T
he décor, meanwhile, was a combination of Asian kitsch and calendars provided by foodservice companies. He was discouraged until he moved to Atlanta, where hipsters sipped saki in time to the Beastie Boys and attractive college-age servers waited tables. He found similar establishments during his travels. Mansoory was hooked. So much so, in fact, that in 2000, he opened Mikimotos Asian Grill & Sushi Bar in Wilmington. Here, servers give a sushi 101 lesson in five minutes or less, and the round sushi bar takes center stage. But cuttingeedge cocktails and a Pacific Rim menu are also on tap. “I was surprised at how successful it was from the beginning,” Mansoory says. Delawareans, evidently, were ready for Asian fusion, a trend that shows no sign of stopping. Consider that Jasmine and Le Shio—both in Brandywine Hundred—and Masamoto Asian Grill & Sushi Bar in Glen Mills also fuse cuisine in a contemporary atmosphere. Potstickers Asian Grill & Sushi Bar in Christiana focuses on EuroAsian cuisine. And one of the latest entries to the marketplace, Padi in Hockessin, combines sushi, Thai cuisine, and Japanese yakatori, a type of barbecue already wellknown in urban hubs. What’s fueling the fusion? “More exciting culinary offerings appeal to a broader consumer base,” says Johnny Cai, who owns Masamoto. “Asian fusion is a culinary art form unto itself. The more diverse and creatively talented the chef, the more innovative and exciting the fusion of flavors.” Elizabeth Shih has witnessed the culinary transformation firsthand. Shih in the 1970s owned a Chinese restaurant on Market Street in downtown Wilmington that primarily offered familiar items. She later owned quick-casual restaurants in Exton Square Mall and Concord Mall. Meanwhile, her husband, Li, noted the sushi phenomenon that was creeping into the suburbs. He went to sushi school and then the Culinary Arts Institute. Hungering for a full-service restaurant outside the mall environs, the couple in 2006 opened Potstickers, the now ubiquitous American term for Asian dumplings. Potstickers showcases the welltraveled Li’s love of different cuisines. The menu offers the familiar Kung Pao chicken as well as clay-pot chicken with Shaoxing wine. Diners will find Thaistyle triple delight—beef, shrimp, and
scallops—and spicy Korean beef. “Spice opens the palate,” Elizabeth Shih says. Potstickers also exposes Americans to Chinese fare made with quality ingredients. The restaurant uses day-boat scallops and certified Angus beef. Since Chinese food has gotten a bad rap for its salt and MSG, Potstickers emphasizes its healthy aspects. There are vegan offerings, and the restaurant recently began highlighting gluten-free selections, such as jalapeno chicken and ginger salmon. Serving authentic Chinese fare is the goal at Takumi in Independence Mall. Located in space formerly occupied by Utage, one of the first Japanese restaurants in Delaware, Takumi is owned by Hideyuki and Jessie Okubo. He is from Japan; she is from China. When the couple took over the location in 2008, they decided to add a few Chinese dishes. “We had a lot of friends and customers who work at AstraZeneca, and they complained that there were no authentic Chinese restaurants,” Jessie Okubo says. “They had to go to New York or Philadelphia.” The response has been so enthusiastic that about half the menu now features Chinese selections, including boiled sliced beef with hot sauce and sliced, quick-fried pork kidney. While Takumi offers Korean beef in a bento box, the bulk of the menu is Chinese or Japanese. From its start in 2003, however, Jasmine built its menu on Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese food. Offering multiple cuisines gives customers a choice, says owner Tammy Wang. The concept also flirts with an Asian-bistro theme that gives chefs some creative license. Indeed, most modern Asian restaurants play with American favorites. Take Mikimotos’ strip steak with an Asian demi-glace or Padi’s “Thai” rosemary lamb chop. Padi also has a raw bar with
oysters and king crab legs. Jasmine’s sister restaurant, Saketumi in Rehoboth Beach, has a menu that’s similar to Jasmine’s, only it beefs up the Asian-tweaked American items to appeal to tourists’ tastes. Padi, which opened around Labor Day, shares the same owner as Rasa Sayang, a Malaysian restaurant in Independence Mall. Rasa Sayang, however, has no plans to incorporate fusion, says Aaron Kwan, who’s worked at both places. “Malaysian food is already a mixture of Japanese, Thai, and Indian food together,” he says. Except for a few dishes, such as the Indian-spiced chicken at Potstickers, most Asian fusion places lack Indian cuisine. “It’s heavier,” Wang explains. The closest Jasmine comes are Thai curries. There are still many restaurants that remain dedicated to one cuisine. Think Saigon, the Vietnamese restaurant in Newark, and Wakita of Japan in Glen Mills, owned by Hiroyuki Maruyama, who once owned Yama, a sushi pioneer in Brandywine Hundred. Jeewong, in the Riverfront Market, focuses on Thai cuisine. And then there’s the veritable Bangkok House in Little Italy. But fusion is becoming far more common. Even the Korean Barbecue in Newark has a sushi bar. Conversely, Kooma—a Japanese-influenced restaurant with locations on the Wilmington Riverfront and in West Chester—offers the Korean bibimbab, which means “mixed meal.” The kitchen combines such items as scrambled egg and beef on a bed of rice and vegetables served with hot sauce. A devout Buddhist, Li Shih every day lights incense to “open the eyes” of his remarkable Buddha collection at Postickers. When it comes to relishing multiple cuisines at once, diners have clearly opened their eyes—and their appetites—to Asian fusion.
“Asian fusion is a culinary art form unto itself. The more diverse and creatively talented the chef, the more innovative and exciting the fusion of flavors.
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