I know, I'm sure Gil would be pleased with such a defensive viewpoint being spewed on his behalf before his restaurant even gets off the ground.

Chef Foy, why are you so angry sounding? Most if not all of us here have been very excited about Gaijin Sushi coming to downtown and are very grateful that there are urban developers out there like Gil. It seems a lot of your anger and criticism is being misdirected at us. I do hope though that Gil doesn't take your motto of "get in, eat, and get out."

You don't have to take it soo personally guys. It's just a rant

Yeah, but against what? Granted there were some comments here about not liking sushi made by white guys, but some of the stuff is out of nowhere.

On the bright side, as I don't get the appeal of this type of establishment, one canna lose me as a customer by being pompous and rude.

On the down side, I have friends who do seem to enjoy sushi. As they tend to view pompous and rude with the same distain as I, learning of the attitude expressed above may well keep them away.

Sheesh

I love Americanized sushi. I work in Leadership. I patronized Gaijin in Norman. I plan to move into the Park Harvey when my lease is up. I stand to be a completely regular customer there. So, I have this to say-

WTH is your post dripping with derision?? I don't know whether you are involved with Gaijin downtown, but if you are, I don't even want to go now. I'm tempted to print out your post and take it into the restaurant when it's open full time to see what they think. I can take my, according to you, unrefined tastes to one of the Good Egg Group restaurants, ass. I can vote with my feet and dollars. "It's business." Just because you feel like an unappreciated sushi scholar doesn't empower you to be a condescending jerk.

Oklahoman
Sat April 12, 2008

Sushi shop owners bring raw talent to downtown

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

Owners of Norman's Gaijin Sushi are invading downtown Oklahoma City with plans to open two restaurants over the next few months.
The first, at the Park Harvey Building in the Central Business District, could open as early as next week. Stephanie Schwartz, partner in the venture owned by Gil Gentry, said they had already chosen a MidTown location when they were approached about opening a second spot by owners of the Park Harvey Building, which was recently converted from offices to apartments.

"It's a beautiful location,” Schwartz said. "For the rollers, their view will be of the new library — and around the corner is the museum, and you've got the civic center down the block. It's just fabulous.”

Skeptical at first
Richard Tanenbaum, owner of the Park Harvey, said he was skeptical at first when his son Stephen suggested the sushi restaurant would be the perfect fit for the building's ground floor, corner spot.
"I don't eat sushi, but we went to Norman, and it was delicious,” Tanenbaum said.

The restaurant, Tanenbaum said, completes the transformation of the half-century-old former office building. He said the building's fitness center and men's clothing store are both doing well, and the apartments are 90 percent leased. Tanenbaum predicts the sushi restaurant will prove to be a popular after-hours gathering spot for the tower's residents.

"I think the residents will just be delighted,” Tanenbaum said. "It's great food, well priced, and it's got incredible exposure on the corner.”

Schwartz said both downtown restaurants are larger than the original in Norman, which she admits is the size of a "tiny diner.”

"We rub up against each other (in the kitchen),” Schwartz said. "We're a pretty close knit group.”


A ‘diamond in the rough'
Although the MidTown location was chosen first, it is still at least 90 days from opening. The site, at 1201 N Walker, is a former gas station with an unusual atrium that is being renovated as part of Greg Banta's MidTown Renaissance development.
Banta said the exterior and interior improvements are close to completion and the building should be ready for occupancy this summer. Like other old buildings being restored by Banta,

"Being a former gas station, it had its own challenges,” Banta said. "But it's getting there. They are diamonds in the rough.”


Who would eat there?
Schwartz said that despite the close proximity between the two new restaurants, she expects them to have different customer bases and different peak hours.
The Park Harvey location, she said, will enjoy a clientele of lawyers, judges and bankers thanks to its proximity to the Oklahoma County Courthouse and some of downtown's Class A office towers. "We're hoping to get a lot of the legal and banking community in for lunch and for those wanting a meal in a lively atmosphere.”

The MidTown restaurant, she added, will likely be more of a dinner attraction for residents of nearby Heritage Hills and Mesta Park.

But both restaurants, she said, have great street views and will be adorned with glass sculptures created by Craig Clingan at Norman's Ring of Fire Studio. Schwartz said the atrium area of the MidTown location will be an attraction of its own.

"That was the selling feature,” Schwartz said. "That room is just beautiful. It will be lovely when it's complete.”

when this joint is going to open. ?

as soon as they get a permit from what I understand. The city is holding it up as usual.

Tuesday is the goal I was told.

Nope, tomorrow they are opening. I went by tonight and the signs on the door and window say opening tomorrow!

Just because a sushi house is owned and operated by a Japanese family doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing around or more "authentic". Although, I do have a fetish for the folks over at Tokyo House, I certainly don't have any misconceptions regarding the reality of their past or abilities. In other words, if you think that the Asian dude preparing your meal grew up in a rice patty learning how to play with fish his whole life and would love to do nothing else than show you what all those old, archaic lessons have taught him, then you need a wake-up call. It's 2008. Most consumers, especially in the Midwest, can't afford to be entertained by a traditionally trained sushi chef who spent at least seven years training for something that most westerners would never appreciate or pay for.

Thank you, Chef Foy, for taking the time to respond.

While I've yet to dine at one of your fine eateries, I must say that you are a keen businessman. No doubt that if you were to attempt to pull off an ethnic restaurant in Oklahoma City, Japanese is certainly the dish. As there is an obvious lack of a Japanese community in Indian Territory, how is one to know if the food is truly authentic....or even close to standard. What do we know?

