James Beard watch: Will Charlotte’s best known sushi chef reach the finals?
Chef Robin Anthony, a semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast in the James Beard Awards, is awaiting to see if he’ll move forward Tuesday to become a finalist, capping off a period of intense attention.
The executive chef and owner of Prime Fish, Prime Fish Cellar and Omakase Experience by Prime Fish recently gained national recognition from the Michelin Guide, making two of those concepts the only sushi restaurants with the distinction in the Carolinas.
Anthony and Kendra Kong, general manager for the Prime Fish group, spoke with CharlotteFive for an exclusive interview, detailing Anthony’s beginnings as a young sushi chef and the development of multiple Prime Fish operations that have helped shape the local sushi and omakase scene.
CharlotteFive: “You were born in Indonesia, raised in China and came to Raleigh over a decade ago. Tell me about your background and training. What gravitated you toward the sushi counter?”
Kong: “A lot of Chef’s skill and knowledge came from himself, teaching himself and studying himself, trial and error, and a lot of dedication and hours into the night to perfect the craft. He basically [came to Raleigh and] was working a full-time job [at a sushi restaurant], and in the evening when he would get off work, he would spend four or five hours cooking and making nigiri to perfect where he is now.”
Anthony: “After everybody goes home, I’m still at the restaurant. I’m still making nigiri myself, but I make a thousand of it. And then I do that for the next few weeks, everyday just to perfect it.”
Anthony also spent several years exploring the states. In 2015, he dined at his first Michelin-starred restaurant. He has since been to more than 50, enjoying the food and the experience from each culinary journey. Anthony eventually relocated to Charlotte, where he became the head chef at Yama in Waverly, before helping to open Red Sake in Ballantyne.
CharlotteFive: “What made you want to pivot and open up your own restaurant?”
Anthony: “When I’m in the front [of the house], I don’t know what they’re doing in the back [of the house]. When I’m in the back, I don’t know what they’re doing in the front. So I decided to open my own place — small, intimate, only sushi.”
He also saw that there was a large gap for top quality ingredients and wanted to bring this kind of caliber to Charlotte. Anthony went on to develop three concepts, each occupying no more than 2,000 square feet.
In 2021, Anthony opened Prime Fish, a casual sushi restaurant in Ballantyne. Omakase by Prime Fish, an elevated multi-course pre-fixed menu followed two years later. His most recent concept, Prime Fish Cellar, opened in 2024, originally as a gourmet market and bottle shop, but was recently reimagined to bridge the gap between his original two concepts.
CharlotteFive: “What is the new vision for Prime Fish Cellar?”
Kong: “Our concept for Cellar is an in-between of Omakase and Prime Fish Ballantyne. ... It’s a spot where you can go out on a nice date, but it’s also a spot that you can just go with a friend to eat there casually, as well.”
At Prime Fish Cellar, customers can buy wine and sake, soy and ponzu sauces, as well as caviar, shumai and gyoza, Japanese A5 wagyu and muskmelon. Visitors can also purchase Anthony’s original product line, Chubby Bites, which includes his popular chili oil and chili garlic.
While retail items are still available, the new concept now includes a full kitchen and sushi bar with a dine-in menu. Guests can select from a variety of hand-rolls, sushi and nigiri with an optional caviar service.
CharlotteFive: “What makes Prime Fish Cellar unique, or what differentiates it from other local sushi spots?”
Kong: “We offer a build-your-own hand roll service because a lot of times, at a lot of sushi restaurants, if you order a hand roll, the integrity of the seaweed goes down the longer it sits on the plate. Building it yourself allows everything to stay very nice, crisp and crunchy. You get to eat everything at its peak, optimal time.”
The most popular item on the menu is the Jewel Box. With premium and reserve options, guests can enjoy rice topped with avocado and furikake, alongside a variety of sashimi like Faroe Island salmon, Hokkaido scallops and bluefin tuna.
For a more elevated experience, offerings include A5 wagyu, salmon belly truffle, fatty tuna and Hokkaido sea urchin. Prime Fish Cellar also has a robust selection of wine and sake, each handpicked by sommelier Derek Leclair. Guests can enjoy a bottle without restaurant mark-up when choosing one to enjoy with their meal.
CharlotteFive: “Tell me more about how the nigiri is prepared.”
