Montgomery County locals will soon be able to enjoy sushi at an area kosher sushi bar.
Sushi 7, will operate inside Nuthouse Pizza in Silver Spring, according to Nuthouse co-owner Michael Chelst.
The sushi bar, which is scheduled to open on May 15, will be owned and operated by Harold Wilner, owner of the kosher restaurant Seven Seas Sushi in Pikesville.
“There has been a real voice [from people] for a place to get sushi,” Chelst said, “I’ve been asked countless times [for a sushi restaurant.]”
While area kosher supermarkets sell kosher sushi, the food is made to
take out.
Sushi 7’s menu will include tuna, salmon, cucumber and avocado rolls, as well as poke bowls, in which fish with vegetables and sauce is served over rice. The food will be made to order, Chelst said.
“We’re going to have sushi. We’re going to have poke. We’re going to have all kinds of stuff with tuna. [We’re going to have] everything you see in a regular sushi place but no real shrimp or crab,” he said.
Much of the menu is inspired by Wilner’s restaurant. It’s also where the Sushi 7 gets its name. “We wanted to tie [the name in]. I built up a relationship with the guys in Baltimore and thought [a sushi place] would be good for the community. [Our menu] will be very similar to Seven Seas,” Chelst said.
Wilner, who used to own a wholesale company, has known Chelst for many years.
“[Chelst] has been a customer of ours for a long time. We were talking about doing something together with sushi,” Wilner said.
Originally, the two wanted to open the restaurant in the Char Bar in Washington, which Chelst operates, but found there wasn’t enough room. So they decided to open it in the pizzeria.
Right now, Wilner is looking for chefs to work in the restaurant.
“They don’t need to anything about kosher [law] to make sushi. That’s the good part. We have our own system of the way we make sushi and the people from Baltimore will train whoever we get,” he said.
Because Nuthouse Pizza is already certified kosher, Sushi 7 will not need to get its own certification. However, since the restaurants will be operating out of the same location, albeit with their own kitchens, they will hire a full-time mashgiach to supervise the kashrut status of the establishment.
“I’ve been in the food business a long time,” Wilner said. And I get more compliments on my sushi than
anything else I’ve done. [For the people] it means an extra choice, an extra
food item.”
