For most diners, the quality of a piece of fish is measured by how long it takes to travel from the ocean (or river or lake) to the plate.
Wellness Counter, a new Japanese restaurant scheduled to open May 7 at 1117 Pearl St., is making a slightly different case.
Chef Steven Lee holds two whole fish inside Wellness Counter, the new Boulder restaurant from the team behind Denver’s Wellness Sushi, ahead of its May 7 opening at 1117 Pearl St. (John Zamora Photography/Courtesy photo)
The Boulder restaurant from Phoebe and Steven Lee, the couple behind Denver’s plant-based Wellness Sushi, will center on seafood and a dry-aging program that explores the idea that fish, much like a ribeye or a wheel of gruyere, can actually improve with age, according to a release.
That program is expected to be one of the defining features of the restaurant. In Japanese cooking, dry-aging has long been used to deepen flavor and alter texture. Instead of the bright, just-cut quality many diners associate with raw fish, the technique can produce something firmer, richer and more concentrated.
For Denver sushi chef Steven Lee, the new restaurant returns to the techniques that first drew him to Japanese cooking. According to the press release, the Boulder concept is more rooted in seafood, fish handling and traditional preparation than the vegan format of Wellness Sushi allowed. Phoebe and Steven Lee, who are originally from Myanmar, said the new restaurant is meant to build on the ideas behind Wellness Sushi rather than replace them.
“The philosophy we developed through Wellness Sushi felt bigger than the format itself,” Phoebe Lee said. “We began to feel the limitations of working within one framework, especially when it came to expressing traditional techniques more fully.”
Phoebe Lee will oversee the front-of-house and beverage program, which will include green teas, gyokuro and sencha, sourced from Kyoto, as well as sake, cocktails, wine and coffee. The menu is also expected to include nigiri, hand rolls, crudos, robata grill dishes, claypot rice and house-made shokupan, or Japanese milk bread.
Wellness Counter’s official opening is slated for May 7, but diners can get an exclusive sneak peek during Mile High Asian Food Week, from April 26 through May 1, when the Boulder restaurant will offer complimentary sago brûlée with each meal, a release says.
Once it’s fully open, Wellness Counter will operate seven days a week, with service running until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
