The Dazzling Excellence of Chef Johanes Jonathan's Issho Ni Omakase Nights

Johanes Jonathan (right) Credit: Photo by Doug Trattner

Course No. 1
Ara with dashi ponzu, Japanese lime and mint flowers

The first time I heard about Issho Ni was when a friend raved about the ramen at this strip-mall sushi restaurant in Willoughby. Always eager to sample – and spread the word about – great food, I visited back in 2020. Indeed, the ramen was so exceptional that I penned an article in Scene urging others to make the trip. That story was published three days before Gov. Mike DeWine ordered the shutdown of all bars and restaurants.

That tonkotsu, miso and shoyu ramen are still worthy of a visit, but these days, the buzz is all about the sushi, specifically the omakase dinners. Held a couple evenings a month for the past two years, these intimate and exclusive meals are drawing raves from sushi aficionados throughout the region.

“To my experience there’s nothing like this in Cleveland,” says frequent attendee Paul Sequeira. “Both the quality of the sushi – which is really, really high – but also the inventiveness and genuine love for what they’re doing.”

Held on Tuesdays, the 20-course dinners cost $200 per person and sell out weeks – and even months – in advance. To keep the dinners personal and interactive, the owners open it up to just 12 guests, who sit up close at the wraparound sushi bar.

Course No. 2
Ebi shinjo katsu: flash-fried sweet shrimp cake with lime and ginkgo nut

I meet Johanes Jonathan at the United Airlines Cargo facility at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport at 11 a.m. on a Friday. The owner of Issho Ni is there to retrieve his delivery: a large, insulated box loaded with 150 pounds of fish and seafood that left Japan one day prior. On his head is a baseball cap that reads “Ohio Native,” an ironic fashion statement for the Jakarta-born chef.

Most Cleveland restaurants rely on a local fish wholesaler for their seafood needs. These suppliers regularly import product from New York, Boston, L.A. and even Japan. But that system isn’t good enough for Jonathan.

“It doesn’t meet my expectations,” he explains while waiting for the steward to retrieve his box from cold storage. “For what I spend a month [the local supplier] can accommodate us and get fish from Japan, but the quality and selection is not there.”

Instead, Jonathan and his partners at Issho Ni rely on friendly associates at Tokyo’s Toyosu Market, who not only hand-select the finest-quality specimens, but also have comprehensive knowledge of the aquatic ecosystems so they can source and suggest rare, seasonal fishes.

“We want people to experience different kinds of fish, not only the salmon, tuna and yellowtail,” Jonathan explains.

Course No. 3
Skipjack tuna with tataki sauce and minced chives

I experience a moment of dread when I pull up to Issho Ni at the allotted time to find an empty parking lot, darkened restaurant windows and a locked front door. The setting isn’t exactly reassuring thanks to nearby businesses like CheckSmart, Gold-n-Merchant and Discount Tobacco. But sure enough, at 6 p.m. sharp, luxury cars begin pulling in, the doors open, and a loose gaggle of people files into the restaurant.

Johanes Jonathan (center) and his team — Ryan Endrian and Chef Kwan Credit: Photo by Doug Trattner

Behind the counter, Jonathan, Ryan Endrian and Chef Kwan labor quietly at separate work stations. One is grinding a knobby root of fresh wasabi against a sharkskin paddle. Another is reducing a stack of chives down to a cloud of pea-green filigree. And the third is sliding a two-foot-long blade through a large filet of fish. The refrigerated seafood cases that normally sit on top of the sushi bar have been removed to open up the sightlines and to ease the transfer of food between chef and diner.

At first, the silence is a bit unnerving, with those in attendance fidgeting in our seats and exchanging skittish small talk. I’ve been to my share of solemn, serious sushi bars – helmed by a quiet but domineering itamae – and I was wondering if that would be the vibe here. But as the last two diners arrived and settled into their chairs, Jonathan – with a surprising measure of theatricality – announces, “Sit back, relax and enjoy the show!”

