It’s a cozy afternoon at Yakuza House, a new restaurant on the local Japanese food scene, and Chef Huy Pham is doing what he does best—rolling sushi hand rolls, molding nigiri onto rice and chatting with his customers. The space is small, but the food is outstanding—delicate hand rolls, molded to perfection and served immediately as the chef completes them.
Chef Huy Pham presides over Yakuza House, photo by Marielle Songy.
Pham grew up in the restaurant business. His mother owned multiple businesses, including a Vietnamese restaurant—this is where his love of food developed and how he first started learning about Vietnamese cuisine. His introduction to Japanese food preparation began by rolling sushi at Café Zen and Hana and learning under the sushi chefs at these restaurants. He then worked at Rock-n-Sake, in the Warehouse District, until Katrina led to his relocation to New York.
“I moved to New York and helped open a Rock-n-Sake there,” Pham said. “After two years I came back home and jumped around from place to place. I worked at Little Tokyo in Mid City and then at Daiwa for four years, until the pandemic hit.”
Pham then decided to take a leap and open his own restaurant that offers hand rolls, donburi bowls, nigiri and sandos, the trendy Japanese-style sandwiches that have found popularity in San Francisco and Texas.
However, there’s no doubt that the star of the show is the hand rolls. Delicately made with rice and other ingredients such as braised scallops, red scallops, blue crab and yellowtail, the concoctions are then wrapped in nori—the dried seaweed that keeps it all together.
The donburi bowls are hard to pass up. This rice-bowl dish is made with meat or fish and vegetables and the chef adds other ingredients to his concoctions such as egg, seeds, sautéed mushrooms and different kinds of fish roe.
The nigiri list includes unagi eel, salmon belly, sweet shrimp and yellowtail and is served in the traditional way, plain or dressed.
Of course, you’re going to want to try the sandos—sandwiches made with meat or other ingredients and served on sweet bread. As the only restaurant in town that keeps these special sandwiches on the menu, Yakuza House offers three different kinds. Mando is made with katsu pork, cabbage, truffle kewpie, dijon and katsu sauce; Yakido is made with chicken, egg-salad, cabbage, truffle kewpie, dijon and katsu sauce; and Ichigo is a sweet version made with vanilla mascarpone cream and fresh strawberries.
Songy sandwich at Yakuza House, photo by Marielle Songy
Yakuza House is small, with only four tables and six bar seats, so reservations are required. Sit at the sushi bar if you’re able, so that you can witness Pham’s mastery up close. He wields his knife the way a painter might a brush, gently cutting and carving away at fresh fish. He then quickly rolls it into rice and nori and presents it on a small plate. Sometimes he uses a torch to sear the fish slightly, or he’ll fan out slices of yellowtail crudo onto a plate, in a way that’s photo-worthy.
On my visit, I had the Nibbles hand roll set, which came with three kinds of hand rolls—salmon, bay scallop and blue crab, which were served fresh when I was ready for them. As Pham worked, he carried on conversations with the customers sitting at his sushi bar and kept an eye on everyone’s plate. When you finish your hand roll, he’ll ask if you’re ready for the next.
I also enjoyed the Yakido sando and I was surprised at how well the crispy chicken and the egg salad worked together. Pham mentioned that he loves egg salad, so he thought it would be a good addition to the sandwich.
If you’re looking for an intimate, unique Japanese food experience, Yakuza House is the place for you. Everything here is done well—from the intimate seating to the process of enjoying handrolls and nigiri that has been prepared fresh before your eyes. Chef Huy’s focus is excellence and it is obvious from start to finish.
Yakuza House: 1325 Veterans Memorial Blvd., 504·345·2031.
Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday and Monday, closed.
