A Clawson sushi restaurant has been named one of the 50 "Best New Restaurants in America."
Food magazine and website Bon Appétit released its choices this week, which included Sozai on the list.
The sushi restaurant is tucked into a strip mall off of 14 Mile, just west of Main St., right next to a Hungry Howie's.
According to the restaurant's website, Sozai serves sustainable sushi, meaning they look at key factors including traceability, fish populations, fishing methods, and farming practices.
"Some fish populations are in steep decline. We must allow these species time to repopulate so that we can enjoy them responsibly for generations to come," the website said.
Hajime Sato, the chef and owner of Sozai, left Japan after a year as an exchange student in Idaho, and relocated to Seattle where he opened a restaurant Mashiko, which is now run by his former employees.
The website said he moved to Michigan in 2019, and decided to open Sozai. It also said he was one of the first sushi chefs to commit to using only sustainable seafood.
"You might savor invasive snails fragrant with sake, incredibly tender abalone (that was too small to sell elsewhere), and lightly fried shrimp heads we can only describe as fluffy—each dish was another reason we can’t wait to go back and see what owner Hajime Soto has sourced next," Bon Appétit wrote.
