Sep. 9, 2025 By Jessica Militello

A new Japanese cafe and restaurant boasting authentic dishes from handmade onigiri to cheesy pepper edamame recently made its grand opening in the Ridgewood community at the end of August.

Hi-Node, located at 68-38 Forest Ave., joined the busy area of delicious restaurants and cafes on August 19 in the space where Plein Air Cafe used to be before closing its doors for good earlier this year. Now, with new ownership and a new vision, the space has transformed into a cozy Japanese restaurant that has been offering something new and exciting to the neighborhood as the community gets familiar with its delicious dishes.

The restaurant specializes in onigiri, or rice balls, wrapped in rice and nori, with choices like ginshari, a classic plain rice ball, tuna

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