Sate Sushi is a beacon that precedes the neighbourhood where it is solidified, and undoubtedly depicts other food and drink hotspots in Orlando’s Baldwin Park.
Owners Jason and Sue Chin are good salt restaurant group Marvel: The concept that started it is now 25 years old.
Together, they look back on the small family business that created an entirely new family. The Seit family. And then there’s something even bigger.
“The number of team members who have become a family is incredible, with how many lives we have been involved in,” Sue says.
“There are quite a few Sate couples too!” she laughs.
“We are the prototype,” says her husband, who graduated from high school in 2000 and was preparing to work at his parents’ new restaurant.
“It was an exciting time,” he says, noting that Sate is the first tenant of the space adjacent to the theatre at the brand new Winter Park Village Shopping Centre.
Jason sweated that summer, and the heat in the parking lot made him get his parents to put flyers on the windshield and go to the heat in the dish pit. But he was used to it.
“They always let me work in any business they had,” he says.
Still, his late father always had a back. In fact, Chin tried to set up his son with a girl who goes out to study at Full Sale University, one of the team’s servers (initially failed). Her name was Sue.
“I was a dishwasher,” Jason says. “There was no game.”
Success, the elder Jing knew, would not come without patience.
A few years later, his son opened the door in 2005 and was at the helm of a Baldwin Park location in Sate, where he slowly found the ditch in the burgeoning neighbourhood.
They signed a Baldwin Park lease in 2002, pre-built it and opened the door before New Broad Street was finished, recalls Jason Chin. “It was like a ghost town at first. One afternoon, it was incredibly late. I remember looking out the window and seeing a literal tumbleweed blew through the street. We thought we were destined.”
But soon, like Jason’s personal life, business began to recover.
“Mr. Chin found my contact information through my aunt,” Sue says. “He invited me to come and see Jason at Baldwin Park.”
“But he never told me,” Jason says.
“I remember it really clearly… I was outside the patio, with the table as a bus, and it was like a scene from a movie. She was walking towards me on the sidewalk and everything went into slow motion.”
Everything spiked after that. They got married about seven months later. It follows two daughters and five restaurants, but before a good salt restaurant group appeared, there had to be one.
Jason, who is no longer a “punk kid,” began to mark his parents’ restaurants. Better wine. Better music. A better atmosphere. And with Sue by his side, a better design.
The business grew and expanded into the space next door. By that time there were three saites: Winter Park, Celebration (run by Jason’s then-sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer and Elix Springer), and Baldwin Park.
Jason and Sue purchased the Baldwin Park location from Jason’s parents in 2007. His sister’s family purchased Sandrake in 2009.
The other two were sold soon.
“Early, menus and identities were getting closer to each other, but as they evolved in their markets, sometimes they diverge. Over time I realized that they were quite divergent.”
So instead of trying to stay the same, he thought, “Why aren’t we just different and different?”
It was about 10 years ago and he says it has become a comfortable way to do things. Not just for business, but for guests.
“We work with (collective) favors, because we share some regulars and they eat at both locations for a week. The menu is very different, so it’s a different experience and they go to Sand Lake specially for dishes we don’t have.”
Patrons looking for even more sate dishes should consider the restaurant’s 25th anniversary party, which will take place in Baldwin Park on August 20th from 6 to 9pm. The $150 price tag may sound like a bargain to OG fans when they hear that some of the favorites on one menu are making a comeback.
Jason laughs.
“The name is very outdated, but that’s part of its appeal,” he says.
“They were painful to make,” adds Sue. “But people loved it.”
Keep the gold and go saying. Sate Sushi Baldwin Park adheres to | Reviews
In fact, Josh Oakley, creator of the beloved but respectful smiling bison who worked for the good salt that eventually opened Monroe, was an early fan.
“He actually made that version for the Enzian Theatre.
The Good Salt Restaurant Group, which includes Seito Baldwin Park, The Osprey, Reyes Mezcaleria, Monroe and Sparrow, has always been a place that has influenced collaboration. Of course, Jason and Sue himself also include Huy Tin, a chef/partner at Sate BP who met his wife, Daniel. Daniel was a server at the time. She is currently Monroe’s service manager.
Steve Conkel, a distinguished salt operations director, and his wife, Meghan, are also HR directors. He was Seito’s first manager since 2009. She was the opening general manager of Osprey.
Another couple, Ayu and Brandon Zuelke, also met on Seito. Ayu, who lives abroad this year, remains a semi-regular employee.
Sue said many of the Good Salt families have been with the company for almost 20 years.
“They got the way we run, and we were able to work really well and grow other businesses. “The way Huy got it right, and because of its ownership, the ‘chef/partner’ role got things done in Good Salt.” ”
“I couldn’t imagine the future without him,” Jason says. We were also unable to have staff like Reyes Mezcaleria/Sparrow chef/partner Wendy Lopez. Or Osprey chef/partner Michael Cooper.
As someone who appeared when the restaurant industry was famous for notorious, Chin says he is pleased that it was mostly anticipated among those who chose hospitality as their career, building a culture that was free of abuse and toxicity.
“These are people with good hearts,” Sue says.
“They are people who enjoy eating and caring for people. They are the best people,” says Jason.
They begin to speak in turn in the flow.
“So, take a show in service to our guests by taking care of our own people,” she continues.
“That’s obvious,” he continues. “You can feel it. As a team, when people are healthy, physically, emotionally, when it leads to a guest experience, we firmly believe in it.”
“Our management knows that this is at the heart of us,” Sue says. This states that significantly more small family businesses now employ 214 than the jaw family themselves in the past.
“Take care of each other first, then take care of the guests.”
Jason says celebrating 25 years is surreal. “It passed quickly, but it feels like eternity,” he says, but when you know the story, it’s not at all surprising.
Do you want to reach out to me? Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @Amydroo or the Osfoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join Let’s Eat and Orlando Facebook Group.
Seito Sushi’s 25th: You are invited!
Seito Sushi’s 25th anniversary party will be held on August 20th from 6pm to 9pm. Tickets for the reception-style event ($150 Plus Tax and Gratuity) include welcome cocktails, sushi and hand roll bars, carving stations, slow-back hors d’oeuvres, Japanese whiskey and beer tasting, live music by Jerry Williams Doo and a performance of Leco. Space is limited. Guests must be over 18 years of age. Visit Seitosushibp.com to purchase.
Seito Sushi Baldwin Park: 4898 New Broad St. in Orlando, 407-898-8801
