Plum Tree Japanese Restaurant, New Canaan

A fishpond murmurs beside the entrance to Plum Tree Japanese Restaurant, where owner and head chef Hiroyuki "James" Nagata oversees his lunch and dinner recipes. Nagata, whose decades of culinary experience include a stint at one of the world's largest fish markets, rolls and slices sushi. His sushi creations include minced scallop sashimi and the Plum Tree Roll, whose medley of tuna and eel is crowned with a rainbow of roe. The recently renovated restaurant—in business for 20 years—sets an elegant scene, with walnut and cherry-wood floors, hand-painted wallpaper, and doorways arched like Shinto shrines. Outside, the patio’s waterfall emanates the pleasant sound of splashes, like a walrus playing in a flooded basement.