Tales From an Urban Chef

I’ve not always been a fan of this culinary delight. In fact, I didn’t try it until I was in my mid thirties. My wife, then girlfriend literally had to force me to try it. My initial first bite wasn’t anything special. She eased me into the meal like slipping on a pair of new shoes. A simple California roll. I was a cook at corporate restaurant at the time, we lived in Oakland and I wanted to evolve past my previous love for traditional dishes like Cincinnati chili, Goetta and White Castles.

The meal immediately changed me. We discovered a few local haunts that where we became progressively more ambitious with our choices. One great but now defunct restaurant was Drunken Sushi in Oakland. A tiny joint that served up some amazing food that was reasonably priced but very creative and really consistent.

We enjoyed other restaurants in both San Francisco, one being Sushi Ran which earned a Michelin star. We only were able to visit once but man, the level of excellence was unmatched. We found equally great sushi restaurants in Portland Oregon as well.

Fast forward to 2016, and we found ourselves moving to my wife’s hometown of Doylestown Pennsylvania. It’s a small borough of roughly 8,000 residents about an hour north east of Philadelphia. At the time, I was a chef at a small tavern in town, there was only one sushi restaurant but it had the reputation for a singles bar and we were more focused on finding a place that focused on executing great meals versus pick up lines. I spoke to a regular at my tavern who suggested Hachi in Chalfont. He highly recommended them and claimed it was the best sushi he’s ever had. We thought, why not? It was fifteen minutes away, a BYOB and saw the menu and headed over.

Hachi is located in a drab strip mall that featured your basic grocery store, a few small restaurants and that was about it. From looking at the outside of the place, you’d think it would feature a buffet, gaudy decorations and subpar food. Then we stepped into the restaurant. We were immediately taken back by the amazing decor, the sushi bar was gorgeous, walls adorned with dried grape vines once teeming with grapes and trendy, upbeat lounge music. We felt like we had been whisked back to San Francisco.

I’ve mentioned this restaurant in an earlier blog post, but I wanted to add updated photos that I’ve collected over the eight years of dining there. There combination platters are spectacular. Their specialty rolls are some of the best we’ve had outside of San Francisco and the service is always excellent. We are always treated with a complimentary appetizer by the chefs, the continue to impress.

We find that eating early is the best option. They fill up quickly and what was once a not so infamous restaurant has now become a huge hit in the area. It gets packed and very loud. I hope you enjoy the photos.

https://www.hachichalfont.com/