University Heights Scores a Serious Sushi Spot

Soichi Sushi officially opens this Saturday, April 20 on Adams Avenue; reservations are recommended for the cozy, 1,100-square-foot space, which formerly housed Farm House Cafe and Circa. It is the debut restaurant from owner/chef Soichi Kadoya, who started training in sushi at age 16 and has cooked Japanese cuisine for more than 25 years; he spent the last five and a half years at local edomae-style sushi temple Sushi Tadokoro.

Kadoya made many of the improvements to the space himself, including installing new bamboo fencing and a small Japanese garden in the entryway. Inside, a live edge wood wine bar has been repurposed into a gleaming 12-seat sushi bar and counter. The family-run eatery — wife Raechel oversees the front of house with help from the couple’s three daughters — is open for dinner Monday through Saturday.

Soichi Sushi’s omakase, or chef’s tasting, ranges from a $125 menu that includes everything from seasonal appetizers and grilled fish to sashimi and nigiri to an $85 menu that mainly focuses on nigiri. A la carte items are also available, from nigiri based on a rotating list of fresh seafood that includes sweet shrimp, fatty tuna, golden eye snapper, and sea urchin, to tempura, steamed egg custard, and oysters with ponzu; the greens and garnishes for the dishes are grown locally at a hydroponic farm. The restaurant offers a large selection of sake, poured into custom glassware, that is categorized as jizake, or specialty sake produced from small breweries in Japan.

Michael Ly

Michael Ly