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These aren’t your typical sushi rolls.
Sushi Roku is Stanford Shopping Center’s latest food addition, and it’s serving “reimagined, contemporary sushi” that incorporates ingredients from Latin American and Europe, izakaya-style bar fare with a California twist and a variety of cocktails, mocktails, beer, sake and wine. Find sushi rolls dressed with yuzu olive oil, white truffle pesto and wasabi truffle soy, skewers of Chilean sea bass and American wagyu beef, and vegetarian options like edamame hummus, Brussels sprouts chips and avocado hanabi (crispy rice).
Sushi Roku Palo Alto soft opened April 20 and will have its grand opening today, April 30. Jason Shimizu is the head sushi chef and has prior experience overseeing San Francisco’s The Shota, Ozumo and Sasa. Sushi Roku Palo Alto’s menu will be similar to that of the other six locations, but there will be unique specials and drinks. While some favorite items have become cult classics, new dishes have also been developed, co-owner Lee Maen said.
“Our sushi program has taken on the most innovation by going from edomae, traditional nigiri, to what we recently launched: fully dressed sushi which is prepared with ingredients and toppings that our sushi chefs feel complement the fish best, such as our albacore topped with garlic aioli, arare (soy sauce flavored rice crackers) and wasabi soy truffle,” Maen said in an email interview.
Sushi Roku, now with seven locations nationwide, opened in 1997 in Los Angeles, and became the first restaurant in Maen’s and co-owner Phillip Cummins’s restaurant group, Innovative Dining Group. The Southern California-based restaurant group owns seven unique concepts, including BOA Steakhouse, Katana and Robata Bar. Roku Sushi at Stanford Shopping Center is the restaurant group’s Bay Area debut, influenced by a successful partnership between Innovative Dining Group and Simon Properties in Las Vegas, Maen said.
“In 1996, when we decided to open a restaurant, we realized there was a space in L.A. between the many mom-and-pop strip mall types of sushi bars and the one high-end offering, Matsuhisa, which had amazing food but could be intimidating to the non-Japanese person,” Maen said. “We wanted to create a space that offered high quality food where the average person could experience the food and enjoy a full bar (and) fun, beautiful design.”
While Roku in Japanese directly translates to “six,” it is also slang for “rock” or “stone,” a design component prevalent at all Sushi Roku locations.
“Our first Sushi Roku was designed with a lot of chiseled stone and rock as part of our ethos (to) transport you to a classic time in Tokyo,” Maen said.
Sushi Roku is currently open for dinner service only and will roll out lunch and happy hour soon.
“We try to build a place that will be around for 20+ years that people will call home, come for the daily ‘sushi fix,’ to celebrate milestones and to escape from their day while having an amazing experience with us,” Maen said.
Sushi Roku, 180 E El Camino Real #700a, Palo Alto; 650-507-2100, Instagram: @sushirokupaloalto. Open daily 5-10 p.m.