In West Windsor, a new Japanese and sushi restaurant is attracting attention on several restaurant review sites, as well as from workers at the nearby office parks. Mizu opened its doors in June at 217 Clarksville Road adjacent to Kumon tutoring, the Clarksville Cafe, and Capuano’s Italian restaurant and pizzeria.
In Japanese language Mizu is the word for cold, fresh water. It is also one of the five elements in Japanese philosophy (water, ground, wind, fire, and sky). Its owners selected West Windsor to open their business as they foresaw several elements for success here.
Qing Dong, who goes by Kenny, has been a sushi chef for the past 12 years. He came to the U.S. from China in 1999 and learned his craft from his sister’s husband, Michael, who was a “high sushi chef” working at a Japanese restaurant called Hana on 86th street in Manhattan. While living with his sister, Fang, and her family in Queens, Kenny observed Michael’s skill and quickly developed as a full-time sushi chef.
Kenny were born and raised in Fujian Province, located on the southeastern coast of mainland China, and less than 200 miles from Taiwan. Both of Kenny’s parents were farmers, mainly involved in producing rice and vegetables.
In his home province he met his future wife, Lin, whose mother was a homemaker and father worked in construction. Lin came to the U.S. in the fall of 2002. She got her start in the restaurant business in the U.S. at a Japanese restaurant in Orlando, Florida. Lin has one younger brother, Feng, who moved to New York in 2006. Her brother’s arrival gave Kenny a chance to reciprocate the training he received from his own brother-in-law. Kenny taught Feng to be a sushi chef. A number of men in Lin Dong’s family have became sushi chefs, including two of her cousins who also came to New York.
In June of 2011 Kenny and Lin Dong decided to move to central New Jersey to scope out areas to start their own restaurant in. With a second child on the way, finding a nice community to live in was also a top priority. One friend suggested that they look at West Windsor because of its reputation for good schools and the number of businesses located in the general area.
Kenny Dong had been commuting to Japanese restaurants in Freehold and East Windsor for work between 2005 and 2011. He says he took note of West Windsor’s proximity to Princeton, the Quakerbridge Mall, and Route 1. He also found that there were very few Japanese restaurants in the vicinity, meaning a sizable market was underserved, with little options for sushi and Japanese food.
“We saw a lot of places in the area that offered Asian food, but many people we spoke to said they only liked Japanese food and sushi in particular,” Lin Dong said.
The couple consulted with the sushi chef — and business owner — who inspired Kenny. A few years ago Kenny’s brother-in-law opened a sushi restaurant of his own — also named Mizu — in trendy Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It fit in nicely with the neighborhood there. The two Mizus are mutually exclusive, only sharing the same name, but the family ties remain strong. Kenny Dong’s sister was sad to see her brother and his young family leave New York, but she gave her blessing.
“She told us if there is a chance for you to own a new business, the move will be good,” Lin Dong says.
In July, a month after Mizu opened, the Dongs rented a home on Alexander Road in West Windsor. They are well-settled now, despite working long hours and handling their roles — one as a chef, the other as the hostess — apart from managing the business.
“Compared to New York it is more quite here. There is more quality of life — the setting is beautiful, with nature around us,” Lin Dong said.
Also over the summer Lin and Kenny’s new addition — Angel, who was born in February — was taken to China to stay with the couple’s family back home. Nearly a year ago the couple’s older daughter, 4-year-old Nicole, went to live with her paternal grandparents and other relatives. The couple says both daughters are enjoying spending their time together, although Lin Dong jokes that Nicole “likes boys” and wanted her baby sister to be a boy.
Kenny designed the menu for Mizu, and he says bento boxes make a popular lunchtime choice for the office crowd. The restaurant also has two unique specialties. One is the Mizu sushi roll, which features tempura shrimp, snow crab, avocado, asparagus, and fish roe with a soybean wrap.
The other is an item Lin and Kenny make for customers (but do not list on the menu) — a tuna dumpling made with snow crab, mango, and jalapeno pepper. Lin Dong says that many of Mizu’s repeat customers order the tuna dumpling. She adds that the restaurant is most crowded on weekends during the dinner hours. Kenny Dong said the office crowd has also been steady for weekday lunch deliveries.
Although there were frustrations on the road to opening Mizu, in the process Lin Dong made some friends at the township offices. “When I was pregnant (in 2011), I had been going almost every day to check with the township, and the staff got to know me well and they kept asking me about my baby and the due date. Finally, when I had the baby everybody at the township offices wanted to see her,” Dong said.
“There is more of a community feeling when I see a lot of kids here,” she says.
With the business now gaining in popularity, Lin Dong says she would like concentrate more on learning English through an ESL program. Dong said in a few years she would like to attend college. Eventually her daughters will join their mother and father in town and attend the schools here, and the couple hopes their children will gain a great education and many opportunities in America.
Mizu Japanese Cuisine, Village Square Plaza, 217 Clarksville Road, West Windsor. Open seven days a week. 609-750-9535.
