Sushi Pro takes the belt route in Ogden
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- Joe Pan, owner of Sushi Pro, with the conveyor belt that carries sushi throughout the restaurant.
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- Plates of Alaska roll travel on the conveyor belt at Sushi Pro in Ogden.
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- California rolls travel on the conveyor belt at Sushi Pro in Ogden.
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- The Alaska roll at Sushi Pri, made of smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber.
Sushi Pro in Ogden is moving sushi in a new direction, in every sense of the word.
The restaurant uses the kaiten-sushi concept (“rotating sushi” in Japanese), with a conveyor belt that moves past every table.
Colored plates of various types of sushi are on the belt, and when the sushi comes to their table, patrons choose the plates they want and take them off the belt to eat. Flag markers identify the type of sushi and its ingredients as it rotates.
The plates are color-coded by price, starting with white plates at $2.29 to black plates costing $4.99. The final bill is based on the number and the color of plates of the eaten sushi.
It’s the first of its kind in Ogden, said proprietor Joe Pan, but these are very commonplace in Japan, where it was invented in 1958 to serve more customers quickly with fewer servers. Pan said he’s seen many of these revolving sushi bars in China and in larger American cities.
“People say it’s quicker, being able to grab something off the belt, and they can try many different pieces of sushi for less money,” Pan said.
So far it’s been well-received, said manager Veronica Estrada. “We’ve been open five weeks and we have had a lot of repeat customers.”
Pan (nicknamed Peter Pan by his cooking friends) came to the U.S. from China 10 years ago and honed his culinary skills through restaurant jobs in Salt Lake City, Arizona and Texas.
“It was all on-the-job training,” he said.
While working in a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in Phoenix, Pan decided he’d like to open his own. But it took several years to find the right location and acquire the necessary equipment. The conveyor belt was especially challenging.
“It was very hard,” he said. “I had to let them design the belt and ship it here, and I spent several months putting it all together myself.”
He initially was going to call his place Sushi Plus, but then decided to go with Sushi Pro.
As customers come in, a server seats them and explains how the system works.
Most of the time, diners will find what they want off the conveyor belt. But they are also able to place special orders for a specific type of roll, or for non-sushi dishes such as teriyaki chicken, shrimp or beef. The restaurant also takes online orders for pickup.
What about sushi plates that don’t get taken quickly by customers? Do they just keep rotating and become a possible food safety hazard?
“The sushi can be kept at room temperature for four hours, but we have a timer for each item and keep them on the belt less than four hours,” he said. “If the timer goes off, that plate is pulled.”
“He doesn’t start making anything until people start coming in,” Estrada said of Pan.”Sometimes at the beginning, not everything goes out on the belt, so most of the time it stays fresh.”
Also, each plate is topped with a clear lid to avoid contamination or other customers touching the food as it travels among the tables.
One of the top sellers is the baked scallop roll, which is Pan’s own creation. It’s a California roll — snow crab, avocado, seaweed and rice — topped with a small baked scallop.
“The people who don’t like raw fish will like the Vegas,” Estrada said. It’s a deep-fried roll of salmon, cream cheese and avocado.
Another favorite is the Alaska roll – smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber.
Pan has noticed that customer tastes have become more sophisticated over the years.
“With my first job, the customers didn’t order raw fish very often,” he said. “But now nigiri is getting more popular.”
At Sushi Pro, salmon is the most popular nigiri. The salmon is farmed from Canada.
Caramel salmon is Estrada’s favorite. The raw salmon goes on a bed of rice with mayo and sugar. Then it’s heated with a torch until the sugar is caramelized.
“Customers tell me that it just melts in your mouth,” Estrada said.
IF YOU GO
Sushi Pro
Location: 4337 Harrison Blvd., Ogden
Contact: https://www.sushiproutah.com/
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; noon to 9 p.m. Sunday
Prices: $2.29 for individual sushi to $19.99 for 10-piece sashimi combo.