Longtime Hawaii restaurateur Dave "D.K." Kodama is preparing to expand his Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar to the mainland, just as his DK Restaurants group prepares to close two long-standing restaurants at Waterfront Plaza in Honolulu.
Established in 1996 on Maui, Sansei is his first and most prolific restaurant concept with four locations in Kapalua and Kihei, Waikoloa on Hawaii island and in Waikiki.
The first mainland location will open during the fall in a 3,400-square-foot space at the corner of Pine Street and 9th Avenue in downtown Seattle.
"We’re going to try to open before the holidays," Kodama told TheBuzz.
The restaurant will serve signature Sansei dishes, offer a dedicated sushi bar as well as a cocktail bar, and just as in Hawaii, the Seattle restaurant will emphasize local sourcing of ingredients, Kodama said.
The chef is excited to work with the different types of seafood native to the Seattle area, including halibut, geoduck and salmon.
"The salmon will be incredible," he said, noting that while Hawaii gets fresh salmon, the Pacific Northwest has different varieties "that they don’t ship out."
Kodama’s business partner, master sommelier Chuck Furuya, will craft the wine list for the Seattle restaurant, as he does for the other DK Restaurants group ventures.
"I look forward to serving good food and providing good service, with aloha," said Furuya, who also is a "By the Glass" contributing columnist for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
While service with aloha is part of the Sansei culture, Kodama doesn’t plan on beating people over the head with the fact he and the restaurant concept are from Hawaii.
He lived in the Seattle area for about three years prior to returning to Hawaii to open his first Sansei restaurant, and learned that just like in Hawaii, "the people there don’t like change, and they don’t like outside people coming in," so the Hawaii aspect will be somewhat downplayed.
Kodama had been looking for a mainland opportunity for about eight years, awaiting the right combination of "location and timing," he said.
"Anytime you open a restaurant, it’s a risk," said Kodama, noting that Roy Yamaguchi opened one of his first franchises in the Seattle area, but it closed, as did a restaurant launched by world-renowned chef Wolfgang Puck. "It’s such a risk, all these stars, big names … it’s not an easy market," he said.
The Sansei name and Kodama’s local roots and reputation will likely be enticement enough for the region’s legions of Hawaii expats, said Gregg Fraser, executive director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association.
"There are so many transplants on the West Coast that their branding and imaging is already in place," Fraser said. "It’s great for an island operator to expand out," especially given the "global scope of the venues these days. They’re really opening up boundaries."
The HRA is "always excited to hear the success stories of local food service operators expanding to the mainland and abroad to other countries," he said. "Whenever you take your products and services to another market, it also helps to grow your business back here at home."
Sansei will fill a space specifically built to house a restaurant on the ground floor of Premiere on Pine, a 40-story apartment tower.
"Sansei will be the front door for Premiere where the tower meets the activity and energy of Pine Street," said Jeff Bernard, an executive with building developer Holland Partner Group, in a statement.
Sansei Seattle will have a seating capacity of 110 including a small patio, compared with 130 to 170 in his Hawaii locations.
"We are looking to take one of my chefs from here up there. …They know our culture, our systems, our food, and they know our vision," said Kodama, who will hire 40 to 50 employees to staff the first mainland Sansei.
Sansei will bring "a ray of sunshine to even Seattle," chuckled Fraser.
In Honolulu, meanwhile, DK Restaurants will close Slurp, its lunchtime pop-up ramen shop, on Friday, while Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar, as well as Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas, will close after service May 21, as announced May 3.
The company decided against renewing its lease after 15 years in business at Waterfront Plaza, formerly known as Restaurant Row. However, it operates six additional restaurants including the four Sansei locations, d.k Steak House in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, and Maui Fish & Pasta in Kaanapali, Maui.
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On the Net:
» dkrestaurants.com
