Chris Kajioka, who created the buzz-worthy menu at the Vintage Cave as its inaugural chef, will open SENIA Restaurant in Chinatown with two partners.
Kajioka and Anthony and Katherine Rush have been friends for years, Kajioka said, adding, "We’re definitely equal partners" in the venture.
The word "SENIA" refers to hospitality in Greek and is normally spelled with an x, he said. "It’s going to be casual, very casual, nothing like Vintage Cave, and it’s going to be as local as possible," though it won’t be a plate lunch joint. "I don’t know what to compare it to," he said.
"We want people to be able to come multiple times a week," said Kajioka. "We just want to feed people, and we needed (the restaurant) to be approachable." Farm-to-table sourcing has been commonplace in the restaurant industry for years now, and the SENIA partners plan the same practices. "We’re going to get the best-possible ingredients from Hawaii and make delicious food out of it."
The creativity behind the dishes likely will be unique to SENIA.
Kajioka was born and raised in Hawaii and is of Japanese ancestry. Anthony Rush is from Devon, in the English countryside. Pastry chef Eddie Lopez is of Mexican ancestry, born and raised in Chicago. Katherine Rush is from California with a mix of Japanese and Mexican ancestry.
Each chef has what Kajioka called "Thomas Keller training," referring to the chef-owner of Per Se and The French Laundry, highend restaurants in New York and California, respectively. So, each member of the culinary team will bring that training and his own influences to the restaurant’s menu, while Katherine Rush runs the front of the house.
The restaurant will have a feature commonly identified with sushi bars: a chef’s counter, which seats eight, where customers will be served "omakase" style, or dishes of the chef’s choosing. The seating will overlook the kitchen, so diners will "get the whole experience of seeing what we do. It will be interactive," Kajioka said.
The chef’s counter menu will be prix fixe and presented in "more of a tasting menu format," he said. The menu is likely to change every day. "When you cook for that little bit of people, you can be more in-the-moment, more spontaneous," he said.
Seats at the chef’s counter will be available by advance reservation, and "hopefully, fingers crossed, we’ll have that sold out every night," Kajioka said.
SENIA will be open for lunch and dinner six days a week and be closed on Sundays. Lunch prices likely will run from $15 to $20, with dinners ranging from $40 to $45, while pricing for the chef’s counter will run higher. Total seating capacity could be up to 50 people including the chef’s counter, he said, adding that the design process still is underway.
The lease for the 1,900-square-foot restaurant, at 75 N. King Street next to The Pig and the Lady, was signed over the weekend. It will be in the former Concord Trading Co. space. You might not remember the company name, but you might remember the merchandise: Its storefront windows were lined with very tall ceramic and porcelain vases and similar items.
The building is historic, having been built in 1887, "a year after the fire of 1886," said owner Ed D’Ascoli, founder of Xcel Wetsuits, who bought the building earlier this year. "Yim Quon, a prominent businessman of his day and (later) president of the United Chinese Society in 1900 … built three structures which included 83, 75 and 69 N. King," D’Ascoli said, citing extensive research he obtained.
"Our feeling is that since the building was developed over 115 years ago, we would like to honor the person who made that happen, and will call it the Yim Quon Building," D’Ascoli said. Kajioka had been scouting locations for about a year. "I love what’s going on in Chinatown, and a lot of that has to do with Andrew Le (of The Pig and the Lady), Lucky Belly and Livestock Tavern. There’s a lot of young energy to Chinatown," he said.
The SENIA space also has familial significance to Kajioka, as his late great-uncle Henry Thom and great-aunt Nancy Thom owned and operated a sporting goods store in that location for many years, Kajioka said. "My mom used to work there during the summers," he said.
"Even more so, when I knew that, it just felt right to me."
Kajioka is presently in New York, as he and partner Anthony Rush have been invited by Food & Wine magazine to preview SENIA Restaurant on Sunday and Monday at its exclusive Chef’s Club restaurant in Manhattan.
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
