The name’s kind of an inside joke on the owner and his investors. “Dashu means uncle,” says Yi Xue, owner/manager of Dashu Japanese Cuisine & Bar, a recently opened Huntsville eatery. “We said we’re going to call it Dashu because we’re all middle-age.” The twist is dashu, pronounced “dye shoe,” is a Chinese word for uncle. You see, this Japanese restaurant in Huntsville, Alabama, was started by a Chinese-American dude from Kingsport, Tennessee.

Xue has worked in and/or run Chinese and Japanese restaurants in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama for decades. This time, he decided to do a Japanese restaurant instead of Chinese with Dash — located in the Airport Road space formerly home to Italian eateries Luciano and Bacchus — for two main reasons. One, he felt the Huntsville market was saturated with Chinese restaurants. And two, he says a Japanese restaurant requires fewer employees to run effectively than a Chinese restaurant.

“Nowadays it’s hard to find help,” Xue says, referring to the difficulty many restaurants nationwide have had staffing in recent years, back to when the pandemic started.

Dashu opened in late April and currently employs a staff of six or so. Their head sushi chef, Justin Lin, comes to Huntsville after experience in New York and Texas restaurants, Xue says.

My first visit to Dashu, my blood pressure lowered after just a few steps inside. The place has a tranquil vibe with Japanese-themed décor, mellow lighting and, playing on the sound system, piano jazz. The SEC Network flicked on a muted TV screen, yeehaw counterpoint to the torii imagery and paper lanterns.