Course No. 4
Palate cleanser: dashi tomato cherry bomb

Jonathan was born in Jakarta, Indonesia. After graduating from high school, at the tender age of 18, he hopped on a direct flight to Los Angeles with $1,000 in his pocket. He had no familial or personal connections, no work permit, and the level of English-language skills that come from a three-month English as a Second Language study program.

“It was very hard for me to find a job, so I had a dream that someday I would open up a restaurant so I can help other people that are in the same situation as me,” he says.

His first job was part-time only, bussing tables at a Chinese restaurant in Beverly Hills. He would go on to work at 30 different restaurants in 25 states. His goal was to cover as much ground as possible, finding work at restaurants that specialized in various cuisines, and working every station in those restaurants. In a relatively short amount of time, Jonathan hopped from bus boy to server to kitchen manager to hibachi chef to sushi chef and others.

“I wanted to work in every station in every restaurant and to know how all the restaurateurs manage the restaurant,” he explains.

Course No. 5
Kasugo, or baby sea bream

“Eat it right away,” Jonathan tells me – and every diner – as he sets down the first pieces of nigiri.

Up until this point in the meal, the courses have been otsumami, or small plates, served in bowls with sauce, which require chopsticks. But for the nigiri portion of the omakase, the chefs set down a single piece of sushi in front of each diner. A ceramic plate – called the geta – sits on the raised wooden ledge that rings the sushi bar. While the natural tendency is to want to move the plate down to counter level, the chef tells us simply to take the sushi and leave the plate.

“The geta is for the sushi chef,” Kwan explains.

Also, we are instructed to use our fingers – not chopsticks – for this portion of the meal. The consistency of the rice, or shari, beneath the fish is so delicate, so ethereal that it would fall apart if gripped by chopsticks. For the same reason, it is strongly suggested that we pop the whole piece into our mouths as opposed to taking bites. That’s not difficult to do because the rice-to-fish ratio is designed for such enjoyment.

If you’re hoping to stir a mound of pale-green wasabi into a shallow dish of soy sauce, you’ve come to the wrong sushi bar. Even during regular hours of service, those items do not exist on tabletops. Any appropriate garnish or sauce – typically a light mixture of soy, sake and mirin – is applied to the fish by the chefs.

“To change the sushi scene starts with the foundation,” Jonathan asserts. “A lot of people dip the rice into the soy sauce. I don’t understand how you can enjoy this. That’s why we brush each fish with the sauce – so you can taste the original flavor.”

A dish from Issho Ni Credit: Photo by Doug Trattner

Course No. 6
Summer-season albacore belly from Oregon

Five years after landing in Los Angeles, Jonathan met his wife Nutrian. The couple moved to San Marcos, Texas, where they opened their first restaurant. From there, they travelled to Denver, where they operated an Asian fusion food truck. The brutal weather and inconsistent business schedule encouraged Jonathan to do something bold. He searched LoopNet, the commercial real estate website, for available restaurant leases and sent applications to three separate landlords: two in Colorado, one in Ohio.

“I told my wife, whoever replies to us first, that’s the one,” he recalls.

A landlord of a vacant storefront in Willoughby was the first to respond. He asked Jonathan if he wanted to come check out the property.

“I said no, just send me the keys,” he explains. “I never saw anything. I’ve never been to Ohio. All I knew was that there was a Japanese restaurant nearby that was here for 16 years at that time.”

In September of 2019, Jonathan and his wife opened Issho Ni, which translates to “togetherness.” For two months, the new owners operated the hibachi tables in the second dining room – Jonathan’s prior teppanyaki experience came in handy – but they soon extinguished the tabletop grills to focus their attention on ramen and sushi.

Course No. 7
22-day dry-aged otoro, or bluefin tuna belly

“This is the wagyu of the sea!” says Jonathan.

Endrian also immigrated to Los Angeles from Indonesia at a young age. After Covid upended restaurant life out west, he reached out to Jonathan, who he had met a few years prior, to see if he knew of anyone in need of a sushi chef. He did – and he invited Endrian to make the cross-country journey to Ohio to work with him at Issho Ni. Late last year, Kwan also joined the team, bringing with him a level of discipline, skill and knowledge that comes from studying under a second-generation sushi chef from Tokyo.

