Local sushi chain Mira Sushi is making Evanston its latest home.
First opening in 2022, its Chinatown franchise is run by the father-daughter duo of founder Edison Feng and social media manager Ashley Feng. The pair pride themselves on changing the narrative that affordable sushi is second-rate.
“When you think of all-you-can-eat buffets, you think of lower quality food,” Ashley Feng said. “That’s where we differ from everyone else, because we give high quality food at an all-you-can-eat price.”
The store will open at 1633 Orrington Ave. within the next two months as long as everything goes smoothly, according to Ashley Feng. Evanston spokesperson Cynthia Vargas told The Daily the business permit for the space has yet to be issued.
Ashley Feng recounted strong memories of childhood visits to rotary sushi bars in Wicker Park with her brother. Edison Feng, realizing an absence of all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants in Chinatown, capitalized on this market by opening Mira Sushi.
Edison Feng also owned Chinese restaurant Lao Sze Chuan, which Mira Sushi is replacing. Lao Sze Chuan didn’t prove as profitable as Mira Sushi since Edison Feng franchised it from an existing business, Edison Feng said.
A first-generation immigrant from Guangdong, China, Edison Feng moved to the U.S. in his 20s. His lifelong love for fishing is hard to miss at Mira Sushi — the restaurant’s neon backdrop is adorned with swordfish.
While Edison Feng is now a veteran of the restaurant world, he didn’t always intend to go into the business, he said.
“We are the first generation that came here with no English,” Edison Feng said. “I guess it’s the easiest way we survived.”
The pair’s biggest challenge in founding Mira Sushi was creating everything from the ground up. Everyone, from the chefs to the interior designers, had to be personally hired, they said.
A source of pride for the Fengs is the restaurant’s Cantonese “Cha chaan teng,” or tea house aesthetic, Edison Feng said. Tea houses are popular places to socialize and eat in Cantonese-speaking regions like Guangdong. Many places that offer Cantonese cuisine, like dim sum restaurants, are modeled after them.
One of Ashley Feng’s main goals with creating the restaurant’s theme was keeping everything presentable — especially parts of the restaurant many wouldn’t immediately think of, she said.
“A huge thing was that the bathrooms had to be nice,” Ashley Feng said. “As a girl, you want to take mirror selfies and tag the place, and that promotes social media presence. So the bathrooms had to have a nice atmosphere.”
Besides its “Instagrammable” factor, a lot of the restaurant’s promotions, like student discounts and holiday-themed decor, drew from popular restaurant trends, Ashley Feng said.
Online inspiration also sparked Mira Sushi’s “100 Pieces of Sushi Challenge,” where customers must eat 100 pieces within half an hour to have their tab covered.
“I’m online. I’m Gen Z. I’m on social media. I saw how everyone in California and New York had challenges to promote their brand, so I shot my dad a text saying, ‘Hey, we should do this,’” Ashley Feng said.
The promotion was piloted in May, coinciding with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. While it was initially planned to only last for the month, it increased business by 15%, prompting reruns throughout the summer.
The Fengs are looking to keep the Mira Sushi spirit alive even in a new neighborhood. Edison Feng said the Evanston franchise’s menu will remain mostly the same. For now, sushi fans can look forward to welcoming a new face to Evanston’s rich culinary scene.
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
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