Jason Zhan

Kitchen craft is built station by station, and Jason Zhan’s path shows that plainly. He started as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant in New York City, then as a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant in New York City, working from the least visible part of the line and learning service from the pace of the room itself: steam, speed, repetition, and the discipline of staying ahead of the load. He then moved to sushi restaurants in San Francisco as a cook, where the work shifted toward precision and the habits that would later define his approach.

Back in New York City, the craft tightened further through a run of exacting kitchens. Jason Zhan worked as a cook at Ushiwakamaru in New York City (until 2017), then at 15 East in New York City, Kappo Masa in New York City, and O Ya in New York City. Each post added its own pressure and tempo, building a practice centered on timing, balance, and restraint. The progression eventually led him to Executive Chef at Ranzan in Redwood City, where the scope widened from technique alone to the shape of the entire service.

Since 2020, Jason Zhan has been founder and owner chef of Sushi Shin, the next step in a career marked by steady accumulation rather than leaps. The title reflects that shift: from working inside another kitchen’s structure to setting one’s own terms.

Three meanings sit inside Shin: real, new, and heart. Jason Zhan chose the name for that reason, and for the room it gives him to bring in new ideas and his own style. At Sushi Shin, that idea is kept direct. The goal is real sushi, based on the Edomae style, shaped by Zhan’s own ideas, and kept deliberately not too fancy. The name provides the frame; the counter carries it. In that balance of tradition and personal line, Zhan has settled into a clear working language.