Denver Restaurant Sushi Den

Mile High Sushi

In the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, Sushi Den is a jewel of a sushi bar in Denver's Platt Park neighborhood.

By Liz Pearson | Saturday, 03 October 2009 | 10:59

Toshi Kizaki tending the 23-seat bar at Sushi Den.

I was altogether landlocked when I ate the freshest sushi of my life. In Denver, of all places. Talk about your fish out of water.

Before heading out west recently, my husband and I asked scores of friends -- present and former Denverites, career foodies and seasoned travelers -- where to eat in Denver. Hyperbole aside, every single person we asked barked without hesitation, "Sushi Den!"

Folks really wanted us to chance one of our few dinners in town on sushi in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains? It was hard to imagine how a 220-seat Japanese restaurant and sushi bar in Denver's Platt Park neighborhood came to earn its fiercely loyal, Rolling Stones-like cult following. But my husband and I are no dummies. We tucked our skepticism away, headed to Sushi Den on a Saturday night and jumped into the excited queue quickly forming down the block.

Fresh from Japan

Opened as a much smaller venture in 1985 by Yasu Kizaki and his quiet, younger brother Toshi, a Master Sushi Chef, Sushi Den now has 95 employees that serve roughly 700 people on an average Saturday, all the while maintaining that personalized, mystic feeling of a neighborhood joint that sushi lovers chase after for a lifetime.

The Kizaki brothers, who count samurai among their ancestors, were raised in Tamana, Japan. Their parents spent long hours farming rice and silkworms, leaving the boys to prepare their own meals from what grew in the garden. "We didn't plan to become chefs when we were 9 or 10 years old," Yasu, now 55, tells me. "We just had to eat."

While Yasu and Toshi owe their success to decades of backbreaking work and dedication, truth is they have a hell of a secret weapon far across the Pacific. Much of the credit for Sushi Den's success belongs to the third and youngest Kizaki brother, 49-year-old Koichi. Each morning at 4, Koichi arrives at the Nagahama Fish Market on Kyushu island in southern Japan, where roughly $1 million of achingly fresh seafood is auctioned off each day. There, Koichi hand selects the fish that are painstakingly cleaned, vacuum-packed and shipped overseas on dry ice to his older brothers, who will prepare them 24 hours later in Denver.

Gnomefish and amberjack

"When we first started, the quality of the fish wasn't great. We didn't get a lot of respect from fish suppliers either," Yasu says. "We knew from the beginning that we had to find a better way." Respectfully, he adds, "My father also taught us that we had to become leaders in whatever we do."

Toshi Kizaki, Master Sushi Chef.

When Koichi became hands-on in the family business about 10 years after if first opened, Yasu and Toshi saw their customer base grow exponentially, thanks to the word-of-mouth excitement growing over the vivid and unique seafood they were suddenly able to offer. On any given day, the chefs at Sushi Den prepare exquisite akamutsu (gnomefish), kanpachi (amberjack), kohada (Japanese shad), saba (mackerel), sanma (mackerel pike), katsuo (bonito), lidako (baby octopus) and others, all direct from one of Japan's largest and most esteemed fish markets.

This sort of importing shell game is commonplace at sushi shrines in San Francisco, New York or Las Vegas, where a meal can set you back a month's rent. But imagine trying to make those same magical moments happen for your customers at a family-run sushi bar in Denver whose fair prices stay firmly within reach. Picture the faces of Americans who pine after their spicy tuna and California rolls when they taste akamutsu for the first time. Prepared aburi-style, its skin is lightly grilled and gently toothsome, its flesh still raw and buttery.

Six days a week, you'll find Toshi and Yasu swiftly preparing sushi behind the bar at Sushi Den. Customers, starry-eyed, can't help themselves and watch the brothers intensely, their masterful hands proudly cradling the fish that Koichi presents to them, all the way from home.
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