Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar Seattle will open for pau hana, dinner and apres-theater service Sunday, cementing the mainland expansion of the Sansei restaurant chain established by Hawaii chef and restaurateur Dave “D.K.” Kodama.
Kodama started his food-service industry career in Seattle as a bartender in 1979, working there for three years before returning to Hawaii to launch his own restaurant empire.
The Seattle outpost of Sansei is at the base of Premiere on Pine, an upscale, 40-story downtown apartment tower at the corner of Pine Street and 9th Avenue, across the street from the Paramount Theatre, a 2,800-seat performing arts venue.
“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 tower developer Holland Partner Group, in the May statement announcing the restaurant’s expansion.
It was to have opened in the fall, according to the May announcement, but “there’s a lot of construction going on in Seattle,” Kodama said, bogging down the permitting process and “making labor and supplies not easily accessible.” Mainly, though, slow permitting pushed the opening back, Kodama said.
Now, though, the restaurant “looks great,” he said.
The 3,500-square-foot restaurant was designed to have a contemporary, clean and upscale vibe by Seattle-based CLO Design. Among its projects are restaurant, hotel and retail work in the Pacific Northwest, Japan, Hong Kong and the Makaha Resort & Conference Center.
The construction now done, Sansei started moving in Thursday and started getting deliveries Friday, “and we’re still getting deliveries,” Kodama said.
The chef said he is excited about the “amazing” range of seafood available in the area, “both finfish and shellfish.”
Sansei Seattle will serve Kodama’s signature “New Wave Sushi” and contemporary Japanese-based dishes that have made the four Sansei restaurants a success in Hawaii. He opened the first one in Kapalua in 1996 and has expanded the concept to Kihei, Maui; Waikoloa on Hawaii island; and Waikiki. His other restaurants are Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar at Waterfront Plaza in Honolulu, and d.k Steak House at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa.
Chuck Furuya, D.K. Restaurants’ master sommelier and “By the Glass” contributing columnist for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, has created a wine list for the restaurant, “small” for now, “but we’ll grow from there,” Kodama said.
In keeping with the de rigueur local-sourcing movement, Kodama will gather not only food, but many of the Sansei Seattle bar’s potent potables from the local area.
Sansei Seattle will have sake on tap, draft beers from around the area, “and there are some awesome distillers in the area,” so the restaurant’s bar also will offer local whiskey, gin and vodka, he said.
“There are a lot of great restaurants here,” Kodama said, noting Seattle’s vibrant restaurant scene.
Among them is The Carlile Room, a neighboring restaurant and lounge owned and operated by prolific Seattle chef and restaurateur Tom Douglas.
“We’ve invited him” to mock dinner services and the grand opening, Kodama said, though the two have not yet met. Furuya knows him well, though, he added.
The Sansei Seattle staff of about 45 employees includes a handful from Hawaii and with Hawaii ties, including staff from Sansei restaurants in Hawaii.
