For the past few years I have been walking by a building on Franklin Street and the corner of Palisade Avenue in Jersey City Heights, and wondering who it was who I occasionally saw going in and out of the ground floor space. The windows were usually dark or partly covered over so the light was only dimly visible from the outside, and often it just seemed like there was no one there at all. But then I would walk by at an odd hour and I'd see someone inside or going in or coming out, and sometimes I'd see them putting boxes in a car or van or unloading boxes and bringing them inside. And then one day I started to see work being done on the front part of the building, and it seemed like whoever was working there was making some kind of restaurant space. Over time I saw that there was an awning put up and signs on the windows and finally I discovered that the new space was named Ichiban To Go. I still wasn't sure what was happening in the back or if the two spaces were related, but somehow I had a feeling they were. And then one day when I was walking by I saw someone in the window taking care of and rooting many avocado plants, and as I'd been wanting to stop in and find out more about the restaurant and because I have a personal history with and love of avocado plants, I decided to walk in and say hello.
When I stopped by that day, I found out that Ichiban To Go is owned by the family who owns the catering company that I'd seen glimpses of in the once seemingly mysterious back area. I also found out that the avocado plants are being rooted and lovingly cared for by Chris who works there, and that she started to do it because they use so many avocados in the restaurant and catering company that she just thought it was something important to do so as not to waste them. I grew up with avocado plants always rooting in windows because my mother loved avocados and loved to root them, and we always had the plants growing around our house, but I'd never seen so many as those that Chris has happily growing in the windows of Ichiban To Go.
I took some photographs and left my business card, and set a day to return and try some of the wonderful things I saw on the menu. When I stopped by again I met Jessica Chuang, the daughter of the owner James Chuang, and the Vice President of the business, Chuang Wen Inc., and Lucy who also works there, and I thought to myself how wonderful it was that each person I meet at this lovely place is always so friendly and helpful. After I asked Jess what she would recommend I try, she put together such a beautiful selection of sushi rolls that I truly felt like I'd been given a treasure. When I arrived home, one delightful box opening after another revealed an Ichiban Roll, a Kobe Beef Roll, a Truffle Scallop Roll and a Salmon Belly Roll, along with a delightful family creation called a Sushi Pizza. Jess followed up with me by email, and told me a bit about her father, and said that if I wanted to hear more of the story she'd be happy to tell me over lunch. That was an offer that I could not refuse because the sushi rolls and sushi pizza I'd tried were so delicious and fresh and beautifully made and I love a good story, especially about a family that from everything I'd seen was a wonderful one.
We sat outside to talk the next time I stopped by, and I tried the Pork Belly Bao Buns and the Peking Duck Wrap while Jess shared her story about their family business. Though I didn't want to take too much of her time, our conversation lasted quite a while because I kept interrupting her to say how deliciously layered and savory the two items were. She told me that the recipes they use are a combination of old family recipes and new things they develop in response to their own always wanting to create new delicious things and requests and suggestions of customers. Her father had come to New Jersey from Taiwan, and when he was working as the Manager of a Carvel store in Princeton, he asked the owner if he could make Sushi in the back. His business grew and after three or four years he was able to open his own place in what once was an auto-shop he found with a business partner. He tore out and removed what had been there and renovated carefully by hand. Six year old Jessica watched him patiently build it, wiring for electricity and cleaning and building it out into a catering kitchen and restaurant from what had been a completely different space. She grew up in the restaurant and worked there in high school as a cashier after school, and after graduating from college with a business marketing degree, she went back to work with her family to help bring the business from the paper world to the digital world. She was soon hired by The Plaza Hotel as an Event Coordinator, but even while doing that job and the jobs she was hired for after, she continued to work with her family and had two jobs at all times in those years. Now her focus is on her family's restaurant and catering company. Though she loves marketing and business and has great skill for it and excelled in the jobs she had after college, her love for her family and their business decided her on the path to help support and focus on what her father and family had built and help it to thrive.
As caterers, they work regularly at The Plaza Hotel in New York City as well as for other high end venues and clients including Cipriani and Mandarin Oriental, and in 2019 they were awarded as one of Harriette Rose Katz's "Chosen Few" in recognition of the excellence of their luxury sushi catering. Their displays are gorgeous and the food is of the highest quality. The name Ichiban means "number one" or "first place" and they are devoted to providing only the best with the highest quality ingredients. They believe in a a very natural aesthetic for design in their restaurants and in the serving items they use for events, and the food they create is based on their own family traditional recipes which gives it flavor that has many layers and depth. Jessica speaks Mandarin and English fluently, and her parents speak English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, and many other dialects, and she told me that there is a word in Mandarin that is hard to translate into English but that means something along the lines of "healthy taste" and that word is what describes the quality of excellent food. It made me want to learn more about Mandarin so that I could understand the meaning of that word because it is more than can be sensed in translation. The food I was experiencing at Ichiban To Go has the flavor of the health of the freshness of the ingredients and the flavor of the layers of spices and sauces and textures, and it is the way the food is made that gives the person eating it the feeling of wellness and satisfaction. It made me think of the idea of holistic health, and how the food we eat can touch all of our senses, from the beauty of the preparation through to the enjoyment of the taste and texture and scent and the nourishment it gives.
Ichiban To Go is one of those places that seems like a dream to have found it. Knowing that I can walk by any time and walk in for the freshest and most lovely and delicious sushi, a Bao Bun or wrap, or any other of the traditional family recipes that grace the menu is a beautiful blessing. The family does have another restaurant that was planned to be opened in Manhattan but that has been closed due to short staffing during this time. So for now, the location in Jersey City Heights is a must visit adventure, and if you're having a party or event, call or stop by to talk about having it catered with one of their loveliest and most deliciously inventive displays.
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