New sushi restaurant with sizzle opens in north Modesto offering volcanic stone entrees
You don’t always associate the sound of sizzling with sushi restaurants. But then Modesto’s Okawa Sushi & Grill wants to stand out above the rest of the area’s raw fish crowd.
The new restaurant opened at the end of August in the new The Marketplace shopping center at the corner of Oakdale Road and Sylvan Avenue. The restaurant is the third to open in the newly constructed retail strip that accompanies the city’s flagship Save Mart grocery store.
Longtime Modesto sushi fans likely will know its co-owner, Jing Lin, who also operates the popular Osaka Sushi. Lin has run the McHenry Avenue sushi spot for the last five years, after purchasing it from its previous owner.
Now she has branched into northeast Modesto in the newly constructed shopping center, which also has a new La Parilla Mexican restaurant and The Pho Vietnamese eatery.
Okawa is part of a regional chain owned by Lin, with other locations in Santa Clarita and near San Diego. Modesto manager and co-owner Beck He said they were attracted to the 3,000-square-foot space’s newness and nearness to Riverbank, which does not have its own dedicated sushi restaurant.
The new eatery is named after the Japanese city of Okawa, in the country’s southern Fukuoka Prefecture. The inside dining room is neat and spacious, with clean lines and understated Japanese decor.
All of the restaurant’s sizzle comes, quite literally, from its food. Some of its more popular menu items are the volcano stone entrees. You can pick your protein from chicken and steak (rib eye or filet mignon) or seafood (shrimp, scallops or lobster tail) all served steaming hot on a black stone slab. The specialty runs from $20 to $33.
Think of it sort of like a Japanese fajitas platter, or less saucy Mexican molcajete dish. But pro tip to those who order this, the sizzle is no special effect and the stone is indeed extremely hot. Your meat will continue to cook on the slab, so if you’re a slower eater remove it so it doesn’t overcook.
As the name suggests, the restaurant also has an extensive sushi menu. Fans of Osaka Sushi will recognize some of their signature rolls (including the Crunchy Munchy, Cherry Blossom and Dragon King rolls). But He said Okawa uses different sauces as well as having its own exclusive rolls that are different from the McHenry Avenue sister site.
Those include the Volcano Roll (crabmeat and avocado baked with scallops on top for $14.95, the Yum Yum roll (lobster tempura topped with smoked salmon for $19.95) and the Tomo Roll (spicy salmon, tempura flakes and mango topped with salmon and sauces for $14.95). Specialty rolls run $13 to $20.
The new restaurant’s large menu also includes an assortment of ramen, and diners can pick from seafood, pork, chicken, steak or black garlic for $13.95.
But if sushi, ramen or sizzling volcano stones aren’t your thing, Okawa also serves several teriyaki dishes from steak to salmon and chicken, as well as crunchy deep-fried tonkatsu chicken, from $17 to $21.
The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily, with a special lunch menu on weekdays and the full dinner menu available all weekend. They only offer their popular bento boxes (in chicken, shrimp, salmon or beef) during lunch. The boxes come with miso soup, salar, rice, two chicken gyozas and four California roll pieces and are a bargain for $13 to $14. You can snag some sushi bar lunch specials as well.
Okawa Sushi & Grill, at 3401 Oakdale Road Suite 600 in Modesto, is open 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For more information call 209-799-1945 or visit www.okawasushigrill.com.
This story was originally published October 3, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
