Tooting train brings fresh sushi to hungry customers
By Suzanne Cristallo
It's not the average sushi place.
Where normally there are boats carrying plates around the counter, here there's a train. Where usually there are potted bamboo plants at the entrance, here guests find a collection of antique movie projectors. Even the name of the place is off-beat: Sushi 2-2 Train, which just opened in the Quito Village Center in Saratoga.
With the gentle hoot of a Santa Fe locomotive so familiar to West Coast residents, a miniature train hauls 30 flat-bed cars around the sushi bar. Each car carries a selection of sushi that can be lifted off by customers seated at the bar.
"I want this to be a one-of-a-kind place," says Sang Lee, who, with wife Sung and a staff of 10, is eager to show customers the authentic Japanese fare Lee grew up with in Korea. While it is Lee's first restaurant experience, his wife worked 12 years in the business, and their partners, Sung and Hyang Shin, ran a restaurant in Los Angeles.
"It has been my tradition to eat sushi all of my life," Lee says proudly. "On special days, I made it in front of my friends and family. All said I did it really well, but also I will be with a good chef--Kevin Jung, who has been making sushi for 10 years."
Sushi fans can expect the traditional pressed rice and raw fish items that Lee himself will make at the bar, then place on specially marked dishes, priced from $1 up to $9.95, and carried by the little train. In the kitchen, Jung will make the more elaborate combination dishes of sashimi and teriyaki. A $15 dinner combo includes salad, rice, beef or chicken teriyaki, tempura, pot stickers, soup and tea.
Lee, who has worked as a contractor, both here and in Los Angeles, took great care to do most of the carpentry work himself during the restaurant remodeling. "My goal was to put much of my own creation into it," he notes, gesturing to the shiny hardwood floors and the special lighting system.
Another feature is the showcase he built in the waiting area to accommodate some of the 20 antique 8mm movie projectors he has collected over the years--"So customers won't be bored," he grins. He credits his stepson, Jonathan, a 17-year-old student interested in theater and music, with ideas for some design features, such as the windows over each of the booths lining the wall.
The idea for a train came as Lee realized many of the maintenance problems associated with sushi boats. His brother owns a sushi boat restaurant where constant changing of the water is necessary to keep it clear, and where one missed reach for a plate can dump the contents into the water.
"Suddenly I decided that a train would be much less maintenance," he says. To keep the atmosphere peaceful, he can control the choo-choo sound and the toot with a muffle.
While sushi-making is traditionally out in the open, Lee says his brand new kitchen is not off limits to curious customers. "Customers can come back and watch chef Kevin at work, if they want," he says with a smile. "He will teach them. No charge. No problem."
Sushi 2-2 Train, 18802 Cox St., Saratoga. Open Mon.-Sat. for lunch, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., dinner 5-9:30 p.m. Closed Sunday. 408.376.0244.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
