Photography by Kathy Tran
Shoyo and Kaiyo might be the Japanese-dining sisters of Greenville Avenue, but the resemblance stops at the cuisine.
Shoyo is known for its small, exclusive feel. So small, in fact, that there’s only 12 seats in the restaurant, and reservations fill up fast. Dining there rings you in at $175 per person, with a 16-course omakase sushi bar.
Kaiyo, on the other hand, is the carefree younger sister. The restaurant opened in November with plenty of tables and a patio to boot. Sashimi and rolls range from $7-18.
Kaiyo’s chefs are childhood friends. Calling themselves the Three Stooges, chef and co-founder of the sister restaurants Jimmy Park is joined by head chef William Yoon (who was the best man in his wedding) and Raymond Park (no relation but still a close friend) at Kaiyo.
“Without the team, I think there’s nothing,” Yoon says.
The culinary vision at Kaiyo is brought by Shinichiro Kondo, master chef of Shoyo, and Jun Nagayama, a seasoned sushi chef with over 30 years of experience in Las Vegas.
Though their culinary reputation precedes them, Kaiyo’s menu is fun and unpretentious.
“Anyone can push fish over rice and a lot of places do,” Yoon says. “But we want each piece to have a unique flavor and some of them don’t come with toppings but we try to create toppings where it kind of balances out together so you get a good bite.”
While traditional rolls are not off the table, Kaiyo’s little sister vibe flows straight into the menu with fun, “cool starters.”
“The chef needs to know the fish, how it needs to be prepared or how it needs to be presented,” says Jun Nagayama, one of the chefs who helped develop the menu. “Making the sushi part as a chef will be the easiest part. It’s just the whole other knowledge of the fish, the cutting style, or the recipe, that’s the secret.”
The menu starts with the tuna pizza, which features tuna, deep fried capers, red onions, micro cilantro, pickled serrano, yuzu soy and truffle oil atop a flour tortilla and the Don’t be a Bincho with yuzu dressing, garlic chips, para para and micro arugula.
The cocktail menu is no exception, like the Not My Oni One, which features Roku gin, red bell pepper, honey, lemon and mint. The cocktail menu was developed by consulting bartender Paul Ngo (known for his cocktail creations at Victor Tangos and Tiny Victories) and current bartender Fernanda “Cubby” Rossano.
“We don’t want to outshine each other, it’s more about what’s good and what gets to the point,” Cubby says. “Like the food, it’s one bite so you gotta make sure you wow them with that one bite, same thing with the cocktail.”
The restaurant’s cocktail menu consists of over 40 beverages, from offerings including wine, beer sake and custom made drinks by Cubby.
Originally from Mexico City, Cubby has been in the bar industry in Lower Greenville for over a decade. Her creations at Kaiyo encompass authenticity through small details, including Japanese liquor, flavors and Japanese blenders, she says.
Whether you’re there for the sushi or cocktails, Kaiyo staff emphasizes that no reservation is needed. The majority of tables are held for walk-ins, ready for guests to pop-in in front of Kaiyo’s signature mural, created by Brooklyn-based muralist and graphic designer Yukiko Izumi. The mural symbolizes resurrection, rebirth, contrast, flexibility and freedom, much like the new restaurant itself.
Kaiyo 2014 Greenville Ave. 214.484.1888
