Burgers, sushi to mix at new restaurant
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 29, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Chef Tedd Jang, left, stands beside owner Jay Shin, middle, and Chef Koji Kimura in front of the sushi bar area of the new Jay's Sushi and Burger Bar located on North John Street.
Jay's Sushi and Burger Bar at 108 N. John St. is scheduled to officially open Thursday, Oct. 8.
Owner Jay Shin designed the restaurant himself and has been working since May with a hand-selected crew to reconstruct the interior of the restaurant.
The restaurant will serve specialty sushi rolls, handcrafted burgers and craft beers.
Shin recruited Koji Kimura and Tedd Jang, both of whom he has known for most of his life, to be his chefs. Kimura moved to North Carolina from Atlanta and Jang moved here from Chicago to work at Shin's newest restaurant.
"Koji has 20 years experience as a sushi chef, and he and me have been working a long time together, since 2002 -- 13 years ago," Shin said. "He's Japanese, and he knows traditional sushi. Real Japanese style and American-fusion style, too. He was born in Japan, but he grew up here, too."
Jang is a renowned burger chef in Chicago, and is bringing his skill to Goldsboro.
"He's coming from Chicago, and he's a burger chef. His recipe was No. 7 in the United States. (Jang) makes a kind of fusion-style burger," Shin said. "He makes gourmet burgers like bison patties, kobe beef patties, a wayu beef patty and certified angus beef patties, all on a brioche bun."
Shin also owns Sumo on Spence Avenue, as well as both Ninja Hibachi Express restaurants on Wayne Memorial Drive and Berkeley Boulevard.
"Sushi-wise, we're going to bring out specialty rolls that's a mixture of some Sumo stuff and some of my own creations," Kimura said. "Burger-wise, Tedd is going to have his own burger creations as well."
Shin said the concept of his restaurant serving both sushi and burgers is to create a restaurant that has something for everyone.
"It's going to be a family restaurant, but Goldsboro needed something to where if someone wants sushi -- let's say the wife loves sushi, but the husband cannot eat sushi -- they can come here, and they have an option between burgers and sushi. They don't have to argue. They can get the nice craft beer here and wine here, and so it's going to be nice to bring this downtown," Shin said.
Shin said he realized the city had invested a lot of money in downtown, which is why he wanted to open his new restaurant in the downtown area to support those efforts.
"This isn't going to hurt any businesses," Shin said of his move into the same vicinity as The Flying Shamrock and Torero's Family Mexican Restaurant. "When I open, it's going to become more busy here, and it will benefit The Flying Shamrock and Torero's, too. The more options there are, the more people there are."
Shin and his crew have constructed the interior themselves, crafting the design by hand. They have vintage items from Goldsboro throughout the restaurant, a lounge with high-backed leather sofas, custom drawings on the walls and seared-by-hand wood paneling around the restaurant.
Shin's specialty is restaurant design, from how the restaurant looks, to what is on the menu, to what experience the customer will have from the time they walk into the door until the time they pay their bill.
Each item on the menu will be made from fresh ingredients, Shin said.
"Our specialty is that we make every sauce ourselves, and we make every recipe ourselves," Shin said. "A lot of places, they take their meals out of a freezer pack, throw it in the microwave and 'Bing!' it's done and they serve it to the customer. But meals served at my restaurant are never frozen. It's fresh beef, fresh meat, we make it all ourselves."
He said the new sushi and burger bar will provide a fine dining experience to all who enter by day, and a relaxed bar scene targeted toward a younger crowd by night.
"Downtown needs something," Shin said. "At first, I was only thinking about lunch time. There are over 2,000 people working for the government and City Hall and everybody working there, but there's nothing here for lunch. If they want to eat something, they have to go out of downtown. The only other lunch places here are Torero's and B&G Grill, then Hardee's and that's it. So there's not much option there."
Shin also said he plans to add an outdoor patio and seating area to his restaurant.
"Have you been to the Chef and the Farmer in Kinston? Think about it. When everybody thinks of Kinston, they think of The Chef and The Farmer. Goldsboro needs something like that, something that can be the pride of Goldsboro -- Jay's," Shin said. "I want people coming from Kinston, LaGrange, Mount Olive, Smithfield -- even with Sumo we have people coming from New Bern and Raleigh for Sumo sushi."
Jay's Sushi & Burger Bar will open at 11 a.m., seven days a week, with the bar staying open late on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until midnight or later.