Wabi Sabi is now open at 135 South Main Street, at the intersection of Sedgwick and Park roads in West Hartford. 

By Ronni Newton

West Hartford has several restaurants that offer Japanese cuisine, but Wabi Sabi has found a unique niche in this foodie town, with a menu featuring an array of specialties not found elsewhere in the area, served in a setting reminiscent of an Izakaya (pub or small cafe) in Tokyo’s Golden Gai neighborhood.

Wabi Sabi had a soft opening the last week of March, and officially opens on Tuesday, April 2, serving lunch and dinner. They’re located in the former Phở 135 space – which has been physically transformed based on the vision that owners Gao Cai and Andy Mozer developed from their visits to Japan. Wabi Sabi is the first restaurant the pair – friends since high school – has partnered to open, but Cai’s family has owned restaurants in the Danbury area his whole life, and Mozer, who worked as a nurse for a decade, has been an accomplished bartender in the New York City market.

Where to start … a carefully and beautifully handcrafted cocktail – or an equally complex and elegantly crafted mocktail – is a good place.

Beverages are Mozer’s department, and the 15-seat bar – topped with leathered granite – offers a great vantage point to watch him at work. The drinks are not thrown together randomly; infusions are made in house, and ingredients are measured and blended carefully as if performing a chemistry experiment. There’s even attention given to the proper ice cubes, with some hand cut and the rest individually frozen by an ice machine that, like many items in the kitchen, was imported from Japan.

Shiso leaves from Japan that have a complex minty taste are used by Mozer in his infusions. The gins and whiskys are from Japan as well, and the Iwai whisky is fairly close to a Bourbon, he said. The Shochu Sour, is made from the distilled barley Fuyu Shochu, has a frosty texture, Mozer said.

As Mozer creates the Ika Ink, deep indigo settles on the bottom of the glass, but when stirred carefully, rises and blends, “inking” the entire drink to its paler purplish hue.

For those less adventurous, the a full bar includes draft beer (Fat Orange Cat -Baby Kittens IPA and Sapporo are among the selections), and a wine list curated to complement the food.

This is not a Japanese steakhouse, and the Izakaya-inspired fare doesn’t feature the ramen, hot pot, or tempura options that might come to mind when you think of Japanese cuisine. Wabi Sabi’s menu gives diners the flexibility to enjoy a light bite with their drink, or create a multi-course full meal with an array of selections that you’d likely find in Tokyo’s version of a pub.

The small plates ($3-$10) include wok-tossed peanuts with pickled daikon (tossed and picked in-house), seaweed salad, and the must-try FD potatoes – fried potatoes with house-made garlic sauce (Cai’s mom’s personal recipe) topped with sesame seeds and scallions. The kaarage – bite-sized umami fried chicken topped with scallions and shredded chili peppers is also a must-try, especially with the recommended drizzle of fresh lemon.

Cai said the grilled skewers (kushiyaki, $3-$6.5 each) are also a speciality, and can be enjoyed as s standalone snack or in combination for heartier appetites. Negima (chicken thigh with scallion), bacon momo (chicken thigh wrapped in bacon), and gyu (beef flank steak) were among his recommendations. There are vegetarian options as well, including eringi (king oyster mushroom), and shishito pepper skewers.

Wabi Sabi doesn’t serve traditional bite-size sushi, but those who love sushi will want to sample the hand rolls (temaki). “Our hand rolls are really unique because most are conical, but ours are cylindrical, so with each bite you get the same ratio of fish, to rice, to seaweed,” Mozer said. The rice stays warm, too.

The fish is flown in a few times a week directly from Japan, and hand roll options ($5-$10) include raw tuna, salmon, and yellowtail. “If you don’t want raw, there’s shrimp or scallop,” said Cai, as well as eel, and even lobster. There’s also a kyuri cucumber roll – with the crunchy cucumber also flown in from Japan.

“We try to source most of our stuff from Japan,” Cai said, including the rice.

That rice stars in the main dish rice bowls (donburi, $15-$19) – which are served with miso soup. Options include shrimp tempura with avocado, kushi don (grilled skewers of chicken, beef, eel, or vegetables), and kaisen don (tuna, salmon, yellowtail sashimi, tobiko, and ikura with fresh wasabi).

In search of comfort food? The fried rice includes cracked egg with vegetables and a dash of sake. There are also wheat flour and noodle dishes with pork belly strips and vegetables.

There’s dessert, too – including mochi ice cream (green tea or strawberry flavor) with a spray of yuzu foam, and slices of green tea or original cheesecake.

The high school friends had been talking about partnering to open a restaurant for years, and were looking in the Stamford area, closer to where Mozer lives. Cai moved to West Hartford a few years ago, and when he and Mozer turned their focus to this area they reached out to Tiffany Nguyen, the owner of Phở 135, who had been looking to sell her restaurant about three years ago. She was willing, and last fall Cai and Mozer started working with a designer on their vision.

The designs didn’t match their vision, and while in Japan last fall they started over and ended up doing much of the work themselves. They replaced the floor and changed the ceiling in the former Vietnamese restaurant, and to add texture added the leathered granite bar and skim-coated concrete on the lower portion of the walls. They brought the lanterns – each individually wired – flags, and menu paddles back from Japan, completing the Golden Gai-style aesthetics.

In addition to the bar the restaurant seats 36, with a nine-person private dining area that Cai and Mozer built in the center. The space can be reserved for large groups, or can be extra seating family-style or with the tables separated.

“We’re looking forward to opening the patio area,” Mozer said, noting that they have filed applications with the town. Patio specials will be added once that space opens, and there is also a happy hour menu available from 4 to 6 p.m.

A grand opening will take place in April.

Wabi Sabi is located at 135 South Main Street, West Hartford. They serve lunch Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., and dinner from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday, and until midnight on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The website is still under construction but for more information call 860-816-8133 or email [email protected]. Follow Wabi Sabi on Facebook and Instagram @wabisabict.

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