By William Smith
After 16 years of working in radio and area restaurants, Mike Field, also known by his former DJ name of Mikey J., had enough of the same old grind.
He needed a life change. For Field, it was following his dream — his own sushi restaurant.
“I was getting to the point where I was going to stick a sushi joint somewhere,” he said.
For a while, Field envisioned it as a lunch-only takeout restaurant. However, when space opened at 322 N. Fourth St. in downtown Burlington, chefs Mason Blow and Ryne Whalen joined him as co-owners, expanding the scope of the business.
And thus, Go Fish Sushi was born.
“I love downtown. I’ve worked downtown for quite a while. It’s where the culture is happening. It’s where more and more people want to be,” Field said.
They took over the lease on July 1 and transformed the space that once housed a bistro into a cozy sushi joint by the end of September.
The food is already time-tested, given the 30 years of chef experience between the three owners. If you’ve eaten sushi in Burlington over the past five years or so, odds are, one of the Go Fish Sushi owners prepared it.
“Now that we’re going, it’s just finding time to sleep is the biggest problem,” Field said with a laugh.
Reservations are always recommended.
“We’ve had to tell a lot of people ‘no’ over the last week. We’re only three guys. We can only make so much sushi in four hours,” Field said.
The menu, always based around fresh fish, changes as the supplies do. A fresh menu is always posted on the window, as well as on social media.
“We changed the menu three times last week,” Field said.
The menu changed a few weeks ago when a gigantic opah fish, or moonfish, finally came in — a shipment the trio had been waiting on for weeks.
It’s a luxury item, prepared to the practiced palette of sushi aficionados. There’s plenty of them around Burlington. But there are plenty more patrons who are less adventurous, and their tastes are also catered to.
“We sell a lot of fried rolls here,” Field said.
If things go well, Field is hoping to expand Go Fish Sushi into neighboring cities. He would love for each of the three of them to run their own restaurant.
They’re in this for the long haul, one way or the other.
“We made a choice,” Field said. “We chose each other.”
Lunch hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday and Saturday, takeout only. Dine-in evening hours are 5-9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Menus will be posted to the Go Fish Sushi Facebook page. Reservations are recommended for parties of six or more as seating is limited to 30.