Former owners of a legendary Durham eatery now offer guests an immersive cultural experience
By Renee Ambroso | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Like all good things, Yamazushi had to come to an end. The beloved sushi restaurant boasted a long tenure and esteemed reputation by the time it closed in 2023 – though the journey wasn’t easy.
Chef George Yamazawa and his wife, Mayumi Yamazawa, opened Yamazushi off Hope Valley Road in 1986, three years after settling in North Carolina. Mayumi initially found a job as a teaching assistant at Duke University while George worked as a sous chef at Raleigh’s Kanki Japanese House of Steak and Sushi before he set out to open his own restaurant. After its inception, Mayumi helped operate the business and served guests while working day jobs as a Japanese translator. Yamazushi faced an uphill battle from the start. George recalls that, at the time, many Durhamites had never heard of sushi or sashimi and weren’t as open to trying these foods. Still, they persisted, earning loyal customers as Japanese cuisine became more familiar to American diners.
The Yamazawas made a bold shift after 25 years, reshaping the menu into a kaiseki-style offering: a fixed, multicourse meal centered on seasonal ingredients. They also slashed the number of reservations available in favor of providing fine dining for fewer people. During this transition, George endured a battle with cancer, which affected his tongue and taste buds. Once in remission, he continued to pour his efforts into the elevated version of Yamazushi, going so far as to carefully shape and fire the dishes used for service himself.
By the time the couple closed the restaurant’s doors, it would seem they’d earned the right to relax and enjoy the fruits of their decades of labor. But George and Mayumi didn’t aim for a languid retirement. Instead, they turned their attention to a new project that would facilitate more profound experiences of Japanese culture. The Yamazawas now host a few intimate tea ceremonies per season for just two guests at a time in a purpose-built tea room George constructed in south Durham. “The tea ceremony itself is seasonal and a very rare activity,” Mayumi says. Each one requires detailed preparation of “not only the food, but also the high-grade matcha that we usually [travel to buy] from Kyoto, [Japan],” Mayumi says. “These days, matcha is getting scarce, and the good-quality matcha is becoming more difficult to get, so we have to really plan [carefully].”
Most guests book three to four months in advance. “Once the ticket is sold, we reserve our calendar, and there’s no chance of moving the tea ceremony to another date or time,” Mayumi explains. “[From that moment], we’re thinking about how the tea room is decorated, what kind of tea we’re going to serve and what the menu will be.” This attention to detail honors the concept of ichigo ichie, which Mayumi translates to “treasure every encounter, for it may never recur.”
Traditional ceremonies may last up to five hours, utilize charcoal rather than electricity, include as many as eight courses of food and require strict etiquette of everyone involved. Mayumi and George aim to ensure the environment is accessible and welcoming during their informal interpretation of the practice. “I don’t want to make [guests] feel obligated to learn specific manners,” Mayumi says. She and George sit on the tea room’s tatami mat in the customary way of tea practitioners, for example, but don’t ask it of others. The pair simply hope visitors “enjoy the wonderful matcha, the food, sweets and the overall significance of the tea ceremony, which is really focusing on this moment and having a wonderful time together.” Their program is divided into three parts over the course of about two and a half hours: first, an introduction to the history and cultural significance of the event before a light three-course meal followed by the tea presentation.
Japanese dining was the focus of Yamazushi for so many years, but George stresses that this isn’t the case for the tea room. “The aim for opening up this chapter is to introduce the amazing tea and the ceremony rather than [to prioritize] serving food,” he says. Anyone interested in attending should note that dietary preferences or even allergies can’t be accommodated. “We would never ask the tea ceremony to conform to our tastes or restrictions,” Mayumi says.
Some guests have visited Japan multiple times and are familiar with the process, while others arrive with no idea of what to expect. Each encounter is treated with the same level of respect and care. “Tea practitioners [believe] that when you invite someone into the tea room, that’s the first and last opportunity for us to serve that great tea and [enjoy being together],” Mayumi says. The pair have discussed a future transition to a larger location in order to accommodate 20 to 30 guests at a time, or possibly phasing out the meal portion altogether.
“We are getting old,” Mayumi says with a laugh. “I don’t know how many years we’ll be able to do this very intense ceremony.” Their future is uncertain, but their goal remains clear: to plant the seeds of Japanese cultural appreciation in Durham and pave the way for others to explore this specific tradition. They hope Durhamites keep an open mind “and seek more from their end,” Mayumi says. “It’s totally up to each participant how much they can [learn].”
Those who are curious are rewarded with a singular experience that tea practitioners know cannot be recreated. “This particular day, life conditions, the food we served, the ornaments we picked, the teas we chose – there will never be the same gathering,” Mayumi says. “That’s ichigo ichie. That’s the spirit of the tea ceremony.”
