Many cultures have a long culinary tradition of wrapping their food, and Japan's version of wrapped food is sushi rolls, also known as maki. Maki comes in two main forms: temaki (hand rolls) and norimaki (cut rolls).

Introduced in the middle of the last century in Japan, the original hand rolls were cylindrical in shape. Chef Nozawa introduced the cylindrical-style hand roll to the United States more than 40 years ago, and they were consistently one of the most popular dishes he served at his namesake restaurant, Sushi Nozawa. In 2014, Sushi Nozawa Group opened the first KazuNori: The Original Hand Roll Bar in Downtown Los Angeles, with the belief that the experience of eating hand rolls is something special and worthy of its own dedicated restaurant.

To prepare the temaki, we begin with extraordinarily high-grade nori made specifically for our hand rolls. Nozawa’s signature warm, loose rice is added to the seaweed and is then topped with carefully selected and prepared fish. The crispness of the nori contrasts with the delicate fish and rice, resulting in a perfect balance of textures and flavors in each bite. The chefs serve the hand rolls to guests just seconds after they are prepared for an authentic experience where the seaweed stays fresh and crispy. Because we believe that hand rolls are best enjoyed just after they’re prepared, we serve them only in our restaurants. For our to-go guests, we instead offer cut rolls made with the same rice and fish as our hand rolls but with seaweed produced specifically for cut rolls.