The owners of Ichiban and Boru are opening a new restaurant in Ascension Parish 

The Wong family, owners of hibachi and sushi eatery Ichiban and ramen restaurant Boru, are opening a new concept in Gonzales. 

Shokudo: Premium AYCE, a fine-dining all-you-can-eat Japanese restaurant, is slated to open in early June at the former Ichiban at 217 N. Airline Highway. After the Gonzales Ichiban closed in 2022, the Wong brothers—Randy, Eddie, Ronnie and Patrick—wanted to give the vacant restaurant previously managed by another family member a second go. 

“It’s going to be like Ichiban on steroids,” Randy Wong says. “We want to give the good, fresh-quality proteins that we serve at Ichiban, but make it all you can eat with a lot of menu adjustments to attract more people. There’s a lot of buffets in town, but no premium, all you can eat.”

Customers will be able to order rounds of made-to-order dishes including appetizers, hibachi and sushi served to the table. While the restaurant won’t have communal hibachi tables, it will have a hibachi in the kitchen. The all-you-can-eat concept will have time limits on how long customers can dine in, with servers checking in regularly for the next order. 

“Asian cuisine is growing leaps and bounds, especially Japanese and Korean,” Wong says. “It’s very trendy and people are asking for more of it. I see so many Hispanic restaurants opening up, and no matter how many open up, people are still gravitating toward them. So I figured, the Asian scene is probably about to do the same thing, too, and I think we’re in the forefront of that happening.”

Wong says his family plans to open an additional concept in Central soon.