Kushibar

You can eat at home alone, right? You go out to be social. Food always tastes better when you're talking and pairing it with the perfect beverage. Steven Han and Billy Beach have loved the experiences they've had in Japan, Korea, LA and New York. They've now brought to life Kushibar, their ideal place to come with friends or make new ones. You can sit on the deck year round, at the beverage bar or right in front of the open kitchen and talk and eat and drink. For hours.

Co-owners Chef Billy Beach and Steven Han

As Chef Billy explains, "In Japan, there are shacks where food is served. Cities like Tokyo and Osaka have their own styles, but it's street/shack food—sate squid, skewers." Steven joins in: "In Asia, when you go for street food, they may give you a bucket to sit on. There are no rules about drinking in public—it's simple. They make good food and you eat it. New York has great Japanese food—yakitori and sake places. I love sake, that's why I started Umi. I've been wanting to bring street food to Seattle and pair it with pitchers of beer. Billy and I realized we had both been thinking about the same concept."

The partners have come up with the concept and a great physical space. As always, Steven's background in industrial design comes forward. He's been involved with every detail. Billy knew what he wanted in the kitchen. "‘Binchotan' means ‘charcoal' in Japanese," he explains. "This type of charcoal is used in a grill that is a foot deep with walls made of concrete that allows the heat to bounce off the surfaces and cook meat from the inside out. It's high end. When you hear that this type of charcoal is being used, it speaks to the level of cooking." The grills for Kushibar were brought in from Japan.

A 75-foot-long blue light box across the top of the deck and restaurant is very eye-catching signage. The street-side deck has side panels framed with wood that can be lifted and locked into place. It's covered and has heating and lights. "If it's 30° in the winter, the deck is not going to be 70°," says Steven. "You may need a sweatshirt, but you won't be blown around by wind and rain." Location-wise, they felt 2^nd Avenue would be better than 1^st. "First Avenue is more trendy," explains Steven. "We are offering a fun, inviting place where the neighbors can bring their families and people want to stay for awhile."

Kushibar's outside desk

The full bar is up front. Further along is the eating bar separated from the wide-open kitchen by a 9" high glass partition. People can watch meat cooking on the four grills. "It's like a sushi bar with the case in front," explains Billy. The downstairs area, off limits to the public, holds their beer cooler, refrigerator/freezer and a large prep area. "This food is all about prep," says Steven. "The real magic happens down here. Upstairs you just see the grilling and sataying."

Wood slats with Japanese writing adorn the dining room wall. "I asked a Japanese artist to do a "menu items" list," says Steven. "He took it much further. It's not really a menu, it's a poem. Every brush stroke is intentional. They're not all even, some are muddy, some are clean. It's a perfect metaphor for what we're doing. It seems simple, but there's so much depth."

They're also promising the "best Ramen noodles around." As Billy explains it, noodles are easy to do if you're not doing them right. "Probably 1 out of 10 people do Cup of Noodles right, even with directions," he laughs. "In restaurants, the noodles may not be the right consistency, the soup base may not taste right or the proportion of soup to noodle may be wrong. We'll get every step right." Noodles are housemade.

Restaurant interior

Billy talks about sendo(h), the idea of respect for food. It's about the entire spectrum from where the food comes from and how it's treated until the moment you eat it. "Using a fish example, it's about the fish coming from clean water, being caught at the right moment, being handled correctly all the way to the point you taste it. It's about your enjoyment of the travel it's made—it's a continuous cycle." Steven agrees. "It's simple. We provide food that's had a good life and you have a good life as a result of that food."

Billy grew up in Japan where he became a dishwasher at 14. He learned how to cook and became a sushi chef with expert knife skills. He even took the blowfish test—at $8,000 it's a sign of the respect his restaurant had for him as they paid half. He came to Seattle at the age of 24 and helped open Miyabi at Southcenter. The head chef at I Love Sushi then hired him. He met Steven there who was working as a waiter. Moving to Sanmi Sushi at the foot of Magnolia, "I stayed a year, but I wasn't moving forward. I had already done that type of work," he says. I Love Sushi called him back. "This was about '96 when fusion really started to take off in Seattle," Billy recalls. "I stayed 3 or 4 years and added my style to the menu."

Steven's brother brought Billy in about six months after opening Wasabi Bistro. "I'm still very proud of that menu; it's still there." After he left, Steven approached Billy and asked him to open Umi with him in 2006. They share the same vision for Kushibar, agreeing that it's all about the cooking. "This type of food is about thought and preparation," says Billy. "I've put years into testing and cooking, now it's your turn to experience it. This style of food is my passion."

"You'll be able to come to Kushibar for years and have different food experiences," explains Steven. "There are hundreds of ways to combine flavors here. People will understand it the more they come. It's a concept unique in Seattle, but the food style has been around forever. It's going to be a fun place to be."

Steven and Billy are already talking about their next place with details taking shape on the menu, interior and furniture. They've got their feet planted firmly in the present and the future: our job is to enjoy the present at Kushibar.

Connie Adams/September 2008