A new sushi & ramen restaurant is opening on Tuesday in the old Popeye’s location in Destin, Florida.

• DOMO Izakaya is the newest venture from the owners of the popular Domo Cafe and Think Poke restaurants in Fort Walton Beach.

“Izakaya is a type of Japanese-style pub,” explained Stacy Lee, co-owner of DOMO Izakaya. “A spot to grab a drink, settle in, and get comfortable. We want people to come in for a light drink and cozy up with our food and make it a hang out spot.”

With two successful operations in Fort Walton Beach, Lee says they wanted to bring a new concept to the area. When they got the chance to buy the old Popeye’s location, they knew it would be a great place for DOMO Izakaya to call home.

• “We wanted to bring more of an upscale sushi menu to the Destin area,” explains Lee. “At Domo Cafe, what we have right now is more of a casual dining experience but this will be more upscale than Domo Cafe.”

What makes Izakaya sushi different than Domo Café is that they use of a lot of local seafood that Destin is known for.

• Also, they infuse different types of aromatic/earthy ingredients such as garlic pesto, truffle, and onion/ginger pesto to create unique flavors between traditional and modern sushi, according to Lee.

Building on the popularity of ramen dishes at Domo Cafe, Lee says she and her husband contemplated opening a ramen shop in Fort Walton Beach. After looking at a few locations, COVID struck and put a stop to those immediate plans.

“We were waiting and then when this opportunity came up, we wanted to do ramen and sushi together,” she said. “It’ll be more of a fusion-ramen. There will be vegetarian options and meat-lovers options. We will have authentic Japanese ramens as well, along with fusion-style ramen too.”

The building has gone through a transformation, and Lee says they had to tear everything out to create the high-end, Japanese vibe they were after.

• “We want DOMO Izakaya to be more of a place the younger generation can come in, eat and enjoy light drinking before they go out,” she said. “We wanted to make this a hangout spot before you go out.”

Lee says that in addition to Asian desserts, they will also have a Nigiri Omakase plate.

Omasake is a form of Japanese dining in which guests leave themselves in the hands of a chef and receive a meal which is seasonal, elegant, artistic and uses the finest ingredients available.

Even with the Destin location opening this week, the entrepreneurs still have big plans across Northwest Florida as they look to continue opening more locations.

• “We want to open more restaurants in the future. Our goal is for our entire team’s success and growth together as a team and we want to contribute new culture into this growing community.”

Talking about the success of her two current locations, Lee says that while Domo Cafe has always been consistent, Think Poke was slower to grow mainly because not a lot of people knew what poke was 5 years ago.

“Back then, people had no idea what the poke was but now if you say ‘poke’, people know what you mean and they know how to eat poke bowls,” she added. “And we are really proud of that!”

Another thing Lee is proud of is their homemade sauces. All of the sauces for all three restaurants are homemade with the exception of sriracha.

• “Everything else is made from scratch and that’s what we are proud of,” she added. “That’s something that make us non-comparable to any other restaurant because we make everything from scratch.”

And finally, the team…

“We are very fortunate to have met and built this team,” she said. “Every single one of our employees is very important for us. We would never have been where we are now without each one of their hard work for the team. Our strong team bond makes us so unique from any other restaurants that we strive for success together.”

DOMO Izakaya opens on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 and will be open Tuesday-Sunday from 4-9pm. (Closed Mondays)