1 week Ago By Margaret Littman
Since its opening in early 2023, Noko has become one of the city’s favorite restaurants, receiving kudos from Scene critic Kay West and many Best of Nashville awards. Now the Noko team of John Murray, Wilson Brannock and Chef Dung “Junior” Vo are ready to unveil their second concept. Given that it has just 14 seats (plus a four-seat bar), it will likely be just as hard to nab a seat at Kase x Noko as it has been at Noko.
Kase x Noko will be an omakase restaurant in the storefronts adjacent to Noko in the Shops at Porter East. Likely to open by the end of the year, Kase won’t be Nashville’s first omakase experience. The concept is having a moment in town.
Present Tense in Chestnut Hill, O-Ku Sushi in Germantown, and Sushi | Bar in the Gulch all offer options. But as the team did with Noko, they're taking a different approach for Kase. Omakase, which translates to “I’ll leave it up to you,” is a Japanese chef’s choice offering, a prix-fixe multicourse meal, usually featuring sushi, fresh fish and seasonal ingredients.
It usually shows off the chef’s culinary prowess and offers guests an opportunity to banter with the chef. It’s usually also fairly expensive at $140 per person or more. “I find comfort in omakase in the experience, but not necessarily in the price,” Murray says.
So the Kase 14-course tasting menu will cost $75 per person. The Kase name is a shortened version of the word omakase, but it also loosely translates to “familial connection,” a nod to Kase’s connection, both in terms of ownership and the physical location through the doors, to Noko. Noko’s sister restaurant will have just 14 seats, plus a four-seat Japanese cocktail bar, which is perhaps the smallest bar in the state.
The bar was inspired by Tokyo’s cocktail lounges of yesteryear and will be walk-up only (as opposed to the restaurant, which will require reservations), featuring a mix of whiskeys and sakes at all price points, from a $9 glass to a $500 90-year-old specialty that is one of only 400 bottles in existence. The idea is that folks can stop in for a drink before their Kase seating or on their way to elsewhere in East Nashville for the night. Prints by Dwight Hwang The decor is as thoughtful as the menus.
The team acquired the leases of two small shops next to Noko (one of which used to house Lucky Rabbit Candy Shop ) and designed a refined jewel box of a room with dark wood, glimmering tile and original artwork. During an exclusive first look at the restaurant under construction for the Scene , Murray described an exterior railing designed to block light from headlights in the parking lot. Gyotaku art, a Japanese method of printing images of fish using actual fish, lines the walls along with vintage film photography showcasing Tokyo in the 1970s.
Vo also helped design the restaurant's plateware with the team at local pottery studio Zane Ceramics . The space, with its relatively affordable rent, is one of the things that is helping the team keep the omakase prices down, Murray says. It can be expensive to bring in fish from all over the world, and that’s certainly a cost for the restaurant.
Vo’s menu of nigiri, hand rolls and more will feature seafood flown in daily from Japan, Hawaii, Spain, New Zealand and elsewhere. In addition to wild-caught fish, Kase will serve farm-raised fish. “I think there's a misconception about farm-raised fish,” Murrays says.
“There are ethical and sustainable ways of farm raising fish.” Using some of those suppliers can help control costs. Prints by Dwight Hwang Sustainability from suppliers isn’t the team's only such focus.
They strive to create a good work environment for their staff, including providing health insurance, four-day work weeks and two weeks of paid vacation. Like Noko, Kase will donate 1 percent of net profits to their longtime nonprofit partner Nashville Children’s Alliance , an organization that provides services to children who have experienced abuse. Kase x Noko will be located at 703 Porter Road.
Reservations will be required for three seatings per night Tuesday through Sunday at 5:30, 7 and 8:30 p.m. The whiskey bar will be open on a first-come, first-served basis, Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 9 p.
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