WICHITA — This must be the week for Japanese restaurant news.
In addition to Emperor’s Japanese Grill and Tsu Basa that will be opening on the east side, the Japanese steak house and sushi restaurant Wazabz will open in the former Sumo (which moved farther east) space at 3236 N. Rock Road.
That’s not to be confused with the new Wasabi Japanese Restaurant, which is opening in Old Town.
Wazabz owner Evan Spicer says the Wasabi owner let him know he didn’t care for his name choice, but Spicer isn’t changing it.
“It’s almost kind of like ‘hamburger,’ ” Spicer says. “How are you going to patent that?”
Spicer is an owner in the Chalet, a sports bar at 3030 Penstemon St., and a partner in numerous Sonics in Kansas.
He wanted to open a Japanese steak house for personal reasons.