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Serving up sushi

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Photo by Marienne Thomas Ogle.

Angela Yang and Owen Ou heard the call of their customers and have opened a second Sushi Village restaurant in Lee Branch Shopping Center off Highway 280.

The husband and wife team have operated their original Sushi Village location at 7001 Crestwood Boulevard in Irondale since 2012, Yang said.

“But we have a lot of customers at that store that work in Irondale but live near 280 so when we started to talk about opening the second location, they’ve been watching and waiting,” Yang said. “Now we see them walking in the door and recognize them. And they bring friends and their friends bring friends.”

The newest Sushi Village location opened its doors in January at 601 Doug Baker Blvd., across from Hobby Lobby, Yang said. 

According to Yang, both Sushi Village restaurants feature the same menu, with emphasis on a variety of special rolls and original toppings including spicy yummy, spicy mayo and dumpling sauces. There are tempura and hibachi dishes and more than 20 specialty rolls on the regular menu plus weekly and monthly specials, Yang said.

“If you’ve never had sushi before I’d probably suggest crunchy shrimp or crispy, spicy crabmeat, or the snow mountain roll with snow crab on top and shrimp inside,” she said. “But not the California roll because it’s good but everyone knows it.”

Yang said their chefs are also prepared to create customer choice dishes.

“They’re happy to make things to order because everyone loves different things and we have a lot of fresh options that should make everyone happy,” she said.

Desserts include fried cheesecake, fried ice cream and mochi ice cream, she said.

Originally from China, Ou and Yang have operated eateries in other areas and came to Birmingham about 10 years ago.

“We had lived in Decatur and were partners in a sushi restaurant there but moved here to open our own,” Yang said. “We have a huge family scattered across the country and most everyone owns a restaurant, so it seemed right for us to do it, too.”

According to Yang, she doesn’t cook but husband Owen Ou once worked with the Japanese Iron Chef Morimoto before venturing out on his own.

“While Owen oversees the kitchens, he loves to cook and can cook most anything,” she said. “But I work the front of the restaurant and while I can make a little Asian food at home, it isn’t much because I came to America when I was very young and my memory for recipes isn’t that great.” 

Yang said the couple is happy to rely on their experienced staffs, and that game plan seems to be working.

“People seem to be really glad to see us open our second store and are especially pleased that our pricing is very reasonable,” she said. “We always try to make less profit and give more to our customers.”

Sushi Village

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