It’s all in the family for the owners of Yakima’s long-popular Ozeki Japanese Restaurant. Like many immigrants to the United States, Ji Oh first ventured to the shores of the United States years before bringing along his family.
But now Ji — along with his wife, Suyoung, and his daughter, Yenna — have brought their hearts and souls to help each other ultimately reach the American dream.
I have taken for granted just how delicious the food is at Ozeki. I have been a loyal customer since I moved to the Yakima Valley in the early 2000s. My 12-year-old daughter craves their avocado rolls sushi almost every week. I recently noticed some new faces behind the counter and, being nosy, I naturally wanted to get to know who these people might be. I wanted to know who they were and what their story was.
WHO IS JI OH, OWNER OF OZEKI JAPANESE RESTAURANT?
Ji Oh’s dream from his early adulthood was to someday own his own restaurant. He grew up in South Korea and started a family with Suyoung. They had a daughter and named her Yenna. Ji moved to America, and like so many immigrants to this country, he wanted to build a better life for his wife and young child. He began working in American restaurants in several states before eventually bringing his family to the U.S.
Ji spent many grueling years perfecting his culinary craft as a sushi master before deciding to put down some roots in North Carolina. His daughter was only 13 when Ji brought her and her mother to America. Yenna says the language barrier made it challenging for her to make new friends and learn about her new culture. She was enrolled in a school for gifted students and she excelled in school, although she says at first her classmates picked on her because she was “foreign.”
After nearly two decades in North Carolina, Ji was recruited to work in a Seattle restaurant. Not long after building up his sushi chef reputation in Washington state, Ji was invited to come work in Yakima as a chef for the New York Teriyaki & Burgers restaurant.
LEAVING SEATTLE, MOVING TO YAKIMA
Yenna says her father quickly fell in love with the Yakima landscape, its slow-paced lifestyle and the culinary scene. He found that living in Yakima was quite a contrast to that of Seattle. Ji accepted the job in Yakima, and moved his family with him.
Even while living and working in Yakima, Ji yearned to have his own restaurant. He hadn’t found a location that he fell in love with, but when he and his wife found out that Ozeki Japanese Restaurant was up for sale two years ago, they leaped at the chance to buy the established eatery. They had both fallen in love with the restaurant’s upscale interior and its prime location.
Suyoung loves to cook, so she is the head chef who prepares all the Ozeki restaurant meals, except for the sushi, which is her husband’s forte. Yenna is the charming, friendly and welcoming face that greets and serves customers who come to enjoy her parents’ prepared meals.
“They think Yakima is like a second home to them. They put their all — efforts and love — into everything, and they’re really proud of themselves for serving people in this way,” says Yenna. She is the “face” of the restaurant because Ji and Suyoung are still not fluent in English.
“Having people walking out with smiles on their faces is our biggest joy!” For Ji, Suyoung and Jenna, making patrons like me burst into squeals of “Mmmm!” and “Yummm!”is the most rewarding part of their day.
If you look through the menu and notice the “BTS Dynamite” handmade sushi roll, that is the workings of Ji. Jenna told me that she was like, “What is BTS and why are you naming a sushi roll that?” It turns out that Ji was keenly aware of the mainstream popularity of the K-Pop band BTS and their crossover hit “Dynamite.” (My daughter is a huge K-Pop fan so this sushi roll is right up her alley.)
The sushi roll comes with shrimp tempura, spicy California roll with avocado, and a “crunch” of flakes. I got to try one, and let me just say, all I needed was one bite and I fell in love with the BTS Dynamite roll. I’m also a huge fan of ebi (a slice of raw shrimp over seaweed-wrapped rice) and California rolls (seaweed-wrapped rice with crab, celery and avocado).
FUN FACT ABOUT OZEKI JAPANESE RESTAURANT: The various collectibles you see displayed inside the building and behind the register are from Ji’s own personal collection of collectibles. Yenna says her father is always thinking of new ways to decorate their family restaurant and he enjoys it immensely.
WHAT TO TRY: The BTS Dynamite Sushi Roll.
THE PARTICULARS:
• Address: 1527 Summitview Ave.
• Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; noon to 8:45 p.m. Saturdays; 3-8 p.m. Sundays.
• Delivery: Uber Eats and DoorDash.
• Instagram: instagram.com/ozekiyakima.
AloJapan.com