What's the secret to almost 30 years of Dharma Blue? Sushi, service and staff fishing trips

“Dharma Blue will be different!” a 1996 Dharma Blue employment ad promised readers in a February edition of the Pensacola News Journal before.

Dharma Blue co-owner Chips Kirschenfeld knew even 28 years ago that plopping a hand-rolled sushi bar in the heart of downtown Pensacola was going to turn heads. The brightly colored walls and eclectic collection of regional paintings was a bold move for the quaint and historic Seville Square at 300 S. Alcaniz St., filled with live oak trees and peaceful park benches.

By April, the white table clothes and velvet curtains of the former Scotto’s Italian Restaurant has been transformed in what Kirschenfeld hoped would be a “casual and hip” gathering place for fresh seafood, steaks, pasta and sushi, he told the News Journal in a 1996 interview when describing the restaurant.

Everything about the café since conception alluded that it truly would be different.

Nearly three decades later, Kirschenfeld reminisced about what has helped the restaurant not only survive over the changing times but remain one of the Pensacola’s most-loved dining establishments. None of it would have probably ever happened had he not had a little too much to drink at Scotto’s one night and told owner Richard Scotto, “Richard! I think I’ll buy your restaurant.”

Kirschenfeld is a marine biologist. He had no plans of becoming a restauranteur. But he was a bachelor who found himself eating out at Scotto’s more regularly than he would like to admit. He loved the place, he loved the owners, and when they broke the news to him that he was losing his regular watering hole, some divine intervention (or the alcohol) started talking, telling him it would be a good idea for him to take over.

He may not have known the first thing about restaurants, but his college buddy Charles sure did. Charles Morgan was, and still is, owner and operator of popular Destin seafood restaurant Harbor Docks that opened in 1979, was on a path of creating a culinary empire. Since then, he has opened up restaurants all over the region.

“You have to come here and help me,” Kirschenfeld remembers pleading with Morgan over the phone that night.

Thankfully, it didn’t take much convincing. The next day, the two signed the paperwork and began dreaming up Dharma Blue.

The restaurant named after a dead Hollywood producer’s screenplay

There were a few things that Kirschenfeld and Morgan were sure of. They were going to offer state-of-the-art sushi, with a menu drafted by local sushi celebrity Yoshi Eddings. They were going to knock down the walls in hopes of making the restaurant feel more open. They were going to solicit a local artist to paint a mural lining the restaurant’s back room.

Then, they hit a roadblock.

“We didn’t really stop and think about the name,” Kirschenfeld said. “We were just busy.”

They stayed up one night until close to 3 a.m. tossing around idea after idea when they began looking for outside inspiration. Flipping through an old New York Magazine, they came across an article about the death of Hollywood film producer Don Simpson on January 19, 1996, and the UFO screenplay he never lived to finish: Dharma Blue.

They ran with it, but soon after rushed to Barnes and Noble to ensure they knew what the word Dharma actually meant. Thankfully, they liked the definition.

According to Britannica, dharma is a key concept with multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, but how the two interpreted it is it’s the “the service in essence to all.”

The famous sun-dried tomato fresh catch

While the sushi bar showcasing over 30 hand-crafted rolls is a showstopper, the dinner menu is famous in its own right. But not for being flashy, but for being consistent.

Chef Brian Culleton, who has been a chef at Dharma Blue at least 15 years, said his dishes are cooked simply, many using French techniques but in a way that's approachable for customers.

The chalkboard specials for “fish of the day” are a constant best seller, and the salt and pepper seasoned steaks are among Kirschenfeld’s favorite items on the menu. But the Sun-Dried Tomato Fresh Catch is the item they can never take off the menu.

Starring a piece of panko-crusted fresh catch, its served with mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables and a homemade lemon caper cream.

“It has been on the menu since I was a baby,” Culleton said. “When I’m gone, it will still be here.”

While the dishes are top tier, made with the freshest ingredients possible and carefully cooked and plated, they are still approachable enough for anyone at any time.

“You can come here in flip flops or a suit, that’s what we pride ourselves on,” Culleton said.

Matthew Walters, Dharma Blue's head sushi chef that started in 2019, said the attention to detail translates into every roll. It can get tedious, cleaning every individual shrimp, salt-curing salmon and using his own special ponzu recipe from scratch, but the process creates a freshness you can taste, Walters said.

Customers can grab a seat at the bar, which you’ll see packed on $2 off Monday sushi nights, and watch Walters and his crew hand-roll each one to order. If you’re lucky, you many even get a glimpse of Yoshi, the sushi master herself, who frequents Dharma Blue on Mondays.

“I worked with her (Yoshi) for many years … she taught me everything I know,” Walters said. “There’s like a persona she has. She’s a legend locally.”

One of the most popular rolls is the Big Papi, named after Morgan’s fishing boat, made with fresh tuna, fried tempura, green onion, spicy sauce and topped with yellowtail, avocado, jalapeno, eel sauce, kewpie mayo and siracha.

Another popular roll was created by Dharma sushi chef Ben Heyse, fittingly named the “Big Ben” roll, made with shrimp, avocado, tempura, wasabi and topped with krab, eel, eel sauce, spicy mayo and smelt roe.

“That’s something you can only get here,” Walters said.

The annual "of-fish-al business" fishing trip on Big Papi

Like a cozy visit in your childhood home, framed photographs fill the Dharma Blue dining rooms. Many employees have been there long enough to find themselves in them.

Elizabeth Syerak, a Dharma Blue server for over 20 years, can point to herself dodging behind another employee on one of their annual Destin fishing trips out on Morgan’s Big Papi, which they call their “of-fish-al business."

Not only is it a day of fun in the sun, but it gives employees the chance to see where a lot of their seafood is caught.

Syerak has been at the restaurant so long, it’s a running joke that she’s in the lease.

Their regular customers have remained just as consistent, and Syerak has watched many of them grow up.

“You know their family that comes in town to visit,” Syerak said. “You get connected.

If consistency is the common thread for the restaurant’s food, it’s also a major theme for the service.

“None of my staff leaves when they get here,” said Diana Mills, general manager for almost 17 years.

“We let don’t let anybody go down. If one person needs help, we all help,” Mills said. “It’s just a happy place to come to work to every day.”

Syerak said there’s a clear reason why their staff stays so long.

“They take a personal interest in taking care of their employees,” Syerak said.

For more updates and information on Dharma Blue, visit the Dharma Blue Facebook page.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Dharma Blue in downtown Pensacola beloved for sushi, seafood, service