The Omen A Zen Remembrance Edition
On restaurants, Soho, and a vibe
We got a nice note about the Oman A Zen piece awhile back, so I figured I would re-share the piece. -Colin (CJN)
Hey Colin, Thank you for writing about Mikio Shinagawa (品川) and Omen Azen.
He was my grandmother's friend and business partner; being unfamiliar with New York, he provided a sense of comfort and hospitality to me, the naive college student. He showed deep care and respect in conversation, remembering details of my family and his memories of visiting my grandparents in Japan. He even knew my mother when she was a baby, so it was rough to see him pass. I am glad to see his spirit lives on in writing and through Omen Azen. Thank you again for your post. All the best, Henrik
Colin here. If you spent any extended periods of time in Soho in the past 30 years, there’s a good chance you’ve stumbled upon Omen A Zen on Thompson Street—a discrete, longstanding Japanese restaurant prized by residents. In a city that constantly reinvents itself, Omen has remained a beautiful and non-changing entity prized equally by locals and the high-fashion set.
When writing about Omen’s resonance in the Times, Patti Smith said:
In 1981, assessing the needs of his downtown neighborhood, Mikio decided to open a place where people could partake of healthy Japanese country food. He also wanted to provide a haven for discourse. He took to heart the wishes of his parents — his father was the poet and calligrapher Tetsuzan Shinagawa — who desired that their children promote peace and share the most enlightened aspects of their culture in their ventures.
At the same time, the painter David Grossblatt, who ran the popular Cafe Rienzi, and co-owned the O.G. Dining Rooms, passed away. The O.G. closed and stood vacant. Mikio took over the space, brought craftsmen from Japan and built a warm, spare and rustic interior. Mikio never thought of it as a business but instead as a kind of Japanese salon in the city. The brick walls were hung with the calligraphy of his father, whose elegant brush strokes represented the Japanese character mu, meaning “nothingness.”
Note by note, Omen came into being, attracting artists, musicians, actors and architects. Kyoto’s country-style cuisine was served — fine tea and handmade udon noodles in a rich broth — creating the serene yet spirited atmosphere of Mikio’s ancestral community. Yoko Ono frequented it. She has often shared meals there with her son, Sean.
Through the years, one could find many leading figures in the arts. There seems to be an unspoken rule of maintaining a congenial but private atmosphere, with no sense of celebrity. There are regulars who have patronized Omen throughout its entire existence; at times, one gets a sense of downtown as it once was, a place of kinship, common mind and residence.
When I first set foot in the restaurant 16 years ago, I knew little about the cultural significance and the love for the restaurant. I just felt the gravitas of the place. It is decidedly unshowy, with elegant, simple food, low-key surroundings, and good jazz playing in the background. No one, not even boldfaced names, is overly pampered or fawned over, but there’s a very Japanese baseline of hospitality that hums efficiently in the place. Since then, there have been birthdays, one-off warm bowls of noodles in the freezing winter months, and countless friends hosted.
Why is this interesting?
In November 2021, the world lost Omen’s proprietor, Mikio Shinagawa. In his beautifully written obituary, Alex Vadukul described him as, “a serene, silver-haired man raised in Kyoto who wore Comme des Garçons suits, was its ethereal anti-restaurateur. When the city’s creative stars congregated at his restaurant to converse over sake, he glided through the place dispensing hospitality with the lightness of a friendly phantom.”
What is important about the restaurant is not just the food or the design. It is the intangible feeling that Mr. Shinagawa created. It was clear he was a fan of the arts, he trained as a painter and studied Buddhism early in his time in New York in the 1980s. And, in addition to nourishing through the healthy approach to the food, it was clear he also helped nurture and enable countless generations of artists and patrons by giving them a safe and serene place to convene. He showed a profound empathy to artists, which perhaps could explain the odd, magnetic appeal of an unfussy Japanese restaurant on a Soho side street. (CJN)
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