A new Asian fusion and sushi restaurant, Vortex, opened last week on the site of the former Empire Billiards.
Owner Benny Huang and his brother Jay Huang, the restaurant’s sushi chef, have created the new eatery at 1215 Jericho Tpke. with two other partners, completely renovating the premises in the process.
“We mix Asian and traditional Japanese food,” said Huang, who has been in the restaurant business as a sushi chef and restaurant owner for the past 15 years after migrating to the U.S.
Huang, 31, opened his first restaurant, Nishiki, in Selden five years ago and opened another Asian fusion restaurant, also called Vortex, in Port Jefferson in December.
He spent four years training in his native Japan as a sushi chef and passed on his skills to his brother.
“He’s an excellent sushi chef,” said Jay Wang, who is managing the restaurant after formerly managing the Port Jefferson location.
The menu offers a large selection of a la carte sushi and sashimi and special combinations, such as a tuna sandwich, soy bean paper wrapped with spicy tuna, avocado and tobiko with eel sauce and spicy mayo.
The menu also includes traditional teriyaki and tempura dishes, bento boxes and noodle and fried rice dishes.
The fusion factor comes in the form of dishes including Thai Style Red Snapper, Black Cod, Roasted Salmon and surf and turf.
“I love serving people,” Benny Huang said, adding that he enjoyed making sushi as a hobby for family and friends before he trained as a sushi chef.
The space in the new restaurant presents a dramatic transformation from the formerly dark interior of the location to a large, bright room with an open, airy feel, featuring a bar with
three large-screen TVs and a striking blue tile wall behind the sushi bar in the rear.
Huang said he chose the New Hyde Park area based on marketing research that indicated the large population in the area, and the concentration of Asian Americans living there.
He said the aesthetic appeal of the village also prompted him to locate the restaurant here.
Vortex has been in the works since last fall, when the New Hyde Park village board granted a special use permit for the location to Dr. Robert Sommer, a Dix Hills dentist who co-owns the property, and Sam Chan, also a restaurateur. Chan is the contractor who renovated the property, according to Huang, who holds a long-term lease on it, with options to
extend it.
Sommer has said he has a 15-year lease with the new owners for the 3,800-square-foot location, which has been unoccupied since Empire Billiards shut its doors on June 30, 2013.
For Sommer and his two partners, Vortex’s opening marks the end of a protracted process to find a tenant to replace Empire Billiards. A pool parlor that lost its village pool hall permit and was also operating as a bar, Empire Billiards had been the source of frequent complaints from residents about excessive noise and alleged illegal activities outside the bar, including drug use and public lewdness.
On May 9, 2013, two people were stabbed outside the bar.
“My goal is to find a tenant who will add security to this community. It’s our goal to make this make this beautiful and attractive,” Sommer had said.
Residents who endured the problems caused by the billiard parlor will doubtless be pleased with the presence of the new restaurant.
Vortex is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 11 p.m. and Sunday 12:30 to 10 p.m. The restaurant is closed daily from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. between lunch and dinner service. Sushi and drink specials are on the menu daily.
Huang and his partners are members of the Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Committee and are planning to stage a grand opening next month, complete with lion dancers to provide good luck for the new venture.
Huang lives in Suffolk County with his wife and three sons and said he enjoys fishing in his free time.
