Lee keeps it fresh for sushi bar's success

By Dale Rice
American-Statesman Restaurant Critic
Nov. 4, 2005

D.K. LEE OF SEOUL RESTAURANT AND SUSHI BAR

Deborah Cannon photos/AA-S Top: Owner D.K. Lee says Seoul will soon alter its menu and add nightly karaoke sessions, though he's retiring his 'Sushi Pimp' persona. Below: Made with salmon, jalapeño and mango, the above sushi selection is the type of fare you can expect at Seoul Restaurant and Sushi Bar on South First Street.

Now he feeds it to customers every day.

The reason is the rice, says Lee, owner and sushi chef of Seoul Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Far South Austin. Two restaurants can serve identical high-quality fish, but it's the molded finger of rice underneath that determines which one produces the better sushi.

"If you don't have good-tasting rice, you have nothing," says Lee, noting that the first time he had sushi there was too much vinegar in the rice.

Lee didn't set out to be in the restaurant business. Initially, he was in television and stereo sales. But a Korean chef whom he knew persuaded him to move to the risky business, where he nearly failed.

"The first three years, I was hungry," he says.

But Lee, whose brother taught him how to do sushi, never gave up on the restaurant — even though he says it's in "the worst location in the world" for a sushi bar: a nondescript strip center on South First Street just north of William Cannon Drive.

Now, at 13 years, Seoul is the third oldest surviving sushi bar in Austin, Lee says. "We made it," he says, "because Austinites are so grateful." They return to places they like.

Lee estimates that 85 percent of his customers come back. Good sushi, as well as delicious Korean and Japanese fare, is not the only draw.

An entertainer and marketer, Lee dresses as the "Sushi Pimp" for Monday night karaoke sessions. And he has installed a sushi cam to enable diners to view the sushi-making process.

However, Lee is about to retire his Monday role in favor of more subdued nightly karaoke sessions at the restaurant.

That, along with menu alterations and a new delivery system he's working on, will bring more innovation to Seoul.

"I'm ready for some change," he says.