Sushi 86 and Bites to Swap 5th Street Arcades for Harbor Verandas

Rachel Hsu is on the move once more. Since launching Sushi 86 more than two decades ago, she has been adapting to changing times and trends by going with the flow. At the end of May, Hsu will shutter her downtown sushi shop at the 5th Street Arcades with an eye on reopening in a new location in early to mid July.

“This will be our seventh location since opening in 2000,” Hsu says. “We just bend and move and shift and change as we’ve needed to. So far that’s been good for us.”

The new location will be on the ground floor of Harbor Verandas (1050 East 9th St.), the luxury apartment building located on the East Ninth Street Pier, just steps from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Originally, those twin properties – which measure 4,000 square feet combined – were to be home to Cute for Coffee and Sandrine. That project, announced by design consultant Chris Schramm, never took flight.

In addition to her long-running sushi concept, Hsu will bring the newer Bites concept down to the harbor. Open since January, the quick-serve café offers breakfast sandwiches, french toast, snacks, salads and sandwiches. New to the downtown location will be coffee and ice cream components.

Sushi 86 will seat 85 diners indoors, including a dozen at the sushi bar. The restaurant marks a return to sit-down dining for the concept, which converted primarily to quick-serve and take out. To that end, Hsu will be securing a liquor license for the new spot.

Asked if the change in management at the arcade had anything to do with the relocation of her business, Hsu said no.

“Even if Dick Pace were still here, we’d be leaving,” she explains. “There’s just no lunch business, and when you’re in the food court, it’s really reliant on lunch business. I think [the new location] will be busier than where we’re at, that’s for sure.”

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