New sushi spot Homakase brings curated handrolls, colorful sashimi plates and more

Duy Nguyen was a sushi chef in college, simply because he liked it. Never did he think it would lead to him opening his own restaurant years down the line.  

Enter Homakase, Nguyen’s new intimate sushi bar on South Sherwood Forest Boulevard.  The eatery has been in the works for about a year, and comes on the heels of Nguyen’s at-home omakase experience that he’s been doing on the side for years.   

Omakase, meaning “leave it up to the chef,” is a Japanese meal, usually sushi, specially curated and served extremely fresh.  

Since starting over two years ago as a side gig, Homakase now has a permanent home, and Nguyen has left his full-time job as a cardiovascular interventional radiology technologist to tend to it. While the new spot isn’t omakase per se, it still has a focus on the intimate feel of the meal with an emphasis on fresh, curated handrolls and sashimi plates.  

“Getting back into the game by doing the sushi gig on the weekends reignited that fire,” Nguyen says.  

Walking into the new spot, which used to house Tiger Sushi, patrons will find a layout that is different than your usual sushi joint, with the bar being the centerpiece of the space. The U-shaped island is in the middle to create an emphasis on handrolls, the Homakase specialty.  

“We had to rebuild this, make it into a U shape, so that we would kind of force the customers to come to us; that way they can have that whole full experience,” Nguyen says. “Because with the hand rolls, you want to have crispy seaweed, warm rice and premium ingredients inside, so you’ve got to eat it right away to keep it crisp.” 

The space is small, but that’s the whole point. While a brick-and-mortar restaurant is a large step away from an at-home omakase experience, Nguyen wanted to keep that intimate feel and focus on the quality of the food rather than the quantity.  

“If I don’t have a big restaurant or a lot of staff, I could just focus on high-quality food and a good experience,” Nugyen says.  

The interior design is simple and classic, with grey stone floors, wooden accents and leather seats. The main decorative piece is the group of tuna painted on the grey walls, a nod to the eatery’s popular protein. It also represents Nguyen, his wife and his three daughters.

The menu isn’t huge as the restaurant is still in its soft opening phase, featuring a collection of appetizers like spicy garlic edamame, handrolls like the toro roll and cold plates like tuna tataki. The seafood options are fresh and authentic, with Nguyen noting that even imitation crab won’t be found in the restaurant. King crab and snow crab take the place of the faux sushi staple here. 

Nguyen worked for months to develop a unique lineup, trying out different restaurants and ingredients. The recipes combine various ingredients and flavors to create the dishes hitting the table, like the truffle salmon featuring una yuzu ponzu, mandarin oranges, mango puree, pine nuts and scallions.  

“It was more of like going out and trying other restaurants, experiencing those ingredients and all that,” Nguyen says. “That kind of inspired us to kind of kick off our menu; we would come home and just a lot of trial and error and a lot of taste testing, test kitchens.”  

As per the name, the menu will also have sake, combining a mix of premium brands, one-cup cans and boxed beverages.  

“We wanted to kind of focus on lunch,” Nguyen says. “With one-cup sake, it’s just easy for the servers to place it here and they can drink at their own pace. People can be in and out of here in 30 minutes.”  

Looking to the future, Nguyen hopes to expand the menu with unique recipes and catches-of-the-day coming in from Japan. He also shares hopes of even opening other locations.  

“It’s kind of limitless. You get to do whatever you want, play around and try it out,” Nguyen says.  

Homakase is at 4611 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd. and is open Monday through Saturday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and for dinner from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. The restaurant stays open until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.