UPDATE: More details will be released in the coming months on their Facebook and Instagram pages, @ToriToriPub.
The long-vacant building adjacent to Pho 88 at 720 N. Mills Avenue [GMap] has seen a lot of upgrades in the past two years but no real tenant. Permits were filed in 2015 to transform the space into a Community Hall/Events Venue but after a lengthy renovation, it still sits empty.
Yet we’ve noticed some activity lately, namely the hanging of a banner with the words “Tori Tori – Coming Summer 2018” scrawled across it, so we did some digging.
As of November, 2017 the space was approved for the sale of alcoholic beverages withing 90 feet of an established church and school; North Park Baptist Church and Lake Highland Prep.
Restrictions placed on the liquor sales ensure that the space must be used as a full-service restaurant with at least 51 percent of its gross revenues coming from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The branding bore a striking resemblance to the Tori Tori pop-up hosted by Sonny Nguyen, head chef/owner of Domu at East End Market, in August, 2017. The 10-course pop-up had a Kushiyaki focus, which is a traditional Japanese term for a group of foods that are skewered and grilled. It was a success and completely sold out.
We reached out to Nguyen who informed us of his plans to open a Japanese pub in the building sometime this summer and said “This concept will be part of the DOMU Dynasty, also coined as the Double-D group which will be the umbrella for all of [our] current and future concepts.”
Click HERE to see a more in-depth quote that Nguyen gave Ricky Ly of Tasty Chomps.