“Me and all my partners worked in high-end restaurants,” Kwan says. “We know how to prepare the fish.”

There’s more to sushi than buying, cleaning and slicing fish, he explains. For example, most of the fish is aged at least four days prior to serving – a practice at odds with the notion of “fresh fish.” The otoro, or bluefin tuna belly, is aged for 22 days at near-freezing temperatures to allow the muscles to relax and some of the moisture to dissipate. Other fishes are lightly cured with salt or vinegar.

“I always tell my customers that fresh fish isn’t always the best; it depends on your purpose,” says Endrian. “If it’s white fish for sashimi, then yes, the fresher the better because the texture is more bouncy and chewy. But certain kinds of fish, when it’s super-fresh, it is super-chewy.”

Course No. 8
Steamed kinki, or channel rockfish, from Japan

“This is one of my favorite fish, all the time!” Jonathan announces with delight.

As he does with every course, the owner describes the fish we are about to enjoy with genuine enthusiasm. This one – called kinki – is one of the most desirable fishes out there, he explains, owing to its fatty, juicy flavor and melt-in-your-mouth texture. It’s also one of the most expensive fish because of its dwindling numbers.

Looking around the dining room, empty save for the dozen guests murmuring with delight, it’s easy to forget that at all other times, this is a strip-mall restaurant serving seaweed salads, ramen bowls and affordable sushi lunch combos. Can the chefs maintain the same level of excitement when twisting California rolls for unadventurous diners?

“For me, as a head chef, I think everything is equally important,” says Endrian. “We have a variety of customers. Some come here only for ramen. Some come here only to eat sushi rolls or even the lunch special. That’s how we survived in the first place; that’s how Jo survived before I came.”

Just as one must learn to walk before he or she can run, many Issho Ni customers have progressed from eating only cooked foods and California rolls to enjoying lightly seared nigiri. Others make the leap to raw sashimi and sushi. And still others are so eager to sample new items that they reserve a spot at an upcoming omakase.

“We don’t push them,” says Endrian. “We persuade them.”

Course No. 9
Anago, or saltwater eel, from Nagasaki with anago reduction

“You have to know where the best eel is coming from,” says Kwan. “The best eel comes from Nagasaki.”

Amy Viny, a self-described Japanophile, has enjoyed sushi – and omakase experiences – in San Francisco, Chicago, Miami and even Japan. But like many diners, her first visit to Issho Ni was for the ramen. After striking up a conversation with Jonathan and the crew, she learned about the special sushi dinners.

“I went first for a bowl of ramen – which I would say is world-class – and we found out about the omakase dinner,” she explains. “They are wonderful at explaining the courses, talking about the preparation, talking about the ingredients. They are like the most knowledgeable folks about fish that I think I’ve ever encountered.”

Viny agrees that the $200 per person price tag makes this a “special occasion” type of meal – well, as special as a former Japanese steakhouse in the shadow of a KFC can be.

“If you’ve seen their place in Willoughby, it doesn’t look like the kind of place you’re going to go and drop a couple hundred bucks on a meal,” Viny admits.

But soon, Jonathan, Endrian and Kwan will have a restaurant befitting their passion, skill and dedication. Come winter, the team will open a two-level restaurant in Ohio City, located in the renovated VFW building on Fulton that was briefly home to Cha Pizza. On the main floor will be a casual eatery called Issho Ni Izakaya, while the second floor will be home to Sushi Kuwahata, an even more intimate omakase destination.

Course No. 10
Bafun uni from Rishiri Island in Hokkaido, Japan

“Rishiri Island grows the best kelp, and so that’s where the best uni comes from,” Jonathan explains.

