Less than a year after Orcutt’s culinary icon, Chef Rick Manson, closed his revered restaurant after two decades in business, there is a new chef in town: Chef Steve.
Steve Jeon has 20 years experience in the restaurant industry, and was trained 6,000 miles to the west of California, in Korea. Working in five-star hotel restaurants, Chef Steve sharpened his skills in some of Asia’s finest restaurants, preparing French and Italian cuisine, among other things, before venturing to America in 2000.
Embracing his Korean culture, he now focuses on Korean and Japanese dishes in his three Central Coast restaurants: Sake Sushi at the Santa Maria Town Center Mall, Sake 2 in Arroyo Grande, and now on South Bradley Road in Orcutt at Ai Love Sushi.
“I love Orcutt! I began looking in the Orcutt area about five years ago, because there were no sushi restaurants,” Jeon said. He first opened Sake Sushi in the Town Center East, where he said a lot of his customers asked him, “Why don’t you open in Orcutt?”
So when the right location became available, Jeon jumped.
He renovated the former Chef Rick’s restaurant in the Acorn Plaza Shopping Center, installing a sushi bar, booths, wood flooring, modern lighting, and putting up Japanese art and TVs on the walls for sports fans.
There’s also expanded outdoor patio seating for diners—great for warm summer and fall Orcutt afternoons and evenings.
Ai Love Sushi opened in late February for lunch and dinner, and has been busy ever since, especially on weekends, when the restaurant is open late.
Ai Love Sushi accommodates all palates: “We have a combination. Not just sushi. Some people don’t like raw fish,” Jeon said. For those customers, “We have barbecue.”
Manager Leo Kim describes the restaurant as Japanese/Korean: “Sushi is Japanese food, and we have Korean food in the kitchen.” So far, customers are ordering, “60/40—60 percent sushi, 40 percent Korean,” he said.
The extensive special sushi rolls menu includes the Oeeshi Roll (spicy tuna, salmon, and then tempura); Albacore Delight Roll (garlic albacore, cucumber, and avocado); Baked Salmon Roll (spicy crab meat, avocado, and cream cheese on the inside, and baked salmon on the outside); Baked Scallop Roll (crab meat, cucumber, and avocado on the inside, baked scallops, masago, and green onion on the outside); and the Ai Roll (spicy tuna and shrimp tempura on the inside, salmon, eel, and avocado on the outside).
In Japan, sushi is an art form. Appearance is just as important as how the sushi tastes. The same seems to be true in Orcutt at Ai Love Sushi. My assortment of sushi rolls and nigiri sushi, handmade by Jeon, were artfully displayed on a large wooden sushi boat.
For those who like their Japanese meal served in a more traditional style, order a Bento box: a choice of entrée, served with a Japanese salad, a California Roll, steamed rice, and mixed tempura.
If you prefer your fish or meat cooked or grilled, instead of raw, there are endless options from the kitchen: hot entrees like chicken, salmon, or beef teriyaki; kimchi and beef tofu stew; pork cutlet; chicken curry rice; and Korean barbecue.
“We have three Korean barbecues,” Kim explained. “Spicy pork; Bulgogi, which is [marinated Korean] beef; and Korean barbecue ribs,” the latter of which is called Kalbi, all served with steamed rice and vegetables.
Want to canoodle over noodles? There’s quite a variety of Asian noodle dishes: Udon, Yaki Soba, and Chap Chae, with vegetable, chicken, beef, or shrimp, and Ramen noodles.
Ai Love Sushi also offers a dinner combo deal. Select any two choices for $14.95, or three choices for $17.95. Options include Korean barbecue, teriyaki, tempura, gyoza, sesame chicken, sashimi, sushi, or rolls, served with steamed rice, salad, and miso soup.
And then, after devouring your red hot Super Volcano roll with wasabi, or a spicy tuna salad, cool off your palate and satisfy your sweet tooth with Ai Love Sushi’s dessert menu: green tea ice cream, mochi ice cream, tempura cheesecake ice cream, and deep fried banana ice cream.
In a valley with many options to appease a sushi craving, Ai Love Sushi is a welcome addition to Orcutt—a town that has waited a long time for rainbow rolls, sashimi, and sake.
Almost nothing makes Sun food and wine writer Wendy Thies Sell happier than eating yellowtail sushi. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 17-24, 2012.