An akoya pearl is born from irritation. A fleck of grit that lodges inside an oyster and, through time and persistence, becomes something lustrous, round, and rare. It is an apt metaphor for the restaurant that now bears its name in downtown Kansas City.
Akoya Omakase is the culmination of the chef Peter Hoang’s culinary journey, after years spent sharpening his knives in other cities, including Chicago, New York, Denver, and Jackson Hole. Hoang grew up behind a sushi counter in Kansas City. His father, Sam Hoang, has quietly shaped Kansas City’s sushi culture for decades through restaurants, including Parkville’s Sakae Sushi. When Peter left home at age 18, he had a hunger to learn more, and he came back years later with a contact list of elite seafood purveyors and a refined culinary point of view.
I first encountered Hoang in 2017 when, between gigs, he was hosting invitation-only omakase dinners inside his father’s sushi restaurant in Parkville. While diners in the main room ate familiar maki, those lucky enough to land one of Peter’s seats were tasting quietly audacious sashimi courses that hinted at what Kansas City was missing. When those dinners disappeared as Hoang headed west again, it felt like a door closing. So news of his return, this time with his wife, child, and first brick-and-mortar, was a moment to celebrate.
Akoya Omakase now occupies the former Hilton Honors lounge inside Hotel Phillips downtown. Accessible from the street or through the hotel lobby, the space feels deliberately insulated from the bustle of 12th Street. There are just ten seats at the sushi counter, the best place to be, plus a scattering of tables for à la carte diners. Light wood wraps the bar and ceiling, glowing against charcoal walls. Low ceilings, soft music, and a packed room give the restaurant an electricity that feels more like Tokyo than a Midwestern hotel lounge.
With four sushi chefs working the line, Hoang and one partner devote themselves to the omakase counter while the others handle nigiri, sashimi, and hand rolls for the rest of the dining room. You lean forward instinctively, eager to hear each detail as your chef introduces the fish, places a single piece of nigiri on a platform before you, and moves seamlessly to the next guest, never losing track of where you are in the process…