Restaurant Spotlight: Peter's Thai & Sushi Bar Story By Vicki Stout Photograhy by Jennifer Cook Peter's Thai & Sushi Bar Peter Jarupat thrives by a modern-day blade of steel: the sushi knife. The Sizzle Award restaurant winner says the mark of a great sushi chef is his knife. “Show me a shiny, sharp knife, and I’ll show you a great sushi chef,” says Jarupat, owner of Peter’s Sushi Thai restaurant in the Brentwood Place shopping center. “If that knife is not sharpened and cleaned daily, it cannot make great sushi. If stains are left on the knife, it can taint the taste of the next sushi.” Born in Thailand and educated as an architect, Jarupat became a sushi chef more than two decades ago after coming to this country with his bride. As a hobby, he cooked and taught himself to make sushi, a difficult task at best. When his draftsman’s project in Chicago finished and he could find no work in his field, his brother-in-law introduced him to the owner of a four-star Chicago Japanese Restaurant, Kuni’s. The owner hired him, and Jarupat became a willing and successful student. In addition to his on-the-job training, he read and studied the art of making sushi. He says his mentor in Chicago was a great master. “He taught me everything,” Jarupat says. “He worked with memafter the restaurant was closed at night. He gave me secret recipes.” Jarupat plied his new trade at the restaurant until his brother-inlaw once again suggested a change. This time he told the owner of Miyako in Brentwood about Peter. Things worked out, and Jarupat and his wife, Day, moved to middle Tennessee from the Windy City. For a decade, Jarupat worked hard at Miyako, making a name for himself and wielding his knife with flair. Three years ago, he and Day decided to open up their own placem“At first, I thought we should think up some beautiful name for the restaurant,” says his wife and restaurant manager. “But then I thought about everyone in Brentwood knowing Peter and knowing his sushi. So we named it for him. We were busy from the first day we opened. Everyone comes here for Peter.” Like a knight, albeit in a black tunic, he commands the small sushi bar at the back of the 48-seat eatery. The “specials” written in marker on the white board above the bar attract the attention of regulars. “I create many special things,” Jarupat says. “You don’t come here and eat the same thing every time. People come here because we have new things, different things.” A full-color, laminated 8.5 x 11-inch menu depicts items outside the bento box: Shiromano, thin slices of tilapia served in pou-zu sauce; Summertime, a variety of fish wrapped in seaweed, flash fried; Green Dragon, shrimp tempura and crunch wrapped in avocado and smelt roe topped with eel sauce; and the Volcano Roll, shrimp, crab and avocado fried and served with a divine (and secret recipe) sauce. On a recent visit, we sampled the Green Dragon, Volcano Roll, Sunshine Roll (spicy tuna and shrimp wrapped in thinly sliced cucumber) and, due diligence bound, Thai offerings. As Jarupat says, “To get better Pad Thai, you’d have to go to Thailand.” Every single dish was a treat to the eye as well as the palate. The presentations are as fresh as the sushi, and the ideas in this gem of an eatery. “We order fish only from Japanese company,” says the sushi chef, who goes on to explain that U.S. fish companies do not deliver the freshness and the quality of the Japanese providers. “Most of our fish comes from Boston, some from Japan,” Day says. “It is the freshest, the best. We will not serve less than the best to our customers.” She adds that the customer is the most important part of the restaurant (well except for her husband, sushi chef extraordinaire). “Our customers spend their money with us,” she explains.“They trust us. We must give them the best food or they won’t come back.” A tangerine colored “wall of fame” in the restaurant features autographed photos of some of Day and Peter’s more famous customers, Keith and Nicole, Brooks and Dunn and an array of other “big” names. But everyone who walks in the place is a big name to Day and to Peter. It’s no small wonder these customers voted Peter’s top sushi restaurant in the Southern Exposure Magazine and FranklinIs.com Sizzle Awards program. Peter’s Sushi Thai RestaurantBrentwood Place Shopping Center, Franklin Road, Brentwood Hours: 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. lunch, 5 – 10 p.m. dinner, Monday – Friday; Saturday dinner only, 5 – 10 p.m.