Growing Wichita restaurant concept led by 2 former Kobe chefs embraces the Mr. Miyagi way
Any fan of the 1980s movie “The Karate Kid” knows what Mr. Miyagi was all about.
Mr. Miyagi — the wise karate instructor played by Pat Morita — was generous. He was likable. He was mysterious. And he wanted to share his skills with the next generation.
Now, Wichita has a popular new quick-service Japanese grill restaurant whose managers say they are applying the Miyagi way to food service. The restaurant — which is called Mr. Miyagi Japanese Grill — opened in July at 3920 E. Harry and since has earned scores of devotees. It’s grown so popular that its owner is already preparing to open a second restaurant, which should be ready to go within the month at 4041 N. Maize Road, in the space where Nippon Japanese Grill operated until it closed in late July.
The owner of the restaurant, say its two general managers — Andy Nguyen and chef Mike Phan — prefers to remain anonymous. Mystery, it appears, is one of the qualities he shares with Mr. Miyagi. In fact, the restaurant’s name is an ode to what some people call the owner.
“He’s always been very friendly, very helpful and very smiley,” Nguyen said.
And like his namesake, Wichita’s Mr. Miyagi apparently has a knack for recruiting young talent.
He hired to run his restaurant two longtime hibachi chefs: Nguyen and Phan. Both started as teens working at popular Japanese hibachi restaurants in town — where the chefs put on noisy, fire-filled, shrimp-flipping shows at the grill. Phan was a chef and manager at Kobe and Old Tokyo Steakhouse. Nguyen manned grills at Kobe, Old Tokyo and Sumo.
The owner recruited the two to manage his new concept, which offers fried appetizers like crab Rangoon, dumplings and egg rolls served with a variety of house-made sauces. Fried rice and yakisoba dishes also are on the menu.
The restaurant has earned fans, Nguyen said, because of its food, which incorporates the hibachi cooking styles the two young chefs learned at their previous jobs. The combo fried rice — made with shrimp, chicken and steak — is prepared using a garlic butter sauce that makes it taste like it just came off a local Japanese steakhouse grill.
That fried rice, Ngyuen said, is the restaurant’s biggest seller, along with its crispy chicken bites, made using dark meat chicken coated with a tempura batter then fried. The result is a lighter, crispier fried chicken that’s not so greasy, Nguyen said.
People also love Mr. Miyagi’s giant portions, Nguyen said. A serving of the combo rice is a hefty proposition that fills every available square inch of a large carryout container.
“We really focus on serving big portions,” Nguyen said. “It’s a hard time for everyone in the community, and we really want to make it big portions so families can get together and friends can get together and share a really nice quality meal that is also casual,” he said.
The Miyagi way
There’s another Miyagi trait that is important to the owner and his two managers, Nguyen said.
The staff is made up of many high school students and other young employees, who Nguyen and Phan cross train so that they can do every job in the restaurant. Some are turning into skilled hibachi chefs that would be ready to take a job at a larger steakhouse if they chose.
They’re also trained to be friendly, cheerful and to welcome each customer that comes through the door.
“We train them with the discipline of a normal kitchen but also we get them up to par with the skills of a hibachi chef as well,” he said. “We give them a lot of discipline, skills and character to get them ready for the real world.”
The new restaurant on the northwest side should be ready to go within the month. It will have the same menu and same approach, Nguyen said, but it won’t have the large Mr. Miyagi mural that guards the cash register area of the restaurant on Harry.
The mysterious owner, Nguyen said, has big plans for the restaurant and is already eyeing expansion behind the first two restaurants. He hopes to eventually open in nearby cities, too. Already, the word-of-mouth and social media reviews have helped Mr. Miyagi draw customers from as far away as Kansas City and Dodge City, Nguyen said.
“We put a lot of time and love into everything, and I guess it’s proving itself,” he said. “We take our time. We don’t take shortcuts. We are taking a lot of the fundamentals and chemistry we learned through the years and applying it to this type of restaurant.”
Mr. Miyagi Japanese Grill is open from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. Customers order food at the counter and then can try to find a table in the small dining room or take their meals, served in carryout containers, to go.
The restaurant doesn’t accept telephone orders, but people can order ahead at www.ictmrmiyagi.com
Another thing the restaurant doesn’t do: “Wax on. Wax off.”
But the staff does wear T-shirts, which Nguyen said the restaurant will eventually start selling, that boast a modified version of that iconic saying on the back.
“Rice on. Rice off.”
Mr. Miyagi Menu
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 11:57 AM.
.jpg)