Since Aji Kiji opened just over a year ago in Japantown, it has consistently attracted lines stretching down the block. So why is the uber-popular, takeout-only sushi restaurant suddenly closing?
Because it’s got a new home, at 359 Kearny St. in the Financial District. “Downtown is recently, I feel, doing better,” chef Jinwoong Lim says. “Two years ago, Kearny Street was dead. Now, it’s the best place to be selling lunch boxes.”
Calling Aji Kiji’s offerings “lunch boxes” is a bit of an understatement — they’re practically works of art. Lim, who learned the craft of sushi making at Kinjo (now closed) and Kabuto in the Richmond, applies Michelin-level technique to his bamboo boxed lunches. He uses two kinds of red vinegar to season his short-grain Tamanishiki sushi rice and includes a tiny fish-shaped bottle of house-blended soy sauce with every meal. Most offerings are garnished with herbs or delicate flowers cut from fresh carrots.
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The menu of bentos, nigiri and maki sushi, and donburi won’t change after the move, meaning customers can expect options like bara chirashi ($36), a multicolored mosaic of raw fish and roe over a bed of sushi rice, and an omakase box loaded with 10 pieces of nigiri sushi, each type of fish cut and dressed to best suit its flavor, plus a six-piece maki roll and array of pickles ($54).
Lim says the only notable change will be an effort to cut down on the wait time, which can stretch up to an hour. “Many people complain about waiting. This is kind of a big issue,” Lim says. So at the new restaurant, he’ll have one line for customers picking up preorders placed online and one for walk-ins hoping to snag a box.
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He expects Aji Kiji to close in Japantown in mid- to late October and is planning for a week-long interlude before reopening downtown. The restaurant will join a roster of food businesses moving to the Financial District, including classics like Wayfare Tavern, Turtle Tower, and Crustacean, as well as popular bagel shops Schlok’s and Boichik.
With the addition of Aji Kiji, which kick-started a takeout sushi boom when it opened last summer, there will be at least one less excuse to settle for a sad desk lunch downtown.