Wasabi Sushi Bar Opens in Town and Country

West County sushi fans will no longer need to trek to the city for great sushi—Wasabi Sushi Bar Six is set to open in Town and Country Crossing Friday. Wasabi CEO John Kim said he and his partners decided to move westward after guests repeatedly asked for a location near them.

J.W. Lee and Ben Ahn, both local sushi chefs, started Wasabi with its first location on Washington Avenue in 2003. They opened three more restaurants, one every other year, in Clayton, Lakewood, CO and Edwardsville, IL. Lee, an avid skier, now lives in Colorado and manages that restaurant while continuing to work with his partners long distance.

Lee and Ahn recently decided to add two more partners to the growing restaurant chain: John Kim as CEO to direct growth and Jay Lee as the Chief Financial Officer. Together, the four partners have set their sights on expanding Wasabi throughout the bistate area and beyond.

They opened Wasabi Five in Warson Woods in 2010 and will open the doors to Wasabi Six in Town and Country this week. Wasabi Seven will open in St. Clair Square in November 2012, and they are in negotiations to open an eighth location in Colorado.

Kim would like to see Wasabi grow to 20 or more locations in the next five to seven years.

Kim’s background is actually in engineering and international business, not the culinary arts. He is a retired aerospace executive, with 25 years experience working for such companies as Saberliner, Midcoast Aviation and McDonnell Douglas/Boeing. He’s put the skills he developed overseeing millions of dollars in aircraft production into helping Wasabi reach the next level.

“The reason I joined was because J.W. and Ben had a great model. They have tremendous growth potential. We believe we serve the best quality sushi. Period,” Kim said.

Though Kim is not a chef, he is a serious fan of sushi and has visited restaurants around the world during his travels as a business executive. When he said Wasabi has great sushi, he’s comparing it to restaurants from California to Japan.

“Our core strength is quality and freshness. Our price is very reasonable, we serve generous portions and we have a passion for serving our guests,” he said.

One of the ideas that Kim has brought to the table is how to quickly replicate the Wasabi experience in new locations. The first four locations grew more or less organically, but with Kim’s help the restaurant has now found a template and put together a design team. He said that each restaurant will fit into its respective neighborhoods, while also having a common theme. Design elements that went into creating the Town and Country restaurant will be worked into the older restaurants as they need renovations, he said.

His plans for rapid growth do not include franchising the Wasabi name. Kim wants Wasabi to have complete control over each location to guarantee superior quality and freshness.

“It’s hard to control quality with fish,” said J.W. Lee, who has been in St. Louis to help with Wasabi Six’s opening. He said that they are the biggest consumer of sashimi (the fish used in many of Wasabi’s recipes) in the area, and that gives the chain leverage with suppliers.

Lee said that once it might have been difficult to serve quality fresh fish in a Midwestern city like St. Louis, but no more.

“Now I can FedEx fish from Hawaii and get it the next day. We receive our fish fresh every day,” he said.

Lee, who learned how to prepare sushi in Japan, said that half of Wasabi’s menu is unique and has been developed over time by their own sushi chefs. Wasabi now has 25 trained and certified sushi chefs between its six restaurant locations and its catering division.

Kim proudly pointed out that Wasabi has won many awards, like the Reader’s Choice #1 Sushi Bar from Sauce Magazine three years running. But he also notes that they do not take their success for granted.

“We won Best Sushi yesterday, but what does this mean today? Our customers keep us on our toes,” he said. He said that meeting the expectations of their loyal guests is their toughest competition and also the driving force behind their growth.

Wasabi serves sushi rolls along with other traditional Japanese dishes, such as sashimi, tempura, noodles and teriyaki dishes. Though sushi generally brings raw fish to mind, many of their dishes—including some rolls—are made with cooked ingredients or are entirely vegetarian.

Each restaurant also has a “signature” roll, like the Washington Avenue Roll (a California roll with mixed crab and Wasabi mayo) or the Clayton Roll (a spicy crunch roll with seared tuna and fajita pepper). Wasabi guests were invited to create a unique Town and Country Roll that will be served at all their locations. Guests submitted their ideas to Wasabi via email, then the entries were narrowed down to five rolls by one of Wasabi’s corporate chefs. The rolls were created and photographed, then posted on Facebook for voting. Bridgette Emig created the winning roll, which has grilled pineapple, mango and crab topped with salmon, avocado and cilantro.

The Town and Country location will be open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., seven days a week. Dinner hours will be from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. This location also has a reserveable private dining room and a full service bar with happy hour from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Lunch prices start under $10 per meal and dinner runs about $20 to $25. You can see their complete menu on the Wasabi website here.

On the Horizon:

• The West County Chamber of Commerce has a list of useful links for entrepreneurs looking to start a new business. The site lists information on taxes, permits and how to get help from state agencies.
• A report for the U.S. Conference of Mayors recently released predicts that unemployment rates won’t fully recover to 2008 levels until 2014, and that unemployment rates will be at 8.6 percent at the end of the year. The report said that the St. Louis economy is slowly improving at a rate of 2.3 percent.
• Read the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA) magazine, St. Louis Commerce, online, free of charge.