Vine Opens in Former Caffé Swish Location

Sushi swished back into Morningside Heights on Tuesday afternoon, when Vine Sushi & Sake Bar opened its doors to customers. But bubble tea and other Thai favorites were not included in the exclusively Japanese menu, which aims to fill the void left by Caffe Swish.

Vine is located on Broadway between 115th and 116th Streets, a block largely covered by student traffic. It sports a similar interior design to the former Caffe Swish—an Asian fusion restaurant located at that storefront before it was shut down in January—but the kitchen has been completely renovated.

“It needs to be different to prepare Japanese food instead of Thai food,” Raymond Ho, the manager, said, explaining that the motivation behind the change was a desire to make the food “more professional, more concentrated.”

Out of the new kitchen comes a wide assortment of sushi, sashimi, teriyaki, and curries.

Vine’s chef, known simply as Mr. Fujisa, previously worked for Tomo—the Japanese restaurant three blocks south which closed three weeks ago due to alleged rent issues—according to Ollie’s manager Frank Chang and former Swish employees.

Vine will be “very high class, very nice,” and is essentially “taking over Tomo’s business,” Chang said.

Swish and Tomo were both owned by Tsu Y. Wang, who now owns Vine and Ollie’s. Three weeks ago, allegations of unfair labor practices such as sub-minimum wages culminated in a strike outside Tomo just days before its closing.

But Vine has already attracted a steady flow of sushi-craving students and locals. At lunchtime on Wednesday, some even left in frustration after waiting in a line that extended to the doorway.

“During this time, we expect it to be very busy. There is good business now,” Ho said. But come summer, “once students leave, it might get really slow here.”