A sushi restaurant with a peculiar name is going in at 3043 Olive St., in Midtown. Sushi & ? is slated to open doors across from Pappy’s Smokehouse this Friday, July 10.
This is the fourth sushi venture for married co-owners Kang and Hana Na. They also own Sapporo Sushi in Ballwin, and Hana Na said they hope to change Sushi & ?’s name to Sapporo 2 in the near future. The Nas previously owned two locations of Little Tokyo in St. Peters and in Clayton. The latter was purchased by Wasabi Sushi Bar.
Hana Na said the new 70-seat restaurant will see weekly fish deliveries to create dozens of sushi offerings, including 26 nigiri options, 22 traditional maki (rolls) 14 specialty rolls, as well as Japanese entrees like spicy grilled squid. The question mark in the restaurant’s name stands for a selection of Korean and Japanese dishes, like soondooboo, a Korean tofu soup dish, and both Japanese- and Korean-style ramen.
Na said their new restaurant differs from their previous ventures because it will offer more of a variety of Korean and Japanese dishes and a more extensive bar program to attract college students and international students who frequent Midtown.
“We added some more Korean dishes here and some hard liquor, mixed drinks,” Na said. “The main thing is, of course, the sushi. My husband is really good. He’s the best chef.”
The bar program will feature a bottle beer list including Sapporo, a Japanese rice-lager, as well as local favorites like Urban Chestnut, Schlafly and 4 Hands. Eight sake-based cocktails will also be available, including a sake margarita and variations on a martini and cosmopolitan.
Sushi & ? will be open daily for lunch and close mid-afternoon to prepare for dinner service.
This article appears in Readers’ Choice 2015.