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Supreme Sushi’s March 19 move to its new San Benito Street address might have been only a couple of blocks, but the name change, from AJ’s Sushi, and the grand reopening took almost a year.
And, according to owner Casey Munoz, it took an act of faith and willpower to keep the business alive in the meantime. Struggles with the city over permitting, inexplicable since the location had previously been a restaurant, meant paying two rents while keeping his entire staff employed.
“There were so many hiccups with the city,” he said. “What could I do? It was a struggle. I needed to keep the brand running. And I had to stay open because my employees needed a paycheck.”
But Munoz is already used to the struggles of the trade. Laid off as a sushi chef at another restaurant at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he had to restart on his own, selling sushi from a home business.
“I had to figure something out,” he said. “I got a job as a maintenance technician at the high school and then worked for myself after my full-time shift. I started taking orders through Instagram, and would have all the delivery time slots filled up till like 9 p.m.”
In 2022, when he discovered that AJ Sushi owner Eddy Chin had listed his business for sale, Munoz realized that the opportunity to have his own brick-and-mortar was coalescing around him.
“Eddie already had 17 years there,” Munoz said, “and I wanted his clientele. I had to jump and learn the business; I never took any classes. I worked with them for about two months, and I got to see how they ran things. Then I changed it up after they left.”
One reason for the name change to Supreme Sushi, besides wanting his own brand, is that Munoz said very little of the AJ’s menu survived the transition to the new location.
“At this point,” Munoz said, “it looks like we’ve kept maybe four or five of their rolls. I looked at the sales, and they were the highest. So I started cutting off the old ones and added more of mine. I offer those plates, but I try to add my style to them.”
One item that remained was the Las Vegas roll, a combination of deep-fried shrimp and crab, topped with green onion and drizzled with a sweet-and-spicy sauce. which Munoz said had been popular since AJ’s first introduced it.
But ultimately, he said, the way Eddie ran his menu was not the way Munoz wanted it. Munoz said that meant veering away from traditional Japanese sushi, though classic items remain, and focusing more on the trend toward fusion.
“I upscaled the menu,” he said, “and I updated everything about it. I wanted to do it my way, with quality fresh fish and a more creative menu.”
The most popular rolls from the old location also survived, like the Hot Cheeto Roll, made with crab, spicy tuna, avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese, then deep-fried, topped with hot Cheeto dust, and drizzled with spicy mayo and a sweet sauce.
Another holdover, according to weekly regular Claudia Leonor, who has been coming to the restaurant for over two years, is the excellent customer service. The staff, she said, already knows the family’s order when they walk into the restaurant and has a table prepared for them.
This includes special accommodations for her son, seven-year-old Samuel, who is on the autism spectrum. The staff provides screens to reduce his sensory overload and, unusually for a sushi restaurant, has a children’s menu with items like chicken nuggets that he can order from.
Leonor said the standout dish for her is the Poke Bowls, made with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, and crab, and served with a seaweed salad that includes cucumber, avocado, and masago. Usually served over rice, Supreme allows her to substitute greens instead, an option not mentioned on the menu.
“We’ve pretty much tried every item on the menu,” she said. “My husband and daughter love the chicken teriyaki bento box, and we always order the baked mussels. The El Jefe roll is our top favorite now, with a little spice but not too much where your palette is on fire.”
Munoz favors the OG Roll, with a shrimp tempura-crab mix, avocado and cucumbers inside, topped with fresh tuna and his “famous” house poke salad. The hook here is that the roll also contains some of the poke salad, adding another layer of refreshing flavor.
Another favorite is the Fantasy Roll, with spicy tuna, crab mix and avocado inside, topped with yellow tail, hamachi and jalapeno, then drizzled with ponzu sauce, chili oil, and sweet sauce, then garnished with thin lemon slices
The dish, he said, started off as a special, but “people started liking it so much that we had to add it to the menu.”
Moving to the new location allowed Munoz to add a hibachi, which, naturally, features in the Hibachi Trio: chicken, New York steak, and shrimp on a bed of fried rice with mixed veggies, including broccoli and zucchini.
“This town didn’t have a hibachi restaurant,” he said, “but it certainly needed one. We had to get a chef in here to show us how to create a good plate because we hadn’t done that here. Then, I had to train my staff on how to make it.”
Munoz also offers a line of appetizers, including garlic edamame with a drizzle of teriyaki sauce, along with a spicy chile de arbo sauce, at the special request of customers who wanted something with a little more heat and kick.
“I know it is a little weird for a Japanese restaurant, he said, “but the customers keep ordering it and telling me not to change it. You can order it non-spicy, but they want me to keep it this way.”
Munoz said that being able to open in the current location and with the current menu has been the fulfillment of a dream.
“I am hooked on everything about his business,” he said. “I found my passion, and it just took over from there. You get to know your regulars, and seeing them enjoy their food is the highlight of my day. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
Supreme Sushi
650 San Benito St #110, Hollister
(831) 635-9321
Supreme Sushi on Instagram
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