Open Thread - Sushi at Weirs Beach?
 

A Sushi restaurant has leased the old Waldo Peppers/Boston Seafood building and will open this spring.

Any thoughts?

I would love to see a good sushi restaurant in the region. Good being the operative word. I don't think anyone up here serves exceptional sushi, and that is what it would take to make it up here. If it's just another asian restaurant that also serves sushi, we've got that. The only sushi in these parts that I find to be good is Moritomo(sp?) in Concord. If it was that or better, I'd be there. Any rumor on who it is.

Sushi???
 

I do not think the sushi will be a big hit during Bike Week.

I will miss what was there in both forms, Waldo-Peppers and Boston Seafood Company. I don't like sushi. Nothing against those that do.

I hope Michael's picks up on a take-out counter opportunity here. We have a void.

R2B

I wonder if they will have bass and cusk sushi on the menu?

Rockfish sushi.Sorry Don,I like my fish cooked.

I do like sushi. It's an interesting concept. You may be right about there not being much interest in sushi during bike week, but the bikers are becoming an older crowd. They're not young kids any more. So sushi may be a bit of a more eclectic choice. Hard to see things working out during the summer, though. I don't know if families will take to raw seafood and the like. But what the heck. It's better than an empty building! I wish them well.

Wish them well and definately will give them a try.Nice to see a new business in the area.

This thread will go a long way to insure a successful Grand Opening. It will be up to the owners to carry the ball from there. I wish them well.

I love fish but as SIKSUKR said, I like it cooked.

In this country, at least
 

most sushi restaurants have a number of rolls, etc. which use totally cooked ingredients.

I'd love for a *good* sushi place to open up. I don't know how much bike week really factors in to a lot of places overall gross business these days, the numbers and dollars spent seem to be in a steady decline. In any event, I can tell you that if your business revolves around that 1 week, you're probably doing something wrong anyway.

My sense is that regardless of what restaurant concept goes into that location its best chance for survival will be if it is seasonal. I just can't see a year-round restaurant making it there long-term. I wish them well whatever their approach turns out to be.

I think just the opposite, and that is part of the problem with some of the local businesses. Your best chance of success would seem to come from a year-round operation. Sure, the BULK of your business might be based around the peak summer season, but that chances of earning enough in 12ish weeks to pay for building lease, insurance, etc for a year is kind of a long shot. Not to mention the staffing issues that also come with a season food place.

Think long-term with your business, building a "seasonal" business is a very difficult thing to do...

Brk-It:

Most of these restaurants bleed money in the off season. As a result, there is no sense being open.

We will try it out
 

We would love a sushi place in the weirs area looking forward to trying it out this spring.

Good Sushi at Peking Tokyo
 

Although not as wide a selection as Oishi Sushi in the Boston area (which is awesome), Peking Tokyo does a pretty good job with their sushi. Their luncheon prices are really reasonable. I love the Morimoto place in Concord as well, it's very good. I don't know if the Weirs/Laconia area could support another Oriental-style restaurant... does the China Bistro do any business? I never see cars in their parking lot even though they spent a small fortune redoing the place.

They should have both, cooked and uncooked.

This place does and its great!

I know that, what I was trying to say is that if your business is that financially fragile, it's probably not a good concept. You don't have to make a killing year-round, but you should probably be able to at least keep your head above water. Otherwise, if anything happens out of the ordinary (like a slow economy) you really have little to no chance of survival.

How about grilled Sushi or deep fried Sushi?

:rolleye2:

Agreed, I like baked stuffed sushi.:emb:

Sushi Essentials
 

The keys to good sushi are fresh ingredients, proper storage, and. of course, sound preparation. We can not speak to the quality of sushi in Concord, but have plenty of experience with many great sushi venues in the Boston and New York areas. As donnamatrix indicates Oishi is great. Oga's in Natick MA is also very good. Nobu in NYC is held up as the standard. Their sushi is fantastic, and their black cod (non-sushi) is unbelievable.

There is nothing to compare with those experiences in the Lakes Region that we have seen. However, Lemon Grass in Moultonboro is worth a try. They do emphasize natural and organic food selections with all of their menu items, and their sushi selections, while unremarkable, are quite good.

I understand your point. However, you can't have a successful year round business in a seasonal location and the old Waldo Pepper location is clearly a seasonal location. Going to a sushi concept restaurant at this location will further narrow the number of customers available as sushi is a specialized dining concept. In addition, even folks who like sushi may be afraid of trying it at this location for obvious reasons. I'd put myself in this category.

Thai Food-Not just Sushi
 

I passed the Boston Seafood location in the Weirs yesterday and the new sign says "Thai Food and Sushi". I love Thai food and this could make it a real hit. :liplick: I agree with others simply having sushi would probably have no chance of success.

Thai food
 

Great Thai food already at Lanna Thai next to Laconia High School. Sushi also available. Great food. Hidden gem.

Lanna Thai
 

I second angela4's comment above. Lanna has great thai food! Try the avocado green curry.

I hope that that you "over-cooked" fish eaters will give sushi a try. I get sushi once a week from Peking Tokyo, where it got more creative a few months back. In many instances I think the sushi version tastes better than the cooked variety (salmon comes to mind). Hope the place does well.:liplick:

Best of luck to them but I've tried sushi and sashimi(sp?) when I lived in the Boston area and just didn't care for it. I've seen some very busy sushi restaurants that people rave about so there must be a customer base out there. I would hope they are amenable to modifying their menu somewhat if sushi/Thai isn't doing it for them vs. just closing their doors.

