There’s a colorful story to be told about Kaiyo, a lively izakaya on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue that opened in late November 2023. But we’ll let the food do most of the talking.
Kaiyo is the casual little sister to nearby Greenville Avenue restaurant Shoyo. You won’t need a reservation to sip cocktails or order bites of sashimi at Kaiyo.
Think about Kaiyo and Shoyo as two personalities of the same chef team. The more refined option is omakase spot Shoyo, one of Dallas’ smallest and most focused restaurants. Then there’s Kaiyo, a 40-seat raw-fish bar that plays ‘90s hip-hop and R&B and is “a place to go and have fun,” as chef and co-founder Jimmy Park describes it.
“It’s a vibe,” Park says of Kaiyo.
“Shoyo: That’s a journey.”
One of Park’s favorite dishes at Kaiyo is the Hamachi Star sashimi dish made with yuzu honey mustard and microgreens. Other options include a slate of specialty rolls — like the deep-fried Avalanche with fish and cream cheese, and the Firecracker with raw tuna, cucumber, avocado, spicy aioli and more.
Kaiyo’s menu is “quality that’s approachable,” says investor Donna Lee.
The playfulness of the menu can be felt through its chefs, some of whom moved to Dallas specifically to follow Park in his adventures opening Japanese restaurants. Head chef William Yoon was the best man in Park’s wedding. He’s joined in the Kaiyo kitchen by Raymond Park (no relation to Jimmy Park), another friend and chef. Lee, a full-time lawyer, got involved in Kaiyo after living near Jimmy Park and his family. She says he’s “like a brother.”
Kaiyo’s menu was fine-tuned by Shinichiro Kondo, who is Shoyo’s master chef, and Jun Nagayama, a sushi chef from Las Vegas.
Nagayama came up with the recipe for karaage, which has extra crispy chicken skin. The chefs expect it to be a popular appetizer order at Kaiyo.
In some instances, Kaiyo’s menu is made up of Japanese dishes that would be too freewheeling for a serious restaurant like Shoyo. The Tuna Pizza is a good example. It’s a crispy flour tortilla slathered with ponzu aioli and topped with thinly-sliced tuna.
“It is so good,” Jimmy Park says.
Chef Jimmy Park will say the same about some drinks on the cocktail menu. The Big Poppa, made with Toki whisky, grapefruit, Japanese plum wine called umeshu and club soda, is a staff favorite. Not My Oni One is a riff on a drink from former Dallas bar Victor Tangos, this one with Roku gin, red bell pepper, honey, lemon and mint. The menu from consulting bartender Paul Ngo (Victor Tangos and Tiny Victories) and current bartender Fernanda “Cubby” Rossano (Alamo Club and the Tipsy Alchemist) also includes renditions of a Paper Plane and an Old Fashioned.
Kaiyo replaces Teppo, a sushi restaurant that was open on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue for 27 years. We called Kaiyo one of the most exciting restaurants opening in 2023 in Dallas, not only because of its menu and chef team, but also because it offers a casual Japanese option for neighbors in East Dallas.
Yoon describes Kaiyo this way: “The food is as simple as possible, but unique.”
Kaiyo is at 2014 Greenville Ave., Dallas. Kaiyo opened in late November 2023 with limited hours; regular hours expected to start Dec. 8, 2023. Check Instagram for updates.
