Shogun sushi restaurant in Metairie has new owners | Where NOLA eats

Shogun was bustling during a weekday lunch as flames shot out of hibachi tables and regulars made their way to the sushi bar, eyeing the dry-erase board for specials.

Between bites, however, many were learning about much more than fish imported from Japanese markets.

Word of a change to Shogun, one of the largest, perhaps the busiest and certainly the oldest Japanese restaurant in the area, has spread among customers.

Shogun was sold to new owners earlier this year, formalizing a progression that began when founder Masako “Peggy” Kamata retired.

Customers who have been coming here for decades ask the waiters and sushi bar staff about what changes might be coming.

Fortunately, I can confirm that today Shogun tastes, feels and performs the same as before; the new owners’ forecasts call for staying the course in the future.

Meet the new owners

These new owners are Xikai “Neil” Yao and Yanrong “Davina” Wang, a married couple who have quietly built a small collection of well-known restaurants in New Orleans, taking over when the founders were ready to sell or take over. retirement.

It started with the Japanese restaurant Sake Café on Magazine Street, which has been around for more than two decades (the Metairie version of Sake Café has different owners).

Most recently, they acquired two of the area’s longest-running Chinese restaurants: Five Happiness and Chinese Kitchen, each located within a few blocks of each other in Gert Town and each in business since the 1970s.

Today, Shogun is also part of that group, after Yao and Wang purchased the restaurant in a deal closed in January.

“The old owners can run these restaurants for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, I think I can do the same thing too,” Yao, 33, said.

“I want them to continue as they have been and make them better where we can, that’s the way to be successful,” he said.

Sushi roll pattern

The next chapter of Shogun should not only interest Metairie restaurant regulars.

Commander’s Palace has a reputation as the finishing school for New Orleans culinary talent. The same goes for Shogun for the local Japanese restaurant scene. Many sushi bars in the area are run by people who came from the Shogun, and many of them are owned by them.

Kamata, a native of Japan, opened Shogun in 1982 in a location not far from his current home on Veterans Boulevard. This was back when sushi and Japanese food in general were very exotic in the United States. Over the decades, Shogun played a considerable role in changing this status from exception to obsession for many people in the region.

Yao is originally from China and came to the United States to attend college. He met Wang in Houston, where they married and opened a restaurant together. They came to New Orleans to buy Sake Café.

In 2020, they purchased Five Happiness. Last year, they also purchased Chinese Kitchen, just two blocks from Five Happiness. Known for its huge portions and good value, it has a different clientele than Five Happiness, and Yao says he is able to manage the two nearby restaurants without competing with himself.

Veterans and emerging talents

At Shogun, he keeps the staff intact, although he acknowledges that some experienced managers are likely considering their own retirement decisions.

Tony Toyonishi, for example, the manager of Shogun and in charge since the founder’s retirement, has been at the restaurant for four decades, since 1984.

However, the main sushi bar station is run by the younger Tammy Mai and a recent lunch showed her in top form.

Here is a chef who can direct service in a busy bar with a word, a gesture or sometimes just a glance.

“All of our sushi bar customers love it. He’s an important leader for me,” Yao said of Mai.

Try the specials

Regular shipments of fish from Japanese seafood markets still pass through the promotions board. I tend to prepare meals here around nigiri from this list and request that they be prepared “chef’s style”, i.e. dressed with oils, sauces and other ingredients that accentuate raw fish.

On my last visit, I brought some pieces of local yellowfin tuna, dense, meaty and practically glowing, dabbed with a little chopped wasabi root for a lively sparkle.

The Japanese snapper (distinct from the Gulf version) was topped with a pesto-like sauce made from shiso leaf and garlic, with a tender, velvety texture, crackling on the surface with sea salt.

Then there was aji, or Japanese mackerel, rich and smooth with a strong flavor, and also Japanese amberjack, with a pleasant chew to the dense flesh.

Yao has a few projects underway surrounding the restaurant, including the possible conversion of what is now a secondary dining room into a hibachi specialty room for private parties.

He also plans to improve the waiting area, and indeed, customers often arrive to find a wait given Shogun’s enduring popularity.

It’s one of my favorites, although the specialization and overall quality of the New Orleans sushi scene is increasing.

This restaurant can jovially host hibachi dinners and give people their first taste of sushi with something as basic as a California roll. But it can also simultaneously respond to sushi lovers’ desires for stronger flavors and harder-to-find fish. This is impressive versatility.

Hopefully, Shogun will maintain its role as a magnet and incubator for New Orleans sushi professionals. As interest in this beautiful cuisine grows, the thirst for it will certainly require a talent pool.

Shogun

2325, boulevard des Anciens Combattants, (504) 833-7477

Tue-Fri, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., Sat, Sun. noon-9:30 p.m.