Three slices of pork belly rested on oval-shaped balls of sweet potato gnocchi. The pork belly end propped up against the gnocchi had one, carefully placed thin slice of pickled aji amarilla pepper.

In the center of the deep blue plate was a fennel salad with microgreens and a slice of carrot that had been artfully carved to resemble a leaf.

Kusshi, which still bears the name El Sancho Super Secret Side Street Saloon on its exterior window, is officially a permanent restaurant.

Ian Skomski founded the concept as a pop-up restaurant in 2017. Then, in 2022, it adopted the name El Kussho, representing a collaboration with El Sancho by mashing the names and cuisines of the two businesses together.

Now, Kusshi’s menu is fully focused on Japanese cuisine with Peruvian influence. Known as Nikkei cuisine, the fusion of culinary traditions was born in Peru when Japanese immigrants utilized local ingredients to create traditional dishes of their homeland.

Dream team

Skomski, a graduate of the California Sushi Academy and Sushi Chef Institute with 24 years of experience as a sushi chef, has combined his talents with Marcus Mitchell, who specializes in Peruvian cuisine and Yayoi Moylan, a hospitality industry veteran.

Mitchell describes his restaurant career as eclectic.

“I’ve cooked lots of different cuisines over the years, but my most cherished was a three-year period of time that I spent working with Peruvian chefs in Portland,” he said of the since-closed Del Inti on Alberta Street.

Their three careers converged at El Sancho, where Moylan was the general manager and Mitchell managed the Bend’s west side location.

“After long careers in the restaurant industry all over the place, we kind of all found ourselves working at a taco shop,” Mitchell said. “Then we ended up doing this and combining all our backgrounds and what we want to do and our passions and spirits.”

In November, the trio departed for Lima, where they tasted incredible Nikkei cuisine and discovered they were already on the right track, Skomski said.

Nikkei cuisine

Kusshi’s menu is half specials and half static, allowing ample room for the chefs to introduce seasonal specials. It emphasizes tiradito, a Peruvian style of serving raw fish, similar to Japanese sashimi. It also features oysters and Peruvian-style ceviche, which, unlike the Mexican version of the dish, is typically served 15 minutes after the lime is added to the raw fish.

The crispy pork belly ($20), mentioned earlier, was perfectly cooked. It was delicately crisp on the outside and melted in my mouth. Small pools of a Nikkei sauce added sweetness to the expertly crafted dish.

A dish that has been a mainstay on the menu since the early iterations of the restaurant is the poke wontons ($16). Tuna poke was served on crunchy wonton chips with a hint of avocado, microgreens, a slice of daikon radish, green tobiko and a dash of sesame seeds for an explosion of flavor.

Another dish that has endured and been elevated is the lomo saltado ($29). It’s based on a popular Peruvian stir-fry dish incorporating beef, sautéed onions, tomatoes, French fries, rice and a flavorful sauce.

The lomo saltado was masterfully presented, a jumble of wagyu beef, chunks of potato, cherry tomatoes, sautéed red onion and small, crispy onions scattered on top. The wagyu coulotte, taken from the sirloin tip, was rare on the inside and charred on the outside. The potatoes were steaming hot, seasoned with a touch of salt and underdone enough to offer a pleasant chewiness. Even the light and sticky rice, served in a bowl on the side, was flavorful enough to be enjoyed on its own.

The menu happens to be largely gluten-free and dairy-free, which makes it a great choice for those who have special dietary restrictions, Skomski said.

Kusshi’s evolution

“This is the perfect challenge for us,” said Moylan, who delights in the perfection and consistency of the dishes she delivers to the table. “I want to keep showing off their creativity or arts,” she said, of Skomski and Mitchell.

Skomski aims to fill the culinary gap that exists in Bend between high-end restaurants and the plethora of burger and fry joints by creating a concept that exists in the in-between, with food made from the heart.

And after making sushi up and down the West Coast, he’s ready to do his own thing.

“We both worked in lots of restaurants for lots of different people, lots of different ways and we’re just trying to do it the way we want, do it the right way and get the freshest fish and consistently put out good food,” he said, adding that teaming up with Mitchell and Moylan “is the best possible situation he could ask for.”

Kusshi recently launched a happy hour menu, offered from 4 to 5:30 p.m. during its Wednesday through Saturday service. It includes many of the same dishes on the standard menu at discounted prices.

Specials, such as last week’s ceviche Nikkei with bigeye and tombo tuna, are regularly posted to Kusshi’s social media pages.

Walk-ins are welcome, but reservations are recommended.

Details

What: Kusshi

Location: 113 SW Century Drive, Suite 204, Bend

Contact: 541-593-1213, @kusshinw on Instagram or facebook.com/kusshinw

Hours: 4-9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday

Price Range: Menu items from $6-$29