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A New Home for Sushi and Sake in SoBe

It finally arrived.

The cold.

And along with it comes the need to head for cover.

Preferably to a place with plenty of warm sake...

Behold Bar Tanaka, a new haven for snow crab rolls, bottles of sake and some good old-fashioned South Beach scene-making, now open at the Shelborne hotel.

The story of this maki den begins in a distant land where cocktails and sushi are revered as an art form: Philadelphia. That’s where head chef Zama Tanaka prevails over a restaurant known for innovative sushi: escargots bathed in miso butter, Philly cheesesteak rolls, that sort of thing. And he’s brought that sense of adventure to this Zen 36-seater, located in the lobby of the revamped deco hotel.

If it’s Tuesday night and you’re heading to the hotel’s new weekly party by the pool, you’ll want to stop first at the shiny black granite bar—separated from the rest of the lobby by a screen—for a quick carafe of daiginjo sake or a Heavenly Forest (vodka, yuzu and lime). But if you want to linger, slide into one of the gray booths by the door for a parade of rolls like the Triple Shrimp Dragon (tempura shrimp, scallion, carrot, shrimp on top) and the Miami Hurricane (eel, spicy mayo, avocado salsa).

And you thought the season had passed.