Kasi, 23, and Aung Kyaw-Gates, 29, are working to open a hibachi/sushi restaurant in downtown Fort Scott at 17 S. Main.
They have named it Samurai Hibachi and Sushi and hope to be open in October following renovation and hiring of employees, Kasi said.
Sushi is raw meat with seaweed rice on the outside, rolled into a roll then cut into eight pieces, she said.
“We have salmon, shrimp tempura, eel, veggie, spicy tuna, and a crab salad,” Kasi said.
Hibachi is rice or noodles with meat, grilled on a flat top grill with a sauce, she said.
The couple ran a food truck on East Wall street earlier this year, but closed down when a partner left the business for a larger town, Kasi said.
“We waited until we could find a place to open a restaurant and Robert Coon got a hold of us,” she said.
Coon is the owner of Coon Rentals LLC and recently bought 17 S. Main at a Bourbon County Commission auction.
“My husband has always wanted to open his own restaurant…and had worked in many restaurants and food places. He knows everything needed to open and succeed,” Kasi said.
Gates provided the following menus for the restaurant:
Kasi is a 2017 graduate of Uniontown High School and a 2019 graduate of Fort Scott Community College with a general science degree, she said.
Her husband, originally from Myanmar (Burma) has been in the U.S. for five years, ending up in Pittsburg, KS, where they met.
They were married in November 2019.
Aung is currently working in Pittsburg at a hibachi/sushi restaurant and Kasi owns the Third Fairy shop at 1 E. Wall Street.
“I sell incense, herbs, tarot cards, chrystals, and pagan and Wiccan items,” she said.
Coon said the first floor of the building will be divided, with the restaurant on the current kitchen side. He said an attorney has expressed interest in renting the other side.