When their first restaurant began attracting crowds every weekend, John Yoo said he and his wife, Sunny Kim, initially looked for a bigger space to alleviate their customers’ wait times.
After a storefront became available in Northwest Austin, Yoo said he figured that expanding through a second location made more sense.
Hanabi Sushi opened May 3, but the original location, which opened in 2012 and is now known as Hanabi Ramen & Kushiyaki, remains on Anderson Lane. Opening a second location allowed the owners to focus more on sushi and quality control, Yoo said.
“Sushi is a different kind of business,” Yoo said. “Food quality is most important.”
Hanabi Sushi has a menu of appetizers, entrees and noodle dishes. It also offers a variety of sushi rolls and styles: nigiri, with thin slices of raw seafood handpressed over rice; tataki, similar to nigiri but with slices of seafood or beef seared very briefly; and gunkan, in which ingredients are wrapped with a thin piece of dried seaweed called nori.
Executive Chef DongHo Choo said the Hanabi Sushi menu is inspired by Japanese and Korean cuisine. He described his sushi as a “fun style” that mixes traditional elements with modern ingredients.
Quality and authenticity are important to Yoo and Choo, both said. To find the right ingredients, Yoo said Hanabi Sushi sources its seafood from Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, a renowned market that supplies sushi restaurants throughout the world. Hanabi Sushi receives shipments twice a week, Yoo said.
Yoo grew up in South Korea and said his first exposure to the food industry was through his parents’ sushi restaurant. However, before moving to Austin, Yoo spent a decade working as a jeweler in New York City, he said.
“I grew up with them, watching them, [seeing] what they do,” Yoo said. “I think for me it was familiar.”
Choo, who developed a following of regular customers after spending more than a decade as a chef in Austin, also helped draw customers to Hanabi, Yoo said.
Hanabi Sushi
9503 Research Blvd., Ste. 500, Austin
512-795-8666
www.hanabiaustin.com
Hours: Mon.-Wed. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Thu.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Sun. noon-10 p.m.
