New York diners, fatigued by the crowded omakase scene, are embracing kaiseki as the city’s next luxury Japanese dining format. Kaiseki offers a seasonal, multi-course progression across Japan’s five cooking techniques, emphasizing harmony, restraint, and aesthetics rooted in 16th-century tea ceremony traditions and refined through the Edo period. New openings like Muku, Yoshoku, Yamada, Ikigai, and Jō join established spots such as Odo and Tsukimi, with menus typically running seven to fourteen courses and prices around $185–$295. Chefs highlight kaiseki’s creative flexibility versus sushi-focused omakase, weaving personal stories and non-Japanese influences—like Polish elements at Ikigai—into canonical courses (sakizuke, hassun, mukozuke, takiawase, yakimono, gohan, mizumono). The shift reflects both market saturation in high-end sushi and New Yorkers’ deeper engagement with the broader world of nihonryori.