Restaurateurs Joyce Li and Sitan Chen have opened Yamasaki Teriyaki, a Japanese fast casual restaurant, at 9 Dixwell Ave. Located in a brightly lit storefront across the street from the Broadway District, the restaurant features a range of sushi and teriyaki dishes.
Landlord Yale University Properties celebrated the eatery’s grand-opening on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting. “We are delighted to welcome Yamasaki Teriyaki to New Haven,” said Lauren Zucker, Yale’s associate vice president for New Haven Affairs and University Properties.
“I chose to open my restaurant in New Haven because of the vibrant food scene and the friendly community,” Li said. “In fact, I like New Haven so much so that I plan to retire here in the future.”
Li and Chen previously spent nine years owning and operating Wild Ginger, a successful pan-Asian restaurant in New York.
Yamasaki Teriyaki’s menu sticks to Japanese classics like chicken katsu (fried cutlet), vegetable tempura and bento boxes — set meals of teriyaki, dumplings and sushi. Teriyaki offerings range from $6.99 to $7.99 and include chicken, beef, salmon and shrimp.
Special sushi rolls range from the Lucky 7 with spicy tuna and avocado to the Black Dragon with shrimp tempura and eel (both $13). BBQ items and appetizers such as gyoza dumplings and negimaki beef rolls are also featured.
Diners order at the counter or online to take out or eat in, and delivery is offered for orders of $15 or more.
Yamasaki Teriyaki is located next to a Tropical Smoothie Café franchise in a Yale-owned building that has been fully renovated by the university. Once home to a downmarket liquor store and vacant apartments, the building now houses the two restaurants plus 18 renovated apartments rented at market rate.
The Tropical Smoothie Café opened in the building in 2015. (Wallingford-based Edible Arrangements recently hired the CEO of the Atlanta-based Tropical Smoothie Café chain to be its new CEO.)
Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com
