lists the restaurant as closed that day, and Oku's published hours run Tuesday through Sunday. On Saturdays both restaurants open at noon, which makes a late lunch an option on a day when Newsday found Oku full by 6 p.m.
Thanksgiving Weekend Puts a Parade on Main Street
The Town of Huntington has scheduled its 2026 Holiday Parade for Saturday, November 28, in Huntington Village. According to the Town's announcement, this year's parade celebrates the 250th anniversary of American independence. Oku and Ensō both open at noon on Saturdays, so lunch on Main Street can be booked around the parade.
When Huntington's dining scene shifts, we pay attention, because it affects the daily life of the people we work with on the North Shore. If you'd like to talk through what's changing in the village and how it fits your plans, Kieran Rodgers and Team Rodgers are glad to share what we're seeing up close. Schedule Your Private Consultation.
