The Sumo Champion’s Second Act
Kazutomo Matsuoka was barely a teenager when recruiters pulled him into the secret world of Japanese sumo wrestling. He came from Kumamoto with nothing but determination and a desperate hope — his mother and father had both disappeared, and he believed that becoming famous might help his mother find him. Eventually, she did. By then, however, Tora-san (as everyone called him) had already risen to sumo’s top ranks. His forearms had grown as thick as most people’s calves.
In 1986, The New York Times ran a profile titled “From Sumo to Sushi,” documenting his remarkable second career behind a sushi bar. At that point, he’d already launched a catering company in Manhattan with his wife Lynn. She was an American artist who had spent years documenting sumo wrestlers and Kabuki actors in Japan. Her paintings would eventually hang in the Sumo Museum in Tokyo. Meanwhile, his knife skills would eventually transform dining on the East End.
In 1994, Tora-san and restaurateur Jeff Resnick opened Sen in a 120-year-old building on Main Street in Sag Harbor. It became the village’s first Japanese restaurant. Thirty years later, it remains among the most beloved — and most difficult reservations to secure in peak season.
The Meaning of Sen
The Japanese word “sen” resists easy translation. At its simplest, it means one thousand. In other contexts, it describes a battle or competition. But the name also carries deeper resonance drawn from ancient martial arts teachings: a comprehensive yet subtle thoughtfulness. Essentially, it means anticipating what others want before they know it themselves.
This philosophy of intuitive hospitality defines everything about the restaurant. You feel it the moment you enter — amber lighting warming copper-capped wood beams, hand-painted walls embedded with rock, and the horseshoe-shaped sushi bar commanding the center of the room. Although the space has expanded over the years from a dozen seats to nearly a hundred, the intimacy persists. Consequently, the chefs behind the bar still cut every piece of sushi to order. Additionally, the sake selection remains the largest in the Hamptons, curated by a certified sommelier who is one of fewer than 100 on the entire East Coast.
Sen operates 362 days a year — closed only for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and employee appreciation day. In a region where restaurants vanish after Labor Day like migrating birds, this commitment to year-round service has built something rare: genuine community.
The Next Generation
Tora-san passed away in December 2023 at age 75. His obituary in 27 East described him as “a giant among men” whose stoic and peaceful nature befitted someone larger than life. He left behind two sons — Toranosuke “Tora” and Ryunosuke “Jesse” Matsuoka. For years, they had been running Sen alongside their father. Now they helm a small restaurant empire called Tip Top Hospitality.
Jesse’s path to the restaurant business started early. Born in Manhattan, he was raised in Tokyo, Hawaii, and Sag Harbor. As a kid, he began washing dishes in Sen’s kitchen. By his early teens, he was all-in — working up from sous chef to head chef while studying under the sushi masters his father had hired. Then during the off-season, he headed to Japan to work under other talented toques.
Around age 24, Jesse undertook a four-month stint that nearly broke him. He worked a high-end hotel restaurant from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Afterward, he worked alongside a respected fishmonger from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. That meant three hours of sleep a night for months. “It was rough,” he told Southforker, “but one of my most educating experiences, and truly building of the soul and skills.”
He returned to Sag Harbor as a trained chef and, eventually, a certified sake sommelier. This distinction requires a nine-hour test that includes blind identification of alcohol percentage, style, and name while actually consuming the sake. (There is no spittoon with sake.) Notably, Jesse is the only person on Long Island with these qualifications and one of fewer than 100 on the East Coast. Furthermore, he founded the American Sake Society.
The Restaurant That Never Sleeps
The Matsuoka brothers understand something fundamental about the Hamptons: summer success is table stakes. Instead, the real test is winter.
“Everyone can make it in the summertime here,” Jesse told Dan’s Papers. “You can sell ice to an Eskimo. The issue is how well you execute in the offseason, and that’s where we have thrived.”
What Sen makes in one summer day equals one week’s winter sales. The math is brutal — a 75 percent drop in revenue when the leaves fall. Most restaurants respond by cutting hours or closing entirely. In contrast, Sen responds by keeping the lights on seven days a week. During high season, they employ up to 75 staff while maintaining a core team year-round.
