So just when, several Fat City readers have asked us, is the new Drunken Fish Sushi Restaurant and Lounge opening in the former Bice Bistro space in the Power & Light District?
"It's very close, just a couple of weeks away," says Allison Schiller, spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based restaurant group. (It's too early to really call the company a chain: There are three locations in St. Louis; Kansas City will be the fourth and the first outside the River City.)
Fat City's Jonathan Bender initially reported that Drunken Fish had leased the two-story Bice location last August.
When completed, it will be the largest venue in the 7-year-old restaurant group, and Schiller thinks the space -- which will be transformed to reflect what she calls the "high energy, untraditional, trendy and upscale" concept of Drunken Fish -- will be a draw for the P&L District's younger, cocktail-swilling demographic.
"We'll offer happy hour three times a day, every day," she says. "We'll have food and drink specials each day from 11 a.m. to noon, 5 to 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. until we close. We'll have select menu items at half-price."
Although sushi is the restaurant's primary draw, the menu features stir-fry dishes, soups and a dozen dinner entrees that are all, you know, cooked.
The name of the restaurant was created by owner Muksok So, who is of Korean heritage but a native of St. Louis. I asked Schiller if her boss had been eating in any Kansas City restaurants during his visits to Kansas City, preparing for the mid-February opening of Drunken Fish.
"He has, but he hasn't said too much about them," she says."Oh, except a dim sum place on the Plaza. He liked that."
Oh yeah, that place.
The Kansas City restaurant will also kick off with the new Drunken Fish drink menu: six pages of sophisticated cocktails -- martinis are a big seller at the other locations -- and a greatly expanded saki list.
"It's not just about eating sushi," Schiller says. "It's about the experience."
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