Zen House and the art of sushi in Duluth
Her restaurant just passed its third anniversary in Duluth, and Yasuko Holt feels like she’s still just getting the word out about Japanese cuisine in general and sushi in particular.
“I didn’t know when to start,” Holt says, thinking back to the spring of 2006. “I wasn’t sure if my employees were ready.” Since she didn’t have a base of skilled sushi chefs to recruit from, she had to train her own.
Finally, on June 6, she felt ready. She opened in an unusual location: the back side of an ICO gas station in Hermantown, in glass-windowed bump-out addition that used to hold a fast-food outpost. (That’s why her website is zenhouse-ico.com.)
She got numerous questions that day and still gets them: “Sushi? Isn’t that just raw fish? Is that good for you?” She pauses and explains it again.
Sushi’s main ingredient is a special rice, flavored with carefully made vinegar. Sometimes it’s formed in a ball, sometimes it’s rolled in a seaweed wrapper. Sometimes it has vegetables, sometimes seafood — sometimes cooked, sometimes raw. It might be the freshest seafood in Duluth, distributed by Two World out of Chicago, which also supplies the best restaurants in the twin Cities. It’s all clearly labeled on the menu which is which. It’s a beautifully presented mix of subtle flavors, textures and aromas. It’s low-fat, high protein, fresh and clean — yes it’s good for you.
Then there’s sashimi, which she also offers — thinly sliced, fresh raw fish, including tuna, yellow tail, salmon, ika (squid) and more.
Before Zen House, sushi fans had to make their own. A half dozen years ago, two now-defunct places in Superior, Stillpoint Health, Wellness and Teas, and Mama Get’s, occasionally served it. There was one trained chef in town.
Now, sushi is making inroads. It’s available in the deli of two local grocery stores, Cub Foods and Mount Royal Fine Foods. Holt doesn’t see them as competition and welcomes the possibility of people learning about one facet of Japanese cuisine. “Duluthians are so hard to educate. A lot of people think sushi is just raw fish. Most pictures of sushi have a piece of raw fish on top of a rice ball.”
I am a sushi newbie myself, but I dined at Zen House twice for my former newspaper food column, “A Table for Two” and loved the food on both visits. With a knowledgeable guest, the late Arthur Lockwood, I had sashimi and maki sushi and warm plum wine. We also enjoyed shabu-shabu, a special order entree in which diners simmer raw ingredients (sliced beef, mushrooms, vegetables) in boiling stock, all in a pot kept hot by a small burner at the table. Later, with Gabe Naughton, an Ordean Middle School student, I had the ramen with sliced pork and bean sprouts.
Holt has dozens of other Japanese items on her menu, udon and soba noodle dishes, tempura, delicately battered meats and vegetables, and donburi, a bowl of rice with various toppings. And she has more than 60 other sushi dishes that aren’t even on the menu, available occasionally as specials. “It’s pretty intense,” said a young waitress as she brought us another cup of tea.
Holt occasionally cooks but finds herself running the place, fetching ingredients and cleaning. She considers her cooks to be well-seasoned. Matt Thomas steps in as head cook when she’s out. Frank von Poppen and Hung Tran round out the crew, and another cook is in training. Holt encourages them to innovate. “I don’t like to stick with the same old thing. I like to change stuff.”
“It’s growing,” she said of her business. “It’s supported by a lot of repeat customers.”
Holt says her customer demographic is college students to middle agers, 20s to 40s, mostly, college students, couples and small groups. “Not too many of your Bridgman’s customers,” she said with a quick smile, who like a different type of battered fish on Friday nights.
This spring, Holt considered moving to a downtown Duluth location, to the space in The Village development formerly occupied by Torke Wienachten. But the build-out for converting the space into a full restaurant proved too costly for Holt and the building owners, A & L Development, to come to agreement.
But Holt presses on, based on her experience and more than a little faith. “I know there’s a demand for this kind of food in Duluth.”