This strategy has created loyalty that runs in every direction. Staff members keep their jobs through the winter. As a result, locals know they can count on Sen when everything else has gone dark. The community grows accordingly. “There are so many new homeowners and new restaurants here in the last couple of years,” Jesse observed. “The winter is getting more and more sustainable.”
The Tip Top Empire
Sen is the flagship, but it’s no longer the whole fleet. The Matsuoka brothers helm Tip Top Hospitality, which now operates about half a dozen South Fork restaurants. K Pasa in Sag Harbor serves tacos and tequila. Meanwhile, Kumiso in East Hampton Village offers ramen, rolls, and buns in an izakaya-inspired space built from two converted art galleries. Kizzy T’s operates on Montauk Highway. Additionally, Smokey Buns in East Hampton pairs smashburgers with bourbon. Finally, Manna at Lobster Inn occupies waterfront space in Southampton.
Each concept reflects the brothers’ mantra: affordable, year-round, fun for the whole family. “The Hamptons is too small to duplicate a concept,” Tora explained to the East Hampton Star, “but we looked at the market and thought something fast and casual would be appropriate.”
The formula works because it starts from community rather than profit. Specifically, Tip Top focuses on staple foods executed well — tacos, ramen, burgers, sushi — at price points that don’t require a second mortgage. They stay open when competitors close. Moreover, they employ local staff year-round. They build relationships with landlords and mayors who trust them to enhance their villages rather than exploit them.
The Celebrity Sushi Bar
A historic dining institution that entertains the likes of Alec Baldwin, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Fallon, and Eric Ripert doesn’t advertise these connections. The celebrity placemat isn’t a feature here. What matters instead is consistency — the assurance that whether you’re a police officer picking up takeout or a hedge fund manager in Prada shoes, you’ll receive the same genuine hospitality.
Rachael Ray featured Sen on Food Network’s “$40 a Day,” raving about the yellowtail roll and the Saketini at the bar. However, the regulars know the deeper pleasures: the uni, the hotate, and the unagi hand-cut at the sushi bar. From the hot kitchen, there’s the chicken yakitori and curry katsu. Don’t miss Paul’s zesty marinara on steamed mussels or the steamed buns with citrus ponzu and Japanese mustard.
The sake menu alone could consume an evening’s study. Jesse’s frequent trips to Japan aren’t just research — they’re relationship building. He meets vendors and learns their stories. Then he brings those narratives back to his customers. “When you explain the story of this producer of the product you’re about to bite into,” he says, “there’s something about it that makes that bite taste that much better.”
The Art on the Walls
Lynn Matsuoka’s work adorns Sen’s interior — the internationally acclaimed sumo and Kabuki paintings that first drew her into the world that produced Tora-san. CNN once reported that “few artists so completely dominate their field that their name becomes synonymous with the subject matter, but Lynn Matsuoka has succeeded in capturing the essence of Sumo.”
Milton Glaser called her “probably the greatest living reportage artist.” Her drawings hang in the Sumo Museum in Tokyo and in private collections around the world. They also grace the walls of the restaurant her ex-husband founded. Today, she still lives in Bridgehampton and still paints. In addition, she lectures on sumo as a microcosm of Japanese society.
The art reminds diners that Sen isn’t just a restaurant — it’s an artifact of an unlikely cultural collision. Picture an American artist documenting Japanese wrestling traditions. Then imagine a champion sumo wrestler becoming a sushi master. Their sons now build a hospitality empire in a whaling village on the far tip of Long Island. At every turn, the story defies probability.
The Matsuri Festival
For Sen’s 30th anniversary in June 2024, Jesse organized the restaurant’s first matsuri — a traditional Japanese summer festival. The team took over the M&T Bank parking lot in Sag Harbor and transformed it into an immersive experience of Japanese culture.
