Mikio Shinagawa

From Sushi Restaurant Albany

Mikio Shinagawa, who, as a painter studying Buddhism in the 1980s, opened the Japanese restaurant Omen, which became a downtown New York canteen for famous figures from the art and fashion world, has died on November 17 in a Kyoto hospital. He was 66 years old.

Located on Thompson Street in SoHo, Omen’s dark wood space is lined with red brick walls and rice paper lanterns that glow as the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis plays softly. The menu consists of Japanese country style dishes and dishes like chiso rice and udon noodles. Calligraphy framed above the tables contains brushstrokes that evoke the Japanese character mu, which means nothingness. It is in this earthly lair that Mr. Shinagawa’s Shrine for artists and intellectuals flourished. Omen regulars included Yoko Ono, Susan Sontag, David Byrne, Ingrid Sischy, Rem Koolhaas, Bill T. Jones and Merce Cunningham.

Mr. Shinagawa didn’t draw attention to his clientele, but there wasn’t much he could do to hide it during New York Fashion Week, when the industry went down on Omen to discuss the shows around a spicy tuna tartare. The restaurant’s fashion enthusiasts have included designers Karl Lagerfeld and Derek Lam, photographers Mario Sorrenti and duo Inez and Vinoodh, and Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani.

Mr. Shinagawa has often pointed out that he never understood why his restaurant became a stage. Maybe its regulars liked to bask in its harmonious atmosphere, or maybe they just liked its miso-marinated black cod very much. Whatever the reason, there hasn’t been much thought about it.

Mr. Shinagawa came to the city in the 1970s with the ambition of becoming a painter. He had spent his teenage years traveling through Europe and India, studying Buddhism and shaving his head. In his cramped studio in the slaughterhouse district, he paints abstract works in solitude.

Although Mr. Shinagawa tends to ignore questions about the precise reasons why Omen has become such a beloved downtown institution, his sister has made up her own mind.

“Mikio was running Omen, but he was also an artist at heart” she said. “Because he had creativity in him, he understood artists. Whether it was Jasper Johns or Richard Gere, they could tell he understood what it meant to create. “

“It was a natural connection,” she added. “The kind of connection that is almost impossible to express in words.”