Over the past few months, Endrian has been hosting pop-up dinners at area bars and restaurants. Dubbed Kyuu-juu Japanese Pop Ups, the events have been held at places like LBM, Cent’s Pizza, Never Say Dive and La Cave du Vin. These dinners are designed to spread the word about the new izakaya restaurant coming to Ohio City. Unlike the ever-changing sushi offerings at Issho Ni, these events tend to stick with a core menu of contemporary Japanese small plates.

“The purpose of the pop-ups is to try out our izakaya menus,” Endrian explains. “We want to see that if we keep it the same menu, will it work, will the customers come back. We prove that many people come back.”

In contrast to the intimate and lavish sushi bar upstairs, Issho Ni Izakaya will be a high-energy restaurant serving creative foods alongside plenty of beer and sake.

“It’s a bar: good food, good drink and a good vibe. That’s izakaya,” says Endrian.

The 50-seat restaurant will serve small plates, grilled skewers and interactive dishes that might involve tabletop cooking.

“For our opening day, we’re going to cut a whole bluefin tuna and auction off all the parts,” says Jonathan, adding that those parts will then be prepared immediately and served.

Course No. 11
Salt-cured shinko, or baby kohada

“This is the most expensive fish in the market,” Jonathan tells us. The shiny, glistening filets are so small that it takes four of them to cover the rice below.

With Sushi Kuwahata, the team from Issho Ni hope to place Cleveland on the map for high-end sushi alongside cities like L.A., New York and Chicago. Unlike the restaurant in Willoughby, the second-level sushi bar in Ohio City will be purpose-built around the omakase experience. There will be just eight seats, and the up to 20-course dinners will cost $350 per person. There will be one seating per evening, five nights a week.

“I want to change the sushi scene in Cleveland,” says Jonathan. “We are aiming for a Michelin star. That’s what I dream of.”

Diners can expect to find a world-class omakase experience that features rare, exotic and seasonal fish. Unlike the contemporary style that is presented in Willoughby, the new omakase will be more along the lines of a Tokyo-style omakase, which leans on tradition and technique over creativity.

“The good sushi eaters have been flying all the time to have omakase – to L.A. or New York or sometimes abroad,” says Kwan. “When we open, they won’t need to fly anymore.”

When Sushi Kuwahata opens this winter, the team will stop hosting the special omakase dinners in Willoughby.

Course No. 12
Dessert: silky sesame pudding with gold leaf

If you’re hesitant to believe that an omakase restaurant with New York City prices has a place in Cleveland, I’d direct your attention to a shabby strip mall in Willoughby. For nearly two years, the weekly or bi-weekly omakase dinners have been selling out as quickly as they’re announced. Granted, they are not held nightly, but the stylish new urban setting should entice a different, larger, demographic.

“I think their location in Willoughby is an amazing counterpoint to those arguments,” says Paul Sequeira, who needs two hands to count how many times he’s gladly handed over $200. “When I bring friends to an omakase at Issho Ni, and we meet in the parking lot next to a KFC, they always ask me if we’re in the right place. What the restaurant in Willoughby doesn’t have is the glamor of Ohio City. I think that’s where the Ohio City experience will justify getting dressed up for a spectacular dinner.”

The word omakase translates to “I leave it up to you,” a practice that transfers total control of the meal to the sushi chef. Who better to decide what dishes to select, prepare and serve – and in what order – than those skillful practitioners. In the hands of a master chef, a 20-course tasting menu is a pleasant journey from start to finish, with a defined beginning, middle and climax. It’s not surprising, then, that the process is often compared to a symphony.

“Sometimes, they can go up and down, up and down – that’s not harmony,” says Jonathan. “If you are a good composer, you can make harmony from start to finish every time. That’s how you can tell who a good composer is.”

If you ask the owner about his chances of success in Ohio City, he too will direct your attention to a shabby little strip mall out east.

“It might be hard, but we tried two years ago to introduce omakase to Cleveland and it sold out every time,” Jonathan says. “I am an immigrant, so I have nothing to lose. Most owners only operate their restaurants to get money. That’s not who I am. I wanted to become a restaurateur because I want to create a product; I want to create memories.”

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