Taiko drummers performed throughout the day. Additionally, Masayo Ishigure, named by Newsweek as one of the “100 Japanese People the World Respects,” played the koto. Guests tried calligraphy, face-painting, origami, and traditional Japanese games. Chefs showcased a whole tuna cutting with complimentary samples. For VIP guests, a cocktail garden featured a DJ and a traditional Kagamibiraki sake barrel ceremony.
“That’s what we’re trying to cultivate here,” Jesse explained. “This event is an ‘arigato’ to this community for being our home for the past three decades.”
The festival embodied everything Sen represents: Japanese tradition translated through American hospitality, serious craft presented with accessible joy, and family legacy honored while evolving forward. Jeff Resnick retired two years ago, which made the Matsuoka brothers sole stewards of their father’s creation. “This is the 30-year stepping stone to the next 30 years,” Jesse said, “if not 100.”
The Winter Sanctuary
When all else seems relatively sleepy on the East End, Sag Harbor still glows. People stroll Main Street on the coldest nights, drawn out by the village’s year-round energy. Sen is central to that vitality — a warm room with amber light where the sushi bar hums and the sake flows. There, the staff recognizes your face from last February.
The restaurant has undergone multiple renovations, most recently between 2017 and 2018. During that time, the Matsuokas added a full bar toward the back and started serving lunch. They also expanded their catering and private events business. Meanwhile, they introduced a tasting menu lottery during the off-season — a daily drawing for access to chef’s selections that ran Sunday through Thursday from October through April.
“As long as we keep the focus on the basics, all the programs and initiatives and collaborations we do is more than anything an attempt to hug the community,” Jesse said. “There’s no magic sauce, there’s no creative solution that no one’s ever thought of. It’s really about focusing on doing the basics better and loving our guests.”
The Philosophy of Anticipation
Return to the meaning of sen: to know and deal with people, often without them realizing. This describes hospitality at its highest form — not merely serving what guests request, but understanding what they need before they articulate it.
Tora-san embodied this philosophy. A man of few words but many talents, he transitioned from the ritualized world of sumo to the hospitality world. In sumo, every gesture carries meaning and success requires reading opponents before they move. Similarly, in hospitality, success requires reading guests before they speak. The disciplines aren’t as different as they might appear.
His sons continue the tradition. They live in Sag Harbor and raise families here. They understand the rhythms of summer madness and winter quiet. They know which regulars prefer the bar and which need the corner table. Above all, they anticipate.
Thirty years after opening, Sen remains what it has always been: a Japanese restaurant that feels like home, run by a family that treats hospitality as honor. The sumo champion’s second act continues through his sons, his ex-wife’s art on the walls, and every piece of fish cut to order at the horseshoe bar. The locals know your name there, and the sake selection runs deeper than any other place on the East End.
Sen Restaurant — Essential Information
Location:
23 Main Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963
Phone: (631) 725-1774
Website: senrestaurant.com
Hours:
Monday-Tuesday: 12:00pm-2:45pm, 4:00pm-9:30pm
Wednesday-Thursday: 4:00pm-9:30pm
Friday-Saturday: 12:00pm-2:45pm, 4:00pm-10:30pm
Sunday: 12:00pm-2:45pm, 4:00pm-9:30pm
Open 362 days a year (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, Employee Appreciation Day)
The Order: Omakase at the sushi bar, yellowtail roll, uni, steamed buns with ponzu, chicken yakitori, and anything the sake sommelier recommends
Good to Know: Reservations are essential in summer. There’s a full bar in back, plus outdoor patio seating in warmer months. Catering and private events are available. Sen is part of Tip Top Hospitality group (also owns K Pasa, Kumiso, Kizzy T’s, Smokey Buns). Jesse Matsuoka is a certified sake sommelier — the only one on Long Island.
The Family: Founded in 1994 by Jeff Resnick and Kazutomo “Tora-san” Matsuoka. Now owned and operated by sons Toranosuke “Tora” and Ryunosuke “Jesse” Matsuoka. Original artwork by Lynn Matsuoka adorns the interior.
The Philosophy: Year-round hospitality, genuine community, doing the basics better.
