Four friends open up downtown eatery

 Felicia Frazar The Seguin Gazette

In a small, but intimate setting, a quartet of partners have brought new flavors to downtown Seguin.

Dewi Setiady, Immelda Utama, I Made Sudikin and Kadek Budi Sastiadi recently opened Ebi Ebi Sushi, a sushi bar and hibachi grill, located at 110 E. Court St., across from the Guadalupe County Courthouse.

The partners met while working together at a restaurant in New Braunfels. Through their time there, they decided to branch out and try their hand at owning and operating their own business.

“We are so excited to be here. We hope that we can make this work,” Setiady said. “We’re trying sooner or later to make all of these customers our family. That is the way they work before. We want to make it feel like a family.”

Each of the four come from different backgrounds as servers, sushi and hibachi chefs, a former business owner and a food scientist.

The idea to open the restaurant came from Sastiadi, and soon became a collaboration between the four, Setiady said.

“To me it is kind of scary, it is a lot of work,” she said. “But after thinking about it, let’s do it. Let’s become partner and open restaurant.”

The group looked at several locations in various towns, but felt Seguin with its projected growth was the place to be, Setiady said.

With Setiady’s dream of having a restaurant along one of the town’s main thoroughfares, the group came upon the downtown location, which formerly housed PJ’s. It needed a little work, she admitted, but it fit into the group’s plan.

“It is a very ugly duckling place,” she said of the small storefront. “It is affordable, it is small, but this is what is meant to be. We have to find our name here, our root here because this is just a brand new restaurant. We have experience, but we have not been an owner yet. I said let’s just start it small, but in the center of it all.”

The menu offers include made-to-order sushi, hibachi options, Yakisoba noodles, Japanese teas, and desserts. Almost all of the sauces are homemade including the teriyaki, yum yum sauce and honey wasabi.

“We’re trying to do best for customer, best quality,” Sudikin said.

Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com

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