NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – MARCH 23, 2022 - Omaha-based Flagship Restaurant Group, a leading hospitality group with over 30 restaurants and another 10 in development in more than a dozen markets ranging from Phoenix to Chicago, Denver and Austin, today opened Blue Sushi Sake Grill at Fifth + Broadway in Nashville, Tennessee. Blue Sushi Sake Grill is Flagship’s marquee restaurant concept that first came on the dining scene in Omaha in 2002 and now has locations in cities all around the country. The brand and its owners (Nick Hogan, Anthony Hitchcock, Tom Allisma, Tony Gentile) are fully committed to serving quality fare while making a positive impact on the world’s oceans. Flagship Restaurant Group prides themselves on their sustainability efforts, as part of their Conscious Earth mission, and the Blue Sushi Sake Grill concept is currently the country’s LARGEST sushi chain running a sustainably sourced seafood program in partnership with the prestigious Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. They also offer one of the broadest Vegan sushi menus in the country.
Blue Sushi Sake Grill transforms the sushi experience by merging responsibly sourced seafood with creative ingredients and bold flavors. Guests will arrive to the restaurant to find interior design inspired by Japanese cues filtered through a non-traditional, American lens. From a backlit collage of Godzilla overlooking Broadway to large geisha murals mounted throughout the entrance and dining room, the team has reimagined important symbols of Japan that embody heritage, culture and hospitality. In the dining room, guests will find a vibrant collage of vintage Japanese newspaper prints, overhead, and a white lantern wall that separates the dining room from the lounge. Throughout the dining room and lounge, red lantern clouds hang from the ceiling and hand-finished tables that are inspired by carts found in the Tokyo fish markets, custom painted with Kanji characters, await guests. Eric “Mobe” Bass, a Nashville Muralist, was tasked to create large murals throughout the concept. The restaurant was designed by Design Collective Nashville in collaboration with Flagship Restaurant Group’s co-owner, Tom Allisma and Art Director, Haylie Rousek. Allisma, who is an Architect, by trade, has worked with designers and leading firms for all restaurants and cocktail lounges for the brand since its inception in Omaha in 2002.
The restaurant’s menus are fully transparent and include sourcing details about every single menu item that is available to guests. From Whiteleg Shrimp from Indonesia to Patagonia Toothfish from Antarctica and Blue Crab from Nicaragua, the Flagship Restaurant Group and Blue Sushi Sake Grill team have made it their mission, through their “Conscious Earth” program, to educate diners about the quality of food they serve, their commitment to responsible sourcing and their ongoing partnerships with the leaders in sustainability like the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and non-profit organizations focused on animal welfare.
Guests of the restaurant can expect a variety of creative dishes throughout Blue Sushi Sake Grill’s happy hour, lunch, and dinner menus, which also include a multitude of gluten-free and vegan items. On the small, medium and large plates section, diners will find items such as Coconut Crab Soup with roasted corn, sweet potatoes, yellow curry, coconut milk, cilantro and chili oil, the River Rock Beef featuring all-natural beef tenderloin, served on sizzling rocks with jalapeno ponzu and yuzu kosho, the brand’s signature Tuna Tower and the Ceviche, made with tilapia, white shrimp, lime juice, cucumber, cherry tomato, avocado, cilantro, sweet onion, jalapeno salsa, wonton crisps, togarashi and chili oil. Specialty nigiri and sashimi dishes include the “Everything Smoked Salmon,” featuring smoked salmon served on top of cream cheese stuffed rice tempura topped with everything furikake, scallion and ponzu sauce and the Madai Chimichurri, featuring red sea bream topped with cucumber, cherry tomato, aji rocoto, olive oil, marcona almonds, maldon sea salt and chino chimichurri sauce. The Maki menu is broken up into three categories (specialty, classic and vegan) and includes everything from raw to cooked rolls, like the Godzilla Bomb, Green Eggs & Hama, the Snow White and the Vegan “Cowgirl” roll made with pickle vegan tempura, sriracha-fried onion rings, BBQ paper, vegan mayo and tonkatsu sauce. Their Vegan menu includes over 18 creative maki rolls and a selection of specialty nigiri, including seaweed caviar and Unami BBQ eggplant eel.
And last, but not least, beverage enthusiasts will find unique cocktails and mocktails throughout the menu, like the “Far East Mary,” with onion, pepper and herb-infused vodka, sriracha, ponzu and tomato juice, the “Naked and Famous,” featuring sombra mezcal, aperol, yellow chartreuse and lime and the “Sake Sangria” made up of gekkeikan sake, red wine and lemon and lime. The restaurant also offers unique selections of sake and Japanese Whisky, as well as some of the leading names in beer and wine.
“We are so excited to be part of the Nashville community and Fifth + Broadway family! We may have Blue Sushi Sake Grill locations in 16 other destinations around the country, but every location is equally special to our company, Flagship Restaurant Group. We are passionate about sustainability and providing an impactful dining experience to our guests, so we are excited to be part of a destination that has the same passion we do for culinary, beverage and responsible sourcing practices,” says Nick Hogan, CEO and Co-Owner of Flagship Restaurant Group.
Blue Sushi Sake Grill is open, daily, for lunch and dinner (Monday – Thursday from 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM, Friday and Saturday from 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM and Sunday from 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM); Happy Hour is Monday – Saturday from 2:00 PM – 5:30 PM and Sunday: 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM
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About Flagship Restaurant Group:
Since its inception in 2002, Flagship Restaurant Group by Nick Hogan, Anthony Hitchcock, Tony Gentile and Tom Allisma has grown to become one of the leading elevated and creative restaurant and nightlife groups in the Greater Midwest, South and Southwest. The group, which originated in Omaha, Nebraska, owns and operates over thirty (30) restaurants, with another ten in development. They are active in more than a dozen markets across the country ranging from Chicago to Austin, Denver and now Nashville, with the entrance of Blue Sushi Sake Grill Nashville at Fifth + Broadway. They pride themselves on their sustainability efforts, as their Blue Sushi Sake Grill concept is currently the country’s largest sushi chain running a sustainably sourced seafood program in partnership with the prestigious Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Flagship Restaurant Group is the largest sushi restaurant group to partner with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and the brand is on an endless pursuit to serve quality fare while making a positive impact on the world’s oceans; they work to make better informed decisions on how they source their seafood and meats. Their "Conscious Earth" program is more than a program with an oath for sustainable practices – it has become their commitment, as a brand, to responsibly source their seafood and respect our Earth's ecosystems, by land and sea.