Colorado Springs sushi chef opening a Japanese pub at Lulu's Downstairs
Nov. 30—Phonephet Southichack, who goes by the nickname Rabbit, did some successful test pop-ups for his new project, Tenko Izakaya at Lulu's Downstairs, 107 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs. He is now set to open the eatery on Friday, from 5 p.m. to midnight .
"We will be open Wednesdays through Sundays," he said. "My partner in the business is Marc Benning, who is the owner of Lulu's Downstairs."
Southichack is best known as the former head sushi chef at B&R Sushi Bar downtown. The new restaurant is on the ground floor above Lulu's.
"It will be a Japanese izakaya or pub," he said. "This is the first phase. We eventually want to expand into the larger restaurant area as a sushi bar."
His menu for the first sit-down pop-up included appetizers (ranging $3 to $8) like edamame, miso soup, seaweed salad, gyoza, tempura, chicken wings, shishito peppers, sauteed trumpet mushrooms and miso butter corn. Shio ramen ($12), the entree, is roasted chicken and scallions with dashi broth with a ramen egg. Desserts included candied Japanese sweet potatoes ($4) or green tea cheesecake ($5).
Details: 719-424-7637, facebook.com/lulusdown stairs.
Coffee, sandwiches & more
Humble Bee Roastery, 2103 Templeton Gap Road, opened in 2014 as a drive-thru. In October, the owners expanded to a new brick and mortar coffee shop at 80 S. Cascade Ave., in the newly renovated first floor of the Wells Fargo building in the Antler's hotel. It's a large space with ample seating just south of Ducca's Pizza. In addition to a full menu of espresso drinks, you can pick up award-winning sandwiches and wraps furnished by Colonel Mustard's Sandwich Emporium. Scones and cinnamon rolls are provided by Blue Sunflour Bakeshop and Sasquatch cookies are also on the menu.
On a recent visit I picked up the sandwich shop's Royal Round breakfast sandwich, which won sixth place in a contest by National Restaurant News magazine in 2021. It features a Persian mixture called kuku sabzi, which is a bright green filling made with eggs, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, bell pepper, parsley, basil, spinach, garlic and turmeric. A breakfast sausage is topped with the flavorful mix and melted Boar's Head Vermont cheddar and served on a buttered ciabatta.
"We also make Humble Bee the RBG (really bacon-y gouda) and our breakfast burritos," said Karrie Williams, owner with her husband, Mark Jakusovszky, of Colonel Mustard's Sandwich Emporium. "For lunch, they offer our house salad, the Colonel sandwich, which has Black Forest ham, hard salami, sweet capicola, provolone, prosciutto di Parma, tomato, red onion, and lettuce on a hoagie, and a turkey wrap. We created the Bee for them, which is Black Forest ham and cheddar on sourdough."
The kiosk hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Coffee shop hours are 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Details: 719-322-2916, facebook.com/humblebee roastery
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Seafood feast
The Feast of the Seven Fishes takes place at The Bar at Almagre, 2460 Montebello Square Drive, 6 p.m. Dec. 6 and 8. For $245 (tax and gratuity included,) you get seven courses paired with a choice of wine or cocktails. Limited to 12 guests. Chef Ryan, owner of Cookery Amendola, will prepare the menu of crudo on the half shell (dayboat scallops and littleneck clams with Meyer lemon and caribe pepper), acqua pazza (soup of sea bass, capers and Colorado chile with cherry on-the-vine and chardonnay), panzanella alici (peasant bread salad with lemon-fried anchovies, cucumbers, heirloom and local greens), black on black pasta (homemade squid ink pasta with PEI mussels, black truffle veloute and black garlic), pesce in umido (stewed Alaskan cod in brodo di pesce broth with fennel, Taggiasca olives and local greens), intermezzo (basilicello and lemon granita), oyster mushroom osso bucco, (overnight bison shank, oyster mushrooms, celery root, leek and roasted chestnuts), and "lobster" tail (homemade sfogliatelle, a ridge Italian pastry, with ricotta impasta mixture, herbal flavored fiori di sicilia extract and local chocolates). Details: 719-888-0599, almagrevenue.com/shop
Contact the writer: 636-0271.
