From No Worries Movement - the non-profit company that launched the "cruelty free", plant-based NoW Cafe last year - comes NoW Sushi - San Diego's first 100% vegan sushi restaurant opening later this year in the space that last housed Barefoot Bakery & Market in Mission Beach.
Lindsi DeMik and Monica Berki founded the non-profit NoWorries Movement with the mission of promoting compassion for all things - namely animals, the planet, and other human beings. The duo opened NoW Café down the street from Belmont Park in April 2018, offering 100% plant-based menu of smoothies, acai bowls, toasts, sides, coffee and panini sandwiches - with profits going to benefit their charity, including funding an animal sanctuary.
"We received inspiration to bring a fully vegan sushi bar to San Diego when we realized there weren’t any here!", explained NoW Sushi co-founder Lindsi DeMik. "We searched extensively for the closest vegan sushi with good reviews and ended up at Kensho Sushi in Orange County. Thank goodness we did, as the amazing people at Kensho showed us just how amazing vegan sushi can be and thus sparked the fire to bring it down to San Diego."
NoW Sushi aims to open this March in North Mission Beach. The space will have an ocean theme in hopes of further encouraging patrons to focus on helping to save the oceans and all its inhabitants. There will be an outdoor patio and ocean mural on the main wall with Asian inspired décor like bamboo accents. The sushi prep station will be front and center so people can catch a glimpse of dishes being prepared. The restaurant will be operated as environmentally conscious as possible, with compostable products and minimal plastic use.
"When people walk into our space, we want them to know that it is a positive space, full of compassion," commented Monica Berki. "We want them to know they are doing good when they dine with us. Also, our menu items are named after the animals that we save and inspire us every day. For example, Eddie, a dog we saved from death row is featured as our 'Eddie'mame appetizer."
The menu at NoW Sushi will offer familiar appetizers such as miso soup and edamame, as well as a large list of specialty rolls like shrimp-less tempura rolls, dragon rolls, 'ahi' rolls, and more. There will also be a list of gluten-free and soy-free options, as well as beer, sake, sodas, teas, and juices.
"We think the most important take away from our concept is our mission that inspires all of this, and that is to create a more compassionate world," continued DeMik. "Specifically for NoW Sushi, we focus more on the well being of the ocean and all of its inhabitants. All proceeds that we make go back into our nonprofit, NoWorriesMovement, which is geared to ending animal cruelty. We raise awareness around animal cruelty, rescue dogs and cats on death row and get them fostered and adopted out, and our newest venture is we recently bought land outside Austin, TX, and are starting to build the NoWorries Animal Sanctuary so we can provide a safe haven to ALL animals in need. So when you support NoW, you are supporting something bigger than all of us, you're supporting a more compassionate world. For us, that is to do the least amount of harm to all living beings/animals and in return that affects our environment and our health, creating a more compassion world for all."
NoW Sushi will sit at 3852 Mission Boulevard in San Diego's Mission Beach. For more information, visit noworriesmovement.org.
