A few years ago, Awaji Izakaya ignited a Japanese dining renaissance in OKC. Today, that restaurant’s chef is setting sail on his sophomore effort, and casting a wider net. While Awaji offers an authentic taste of Tokyo pub culture, Kaizume — newly opened in the former Syrup space on NW 23rd Street — takes those Japanese stylings and filters them with French finesse.
Richard Ly, whose work at Awaji has yielded some of the best sushi this city has seen, strikes again with a restaurant modestly billed as “neighborhood seafood dining.” But beneath its nautical surface, clad with dark wood paneling and pelican portraits reminiscent of a seaside yacht, there’s something deeper at Kaizume. For his anticipated follow-up, which brings his meticulous maki and show-stopping sashimi closer to downtown, Ly partnered with Chris McKenna—himself a pedigreed local legend, known for his work at Packard’s New American Kitchen. Together, they’ve created something wholly original, once again elevating OKC’s Japanese dining scene with a novel approach to fresh seafood.
“We created a menu that’s more like Japanese-French fusion,” Ly explained, citing items like sushi rolls with goat cheese instead of cream cheese; parmesan togarashi fries with truffle aïoli; and kampachi with pomegranate ponzu. “We wanted it to be different. We wanted this to be more of a new test kitchen.”
Describing the cuisine as “upper scale casual dining,” accessible for both a mid-week bite and a full-blown date night, the menu matches the seafaring decor—where spicy smoked hamachi noodles, tuna tartare and scallop tiradito fit right in with a polished dining room that feels like the hull of a ship.
“I wanted to start with sashimi, oysters and all different types of things,” added Ly. “But we wanted to test this new menu out first.”
That new menu reads like a choose-your-own-adventure of fusion and experimentation, like whole pompano that gets filleted, cut into nuggets and fried, then served in the fried skeleton like a crispy bouquet. And grilled salmon with buttery Robuchon potatoes, haricots verts and kabayaki butter. And neoteric sushi rolls, like Pear Pressure, with spicy tuna, pear, balsamic glaze and chive oil.
“I still have my gyoza and chicken karaage,” he noted, highlighting some timeless staples, along with traditional sushi rolls and steak (“because we’re in Oklahoma”). But along with grilled beef tenderloin and flat-iron steak frites, guests can level up with his “Wagyu on the Rock,” which lets guests grill their own A5 Wagyu on a sizzling stone. “Most restaurants do $60 per ounce, with a minimum of 3 ounces,” he said. “I’m cutting it into three pieces, and people can experience that without having to spend a lot of money.” It’s just $35, by the way.
Along with a drink list of sakes, ice-cold martinis and signature cocktails (try the yuzu-kissed Tokyo Negroni), the rest of Ly’s dexterous menu impresses with dishes—like housemade tamago (sweet Japanese egg omelette) and house-smoked yellowtail—that are rarely, if ever, made from scratch in OKC. And perhaps nothing punctuates this point like the bone-in pork chop tonkatsu. A feast for both the eyes and the palate, it’s a spectacle of a dish that swaps the standard sliced-and-fried pork cutlets for a dino-sized chop where everything—even the bone—is breaded and fried to a gilded crisp.
If Awaji Izakaya was Ly’s breakthrough sensation, Kaizume is setting sail with even grander ambitions. And a menu unlike anything else in OKC.
Contact: kaizume.com | @kaizume_okc
