Sushi by the pound: Supa! aims to change Japanese dining experience with three, soon to be four, locations

In 2017, Sarah He and Ted Yeun were strolling through a narrow alley in Okinawa, Japan, when an idea hit them.

The alley, illuminated by ambient lanterns, was packed with izakayas (casual Japanese pubs), and other eateries crammed away from the bustling streets of Okinawa. Yeun and He sat on swiveling stools and drooled over the steaming ramen, crispy tempura and row after row of vibrant sushi that lay within arms reach. The patrons around them laughed heartily and openly shared their food with one another as wafts of sweet-smelling barbeque and sizzling fried fish filled their nostrils.

It didn’t feel polished or formal to them. It felt real, authentic, and entirely accessible.

The married couple returned to the United States not long after with the goal of bringing what they experienced in Japan to the streets of Spokane.

Three years ago, the first iteration of that dream came true when they opened Supa! Authentic Japanese Kitchen in Cheney. Then they opened another location in Post Falls in January 2025, followed by a downtown Spokane location last September. At some point in mid-July, they’re aiming to open a fourth location in Spokane Valley near the Department of Licensing office.

“All of the Japanese restaurants here, it just feels like it’s a little bit more distant,” He said. “We want the customer to see with their eyes first, not only the menu.”

Encased in transparent glass, sushi is the restaurant’s staple. A pound of it costs $15.

Prospective customers can walk in, grab a box from a counter, and pick from a vast array of 15 or so kinds of sushi. They have both raw and cooked rolls readily available for anyone to snag. Easy, fast and affordable is their aim.

“Right now, we’re in a very fast-paced world,” He said. “So this way, we still make the rolls very fast, and we have it all ready. You come here and just pick it up. You don’t need to wait for the chef to make it for you.”

Unlike other spots in town that sell sushi, Supa! rolls are about twice as chunky as the nearest competition, Yeun said.

“When I went to a Japanese restaurant, I’ll see the menu: black dragon, green dragon, green river, midnight train, whatever. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” He said. “I cannot visualize it. I don’t know if I like it. So if you go to a Japanese restaurant, you always order the one that you know because it’s a safe bet.”

While sushi at Supa! is the headliner for most patrons, He said serving ramen has always been their main goal. Sushi was just supposed to be the appetizer. They serve eight different kinds of ramen, including tonkotsu, black garlic and plain -old beef. Most ramen bowls go for right around $15.

“If people are waiting on the ramen, they can get some sushi,” He said.

She just didn’t expect customers to love their sushi as much as they do. When they first opened up in Cheney, He said a post in a food finders group on Facebook caused their business to start booming, hence the need to open more locations soon after.

He said their most popular sushi roll depends on the location. The downtown location, which was once home to Soulful Soups, sees a lot of customers who prefer cooked sushi to the raw taste. It’s the opposite in Cheney.

Appropriately named the “Downtown Roll,” He said this roll has become a fan favorite at none other than, well, their downtown location. The roll is packed with shrimp tempura, avocado, crab meat, cucumber and is topped with salmon eggs.

Thirteen different flavors of milk tea, along with several appetizers, including gyoza dumplings, spring rolls, kimchi, edamame and seaweed salad are also up for grabs .

Next to the case of sushi is an option for customers to create their own poke bowls. Rice or mixed greens act as the base for the poke bowl, while tuna, tofu and shrimp are the available proteins. Customers can then pick from an assortment of colorful vegetables and savory sauces to add an eclectic and vibrant touch to their dish. A small bowl goes for $12, while a large costs $15.50.

Before owning the three, soon to be four, Supa! locations, He worked in real estate. She moved to Spokane from Texas in 2010, but was born in Beijing, China. While in college in Texas, she worked for her cousin’s friend in a Japanese sake bar. Little did she know, that experience would help prepare her for owning her own Japanese restaurant years down the road.

It was only when she and her husband, Yeun, who used to work for Lenovo in Hong Kong, took a trip to Okinawa, did she realize a casual Japanese dining experience might be possible in Spokane.

“It’s kind of like a night market (in Okinawa), so people going there are eating together. All the food is on an open display. Everyone was grabbing bites, and they’re sharing it, and they were socializing with each other. It was very nice and chill. It had a kind of feeling we could not get when we came back to America.”