Richardson gets another good ethnic restaurant with Zey Asian Cuisine, an Asian fusion restaurant from a former chef at Steel on Oak Lawn Avenue. After many years working for others, "Chef Zey" Gomez opened the first restaurant of his own in August, east of 75 at the corner of Belt Line and Jupiter roads, in what was previously a Filipino restaurant called d'Kusina.
"I always wanted my own place; all chefs want their own place," Gomez says. "This was the right time."
Like the previous tenant, he will be serving Filipino dishes, but not exclusively.
"I'm really an Asian fusion chef, from the restaurants where I've worked, from Thai to Japanese to a sushi bar," he says. "But my specialty will be the Filipino foods I had in my hometown, such as sisig. It's a chopped meat dish marinated in a lime vinaigrette. People got to know about it after Anthony Bourdain came to Pampanga and tried it."
He also does a unique Filipino barbecue. "Once a week, I do a honey-roasted brisket with honey and spices. I usually do that on a Saturday because it's a special kind of thing," he says. "Filipinos use a lot of meat."
He has a small menu, but it includes the must-have lumpia, the Filipino version of egg rolls, filled with ground pork, carrot and onion, rolled very thin. He also does a vegetable version filled with cabbage, sweet potato, onion and carrots wrapped in rice paper. "My menu is small, but I make everything," he says.
That includes an exotic beverage-dessert concoction with a crème caramel flan that's layered with preserved pineapples, pears, grapes, shredded coconut and a jello garnish, then drizzled with caramel sauce. "Filipinos don't use caramel, but that's my twist," he says.
Lumpia are the Filipino version of egg rolls, rolled extra thin.