Well I don't care for Sushi and I personally would like Elvio's to come back to Weir's Beach and open there. :D:liplick::laugh:

Seriously, my hope is that they are successful. Whether or not I like Sushi I guess is really secondary. Being a full time resident of Weir's Beach, I want local business to thrive and do well instead of boarded up buildings and a different business in the same place every year.

I wish them luck and much success.

GREAT sushi!!
 

I dont know if any of you are aware of LemonGrass in Moultonborough but they have excellent sushi. The majority of ingredients they use too are organic. They are an upscale restaurant but the sushi prices are reasonable and if you want to try their food for a lower price, try the lunch menu!! They have a sushi bar too where you can watch them make your rolls. It is american/asian owned so they know what they are doing.

wow
 

I didn't know that you had to be american/asian to know how to make sushi

So unless they changed Lemongrass just offers some maki (rolls) and a tuna or salmon sashimi appetizer. That's what I recall from my last visit, and that's what their menu shows today (unless they opened a whole sushi bar and didn't update the menu to reflect it). However, just having those offerings makes sense to me, as they can use sushi-grade tuna/salmon for other things as well.

That's going to be the real issue - how is a place in WB going to be able to afford to stock a 'real' sushi menu, not just a handful of options and some rolls? I don't think they could, so what you'll likely get is another fusion type setting, like whatever that place is in the Walmart plaza down the street (which is pretty good). It won't be a true sushi place, but the reason that there are not any true sushi places (that I know of) around there is that the area just cannot support them.

Lemongrass is off the beaten track for is but our one experience was Sushi as an appetizer and I had a seared salmon entree. My salmon was superb but the Sushi was at best average. Going past again I'd stop in a heart beat for the salmon but probably forgo the Sushi.

They have added to the menu...
 

I know they have added a larger sushi menu in the past year or so , so maybe you were there beofre they did that ?? Also, I didnt mean that you have to be asian/american to know how to make sushi...YIKES that came out wrong. They just have a very diverse way of making there food and with Mike Love's touch ( I know he has passed away now ) and Uriwan and Lucky's asian influence, they have created great food ;)

Opening This Week
 

Rumor has it that the Sushi/Thai restaurant in the Boston Seafood building in the Weirs is opening this week.

Lake clams on the half shell.

Still not open as of yesterday...

I'm gonna say it because no one else has... :coolsm:

Are they nutz? ;)

Sushi...? At THE WEIRS? (I can't picture a line going out the door of the place at Bike Week, if you catch my drift...)

I think "Weirs" and no culture at all comes to mind.... I don't mean this as an insult - not at all - THE WEIRS is a ketchy area that is just a good ol' tourist trap gone a little south... (not real bad... but yeah, it's a little rough at times...)

Here's what would do well, in my opinion...

Put in a wicked good pub - lots of variety of beer on tap - maybe a little import (gotta have Guinness)... serve $0.10 hot wings on Tuesdays... maybe $1.99 drought beers at happy hour... good nachos, potato skins - good grease - you get the idea... and some rockin' LIVE music. No yuppie stuff; no rap. Keep it real and keep the prices low.

We at the Winni Playhouse like to think there's at least a little culture at the Weirs.

Culture shock...
 

I'm with you Winniplayhouse. I think there are enough places to get tanked up at the Weirs already. Another would help the area go a little bit more "South".
Personally, I wouldn't eat sushi but I'm sure they will have other offerings that I and others will enjoy.

...and like I said... it's not an insult.... it's pure americana powered by Harley Davidsons and seasoned by many good summers of lake-based fun and pier fries. :) There's some great history there and always something interesting or entertaining going on.

There's a place that opened up just by the New Durham/Farmington line a while back that is a good ol' beer/wings/live music sorta place called "Hogs Pen" I didn't think it would do that great because nothing ever thrived in that location in the past. Well, that place is PACKED on a Friday/Saturday night. They seem to have found the formula for what works in the area, even in this economy.

Thai Food and Sushi
 

To be fair with new establishment, they will have Thai food as well as sushi.

I do not eat sushi, but I love good Thai food. I think that will help make it work. I wish them luck!

Also, anyone that has ever been to the Winni Playhouse will agree with me that the Weirs area offers some very good theater.

I would not say the area is lacking culture. I will say the Weirs offers a very diverse cultural environment. :)

R2B

Anyone hear when this is going to open?

Thanks!

Smitty

On the Sunday afternoon before the Mount's shakedown cruise (5/3) I grabbed my camera and headed over to the new Thai/Sushi restaurant prepared to review it, grab a menu and take some pictures. I was told by the owner of the property that they opened several weeks ago.

I was surprised that the outside looked like it wasn't even ready to open. The old Boston Seafood Shack sign was still there and the only evidence of a change was a falling down "Coming Soon" banner. I almost drove away but decided to look in the window. To my surprise the inside was clean and all set up for business. There were flower vases on the tables and it looked like they may have been open earlier in the day.

If anyone else has been there or knows what is going on please let us know.

Don

I drive by there at least once a day, and aside from seeing a couple of contractor trucks a week or so ago it hasn't looked open yet :confused:

Open or not?
 

So did we decide if this place is really open yet?

We drove by yesterday about 6PM - no signs of any activity.

I drove by today , saturday, around 6:15 p.m.
There was a sign that said "now open " or "open" but the lights seemed to be off and not a car to be seen. One would think that if they were open that they would make it a bit more obvious ...I just don't know
M

We drove by yesterday afternoon and there was an LED "Open" sign in the window and a few cars in the lot.