At Wasabi, the tonkatsu ramen features a soft-boiled egg, pork belly, kikurage mushrooms and leafy greens in an aromatic broth finished with roasted black garlic oil.
Writer: Mathany Ahmed
Photos: Duane Tinkey
Jay Wang has always loved American culture — the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jackson, Hollywood movies, the whole works. In school, he often daydreamed about being a pilot or an architect in America.
“One day, when I grow up, I’ll see the Big Apple, Los Angeles, Miami,” he remembers thinking to himself. “There were always those little seeds.”
Building a restaurant empire in the Midwest was never on his wish list. But that’s exactly what he did.
Wang founded Wasabi, a chain of seven Asian fusion restaurants across the Des Moines metro and Ames. Since the first location opened its doors 15 years ago, the restaurants have elevated the local culinary scene with world-class sushi and craft cocktails.
He’s proud of the impact he’s made on his adopted community, even if Iowa’s not what he imagined as a kid. “I’m an Asian, first-generation immigrant,” he said. “We created seven Wasabi restaurants and 250 jobs to reinvest back into this community — and I still speak broken English.”
Grinding it out
At 18, Wang left Fujian, the southeastern Chinese province where he grew up, and landed in New York City in 2001. He enrolled at a local college to study business management, working three jobs to make ends meet.
His Hollywood education had prepared him for the hard work and long hours. The competitive community around him, many of them fellow immigrants, also pushed him to be better. “It’s the immigrant grind,” he said. “We really appreciated the opportunity to be here. I’d think: You study hard? Oh, I’m going to study harder. You work 40 hours? I’m going to work 50.”
Becoming a chef was never the plan. Working as a busboy and delivery driver provided the means to visit all those places he’d always dreamed about, like the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami and the Rocky Mountains. “I worked so hard and saved hard,” Wang said. “I checked all those boxes in the first two years.”
Once the novelty of America faded, something else clicked: He loved working in restaurants. He thrived in the high-pressure, fast-paced environment and connected well with customers. He worked his way up in the industry, eventually becoming a sous chef at one of the best sushi restaurants in New York. “I learned it all from working in restaurants,” Wang said. “I needed to do this to learn all the fundamentals.”
Those fundamentals came in handy in 2009, when Wang became a part owner in a sushi restaurant in Philadelphia. He and his wife, Lina Zheng, moved there, along with their young son, Ryan. The restaurant took off, but Wang was struggling to balance life and work in the big city.
A perfect fit
Wang visited Iowa in 2010 for a wedding and immediately felt a kinship with Iowans. The humility and farmer’s work ethic reminded him of his own family in China.
“I really found myself when I came to Iowa,” Wang said. “It was like a triangle: an immigrant from New York, Iowa culture and my Chinese culture all kind of lined up here.”
It was the perfect place to settle down and open a restaurant on his own. His Philadelphia success and the lack of local competition gave him confidence. “I felt like I’m a little Godzilla coming to a playground,” he said. “The only uncertainty was, ‘Will the Iowan people support sushi?’”
He set out with a five-year plan to take over Central Iowa. In 2011, he opened the first location in Beaverdale. He opened another two within as many years.
“It was like a science experiment,” he said. He thought to himself: “‘If I’m already doing it, why not just go all in?’”
A transformation
At the start, Wang was the sole sushi chef at his restaurants, sometimes working up to 90 hours a week. It was unsustainable, especially with a second child, Skyla, on the way.
He focused on training and development to take the business to the next level. “It was an identity shift,” he said. “I was a sushi chef transformed into a business owner.”
Many of Wasabi’s employees are also immigrants from all over the world. Wang sought them out, helped cover their travel and housing expenses and shared his perspective as they made the leap to Iowa. “It was a pretty easy selling story, selling my personal experience,” he said. “I solved a lot of first-generation immigrants’ hesitation.”
One such example is Hao Ni, a fellow Chinese immigrant. Nearly a decade ago, Wang helped him start a new life here in Iowa, which included an entry-level job at Wasabi. He’s now a managing partner at the Ankeny location.
“If you want a chance, I’m going to give you the opportunity,” Wang said.
Mentoring rising stars like Ni is Wang’s main focus these days. His proteges like to call him Uncle Jay.
“The restaurant is our family — it’s not a short-term business,” Wang said. “We’re going to offer Des Moines the best quality fish and a great place to hang out, for these customers and the next generations.”
Contributor Mathany Ahmed grew up in Iowa City in a family with roots in Sudan. She now lives in Des Moines and has never met a shrimp tempura roll she didn’t like.
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