Anthony: “The most important part is the rice, not the fish. As long as the rice is perfect and good, you can put anything on top of it. But you have to know how to cook rice and what kind of equipment to use when you cook it, [and think about] how much humidity is in the room when you cook it and what type of water [you’re using].”
Kong: “And with each season, you have to know what will compliment the fish. We don’t always use the same rice for every season, just like we don’t always use the same vinegar. [Sometimes it’s rice vinegar, sometimes it’s aged vinegar].”
Anthony: “Yes, vinegar has to be mixed with rice before it’s finished cooking and at the lowest temperature, which is 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit). Otherwise, it will not absorb the vinegar well. This is why we cook rice before we eat the nigiri. We mix the rice minutes before you eat it, so you get freshness.”
Kong: “Cooking rice can be very sensitive, which is why in Japan when you’re learning to be a sushi chef, they focus so much on teaching you how to cook the rice. There are people over there that cook rice for two or three years before it even touches a slice of fish. The whole process of Japanese cooking is really about respecting the food.”
Anthony is always searching for high quality ingredients, which means working closely with fishmongers in Japan, where fish is flown in regularly.
CharlotteFive: “Is it difficult to source your fish regularly from across the globe?”
Anthony: “There are some people that ask why our prices are the way [they are]. It’s because our fish have to take two flights instead of one, because there’s no direct flight from Charlotte to Tokyo.”
CharlotteFive: “Knowing where ingredients are sourced and the skill that is involved in their preparation, what kind of experience do you want guests to have when they are dining at one of your restaurants?”
Kong: “A large portion of what Chef tries to do is to educate our guests a little bit more about the cuisine because there are so many people that think that [sushi] is mixing the wasabi and the soy, which can mask the flavor. … What you’re tasting it for is the quality [of the fish] that is being presented.”
At Omakase by Prime Fish, the menu is influenced by Spanish and French cuisines, either through the method of preparation or the matchmaking of unique ingredients. For example, Anthony will cook salmon in the oven, as seen in traditional French cooking, rather than grilling it, as seen in traditional Japanese-style robata. Or he might pair a Japanese protein, like crab, with a sweet corn sauce, giving the dish a Spanish flair.
CharlotteFive: “What is your favorite sushi roll?”
Anthony: “Sake Yaki roll [made with eel and avocado, topped with seared salmon, eel sauce, truffle oil, black salt and scallion], which is also consistently a top seller [at Prime Fish in Ballantyne].”
CharlotteFive: “Looking back, what is your favorite food memory? Was there a moment that involved food that you remember bringing you a lot of joy?”
Anthony: “I ate steamed abalone at Sushi Noz, a two-star Michelin restaurant in New York. … It’s a kind of mollusk seafood, similar to what in between a clam and a scallop would be. … It really opened my eyes to food and opened my mind to food. It made me want to try and learn more about food. … My palate exploded.”
CharlotteFive: “What has been the biggest joy of your career so far?”
Anthony: “Biggest joy is definitely [being included in] the Michelin Guide.”
CharlotteFive: “You’ve recently done collaborations with chefs at Leluia Hall, L’Ostrica and Restaurant Constance. What else can we expect from the Prime Fish brand?”
Kong: “Chef really just wants to build more of a community in Charlotte so that it can be a better experience for all.”
Anthony: “We’re not complicated people. We just want to keep bringing the best quality food we can, as best as we can, and maintain that Michelin recognition.”
Anthony also mentioned looking for an apprentice, someone he can mentor and share his knowledge with and teach the technique of Japanese cooking to. But for now, Anthony plans to continue refining his own craft and pushing culinary boundaries in Charlotte and beyond.
Anthony: “This [Michelin and James Beard] recognition belongs to my team — our chefs, managers, sommeliers and the entire Prime Fish team — who show up every day with discipline, humility and pride in our craft. I am especially proud that we have put Charlotte on the national map for this level of a sushi experience that we offer at Omakase by Prime Fish. I’m grateful to the Charlotte community for believing in our vision and allowing us to represent this city on a national stage. We’ll keep our heads down and keep cooking.”
Omakase by Prime Fish
Location: 2907 Providence Rd STE 101, Charlotte, NC 28211
Cuisine: Omakase sushi
Instagram: @omakasebyprimefish