Yes, we're well aware that the token Asian serving California rolls at Sushi Neko probably knows slightly more about chutaro than the white boy, token English teacher in Yokohama lecturing on about conditionals. But you gotta play the race card Buddha dealt ya sometimes, know what I mean?

Where abouts in Japan did you study?

SWEET! I might try to go to lunch there today and I'll report back.

It was good. Def some first-day confusion, but that's to be expected. There seemed ot be a nice lunch rush. I thought the food was great and well-priced, not to mention it was kinda fun to watch downtown bustle by while taking my lunch. OKCMALLEN RECOMMENDED!

I'm curious....where does the fish served in these Oklahoma City restaurants come from? Is it local? I was surprised to see how much fish we import from Vietnam and Korea but surely it doesn't reach here in OKC or does it? I have no idea.

My friend Todd Mikeman owns a restaurant in Kansas that receives their fish from the coast via DHL overnight....

I drove by there today around 12:15 and it was packed. It looked very nice. I'm glad someone took the risk in opening up a place like this downtown. I think it'll be successful.

Had a meeting at the downtown library tonight, when we were done at about 7pm, looked like Gaijin was still hopping. It sure does bring a fresh/crisp bright ambiance to a usually dead part of the CBD at night.

Had lunch there at about 11:30. Steady crowd came around noon. As others have stated there was definitely some first day jitters, but overall a good experience. The food was great and the prices are right. Its sure going to be nice to be able to eat and drink steps from my door.

I went by there tonight around 9:30pm, there were still quite a few people in there. We were greeted by the manager at the door, who was very nice. He said that they had completely sold out of everything. They had 4 times as many customers today as they expected. But anyway, the guy was real nice and apologetic about it. They are open until 10 on week nights, and I think open a bit later on Fri & Sat.

I came home around 8 and they looked almost full.

^^I've heard from the leasing agent of Park Harvey, they will be open till 2 am on the weekends. Seems doable if it's just the bar.

ate lunch there today, was disappointed.

Pro's / Con's

heard loud sheryl crow, probably radio station 98.1
hoped to hear background house/acid jazz music to create a neat ambiance

furniture was cheap, plain, run-of-the-mill
hoped to see a modern/urban decor, actuality was far from it

sushi was decent, nothing like Tokyo House nor Saii
menu was truncated, not a whole lot to choose from, nothing to separate this joint from anyone else.

wait staff was uninformed,

edamame was served cold,

not enough wasabi and ginger to go around, had to ask a couple of times for replenishments

prices were comparable, nothing too high, no deals to be had

when reviewing, i always try to think of positives to post with negatives, but there wasn't much there to report, won't be going back on purpose.

I had high expectations, as this had potential to be a dope joint. . .

Give it another shot. This is an abbreviated opening. In 2 weeks, it's the full menu, the servers will be more with it, their ordering will be with it. You have awfully high expectations for a restaurant that's had it's doors open like 72 hours.

Please tell me coming next to Bricktown is an izakaya with nomihodai specials!!!!

Man, who could have predicted ten years ago that sushi places would be so popular today. Weird.

^^^ Wow, you have some high expectations. Do you really think the menus are just a piece of paper? The real menus are coming, so be patient. As for the decor... I think it was modern and urban. It's a pretty big space so I'm sure they had to cut down a little on the aesthetics. The staff WAS uninformed, but they probably were hired the day before, so that will change fast.

The edamame was FREE!

The ginger and wasabi portions were comparable to most places I've been.

Try it again in a month or so.

the high expectations were partially derived from Gaijin in Norman. but i understand that I can be critical . . . .

i was with friends that wanted to check out Gaijin Park Harvey this weekend so we went 10 pm Saturday night, they were closed. :-(

Decided to take the wife there today for lunch.

We got there just after 11am to avoid any lunch crowds. We were the only patrons so we took a spot by the West window.

Place looked nice and not overdone. Couldn't help but notice one of their wall sconces was out and one bulb over the sushi bar was dead as well as another in the dinning area - I like when managers address these details before they open.

I also noticed rock music being played in the background - very odd - and even more weird was the bandana'd caucasian 'sushi chef' singing along to Aerosmith I think it was.

The waitress was very attractive,pleasant and prompt.

The menu (yes, it was just a piece of copy paper - didn't mind though) seemed a bit slim but covered all the bases.

We ordered the calamari (awesome! and a large serving), Devil's Advocate (very good with just enough spice) and the Philly (simple and very fresh).

Total was about $25 - which I thought was quite the norm.

My biggest gripe was the amount of time it took to get our food.

We ordered at about 11:05am (keep in mind we were the only patrons) and the calamari did not arrive until 11:30am (was supposed to be an appetizer) followed by the rest of the order within 2-minutes. The waitress did however acknowledge the delay.

We left just after noon and I believe all the tables were taken with a couple of spots at the bar left.

Pro: Great location, great views of people coming and going outside. The prices were fair. The decor was very acceptable, though could be bumped up a notch. The sushi tasted great to us!

Cons: More attention to little details needed (light bulbs, residue on tables, background music, please no more karaoke by the chef. I'd have loved to have seen more professional looking sushi chefs (please, no dirty ball caps). Would have been nice if the manager would have circulated a bit and welcomed guests. And, the time it took to serve the meal was unacceptable.

Overall: We really liked it and would go back.