Restaurant Gods of New York

Décor or devotion?

When David, owner of Daigo Sushi Roll Bar, filled out the first eye of the Daruma doll, he hoped his new restaurant could handle the recent COVID shut down. To survive, they needed to quickly pivot to delivery, which the staff had to learn on the fly. It was a big challenge, but that’s what the Daruma, a Japanese doll modeled after the Bodhidharma, symbolizes: overcoming adversity to meet a goal. Once the goal is met, the second eye can be filled in. “I filled out the other eye once I felt that Diago had built a comfortable base of loyal and regular customers,” says David.

In a city where you can find almost any kind of ethnic food, you’ll often find the dining décor to match: statues of Ganesh in an Indian establishment, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexican and St. Joseph in Italian. In many cases they are there for ambiance, but for some there is a larger story about challenge, devotion and the immigrant experience in New York City.

My goal is to capture these ‘restaurant gods’ along with portraits of the establishment founders along with the stories of their relationship to the statue to produce a photo essay with extended captions.